"Those who are last will be first..."
Fr. Jim Notebaart
Sunday, August 26 2007

THE SUNDAY READINGS
THE LAST WILL BE FIRST

Isaiah 66. 18-21

What a wonderful image Isaiah draws of the procession to Jerusalem, everyone converging upon the city in carts, on donkeys, camels, chariots and on foot. The cloud of dust alone must be stunning. Jerusalem was always idealized as a sacred city, whose gleaming temple shone in the hill country above the Jordan valley. In truth it was a dusty village of mud huts and winding paths. The temple itself was small by our standards and set on a promontory below the bluffs of the Kidron Valley. But this was the pilgrimage destiny for God’s people: the House of God where the throne of mercy rested.

Isaiah stretches Israel’s vision to see the city as a convergence point where outsiders are welcome even those who had not heard of the God of Israel. For the throne of mercy extended to all whom God chooses. From them, the fugitives, Isaiah says, God will choose priests and Levites. These coveted roles will be assigned to the outcasts.

The outcast is a popular theme in the Hebrew Scriptures because it emphasizes that God is in charge, not “the system.” God chooses those who are invited to be in the Household, and it is not those who proclaim their own “righteousness.”

The Hebrew scriptures use a word to describe these outcasts, it is “anawim.” These are the ones who earnestly long for God in spite of their destitute poverty. They know that God has not deserted them, nor is their poverty the burden which breaks their spirit.

Gandhi called them “children of God,” not “untouchables” as the caste system labeled them. It is to such as these that Isaiah appeals.

Luke 13-22-30

The Gospel emphasizes the same point: “The last will be first and the first, last.” We have to ask ourselves: who has the right to decide who is among the last. For us, usually, we mean that the “last” are the losers. Those who are last are often invisible to us because it is we who have judged them unworthy of our notice. They pass by and we don’t even know they exist. Both Isaiah and Jesus are calling for a new awareness of people. The anawim, caught in the difficulties of life, dragged down in poverty are the children of God.

Both readings tell us: Expect the unexpected…,p> Two weeks ago I buried my next door neighbor: Jim who lived in a squalid, roach infested room in an 1860’s brick apartment building on the Saint Paul’s East side. Jim bled to death, the victim of alcoholism. Jim didn’t belong to a Church. He sometimes didn’t believe in God- After all, what had God done for him lately- One time I was in his room and he picked up an envelope as cockroaches scurried out, across the table and dived to the floor. In the 15 years I knew Jim, he tried time and again to quit the brown bottle, But he simply couldn’t do it. He felt he was a failure, even with his kids, two of whom were on meth. The week before he died he went to the VA Hospital and asked them to “put him down” To use his words. The VA scheduled a psych evaluation, but he luckily died before his appointment. Jim never resented that I have a 2 story house that is at least six times bigger than his room. I have two cars, one just for fun. He only kidded me once and a while asking if my house was full of furniture yet.

The day after Jim died his kids cleared out the apartment and threw ALL Jim’s possessions away. Not a single thing was kept.

Jim knew himself. He knew above anyone else, his own weaknesses. He knew that it was time for him to leave. Was he a loser or did his self awareness make him a winner?

Was Jim in Isaiah’s procession? The last will be first.

Then there are two brothers: Michael and Bruce… Indians. Bruce is 18 and Michael is 17. Their dad hung himself in jail and their mom deserted them for life on the streets. I baptized these young men at the Easter Vigil, 4 years ago. Bruce is at church every Sunday. Everyone hugs him when he comes in… often accompanied by his brother. His role in the community is to purify us with sage, to focus us on God.

Michael is troubled by his father’s death. He was at a vulnerable age. Michael’s out is alcohol and pot. “I just want more when I start,” He tells me. Michael had a bag of pot one Sunday and stepped outside. A police car drove past and Michael, being guilty, looked around the corner to see if the car had gone. Unfortunately the police man, also suspicious, had already stopped and was getting out of the car. I asked the policeman to confiscate the pot and let Michael go. He was willing to do this just as Michael lashed out. “Michael have you ever heard of strategy” I asked him. Then I turned to the congregation which had assembled and said: “It gives a whole new meaning to ‘pot luck’.” Michael is in treatment as Mashkowisin in Sawyer. He knows he needs a young clean Indian male as a mentor but doesn’t know where to start.

There they are: Michael and Bruce, Heirs of broken promises and demon riddled parents, standing in Isaiah’s line converging on the Holy City. The last will be first.

Finally there is Wookie, a 6 foot 4, young African American, who is 19. He was badly abused by his mother’s boyfriend when he was 14. His mother is on crack even today. Wookie left home at 14, living in shelters and on the street. He wore his clothes until they were worn out. Even today he has only one pair of shoes. His only family contact is his grandmother in Chicago. But, Wookie never missed a day of high school. He graduated with a 3.5 average and until Janet Stately, my co-worker, found him an apartment with Salvation Army, he never had a place for himself.

Wookie never let peers mock him because he had the wrong clothes, nor did he bend when offered drugs. Wookie saw down the road of Isaiah’s better city… to a better life And he never yielded to depression. He made friends where he was, and for his size, never resorted to violence.

The last will be first

All of you have seen Wookie. He has a part time job stacking grocery carts. Did you ever look at those people and wonder about their situation… enough to admire their courage?

This is my world, my ministry. But I have to keep asking myself if I have become too insensitive to see who are last…not losers but simply last. Those who are last are invisible to me sometimes because they become cogs in a bigger picture of life in which I am engaged. It might be Jim’s pals who are drinking Milwaukee Ice that I ignore when I get out of my car and go into my home or the cart boy at a super market.

But Isaiah and Jesus didn’t miss them. They weren’t invisible to them.

When the Gyoto Wheel of Dharma monks came here several months ago, I introduced them with the phrase: "Semchen tamchay dewah dang. Daywee gyutang denbar gyuchig". It was a prayer calling for the redemption of all sentient beings. But redemption begins with awareness:

Know what is before you

Know what is behind you

Know what is below you

Know what is within you

When you are aware, there is no us and them, it is only US.

Jim, Michael, Bruce, Wookie and the gang drinking Milwaukee Ice …they are us. Only when we can arrive at this place of awareness will we comfortably join the shabby band…not of those who are first but who are last…not losers …but winners.

THEN THE LAST WILL BE FIRST. Do not be afraid.