I feel more and more anxious about all this, not because I have so much incriminating evidence to report, but so little. I think I am most concerned about the idea that the narrow way to salvation leads us to love the sinner while we hate the sin. The problem is that none of us is very good at loving sinners and hating their sins at the same time. Hate has a way of enveloping everything, and so Matthew Shepherd is tied to a Wyoming fence rail and left to die like a trophy animal in the winter cold. In the passage today, there is a surprising reversal that takes place, and one that puts us all on warning.
People arrive at the door and it is night.
God, who is thinly veiled as the householder in the story, is roused from sleep, and comes down to answer. But he is not quick to open. We ate and drank with you. We talked about you all the time. We prayed, we tithed, we contributed to the building fund, we taught in the church school.