In my trade I often have to read books that I can barely comprehend, and even then, I can barely make sense of them only by reading them at a snail’s pace and often re-reading the same paragraph several times.  So, when I have a chance to read something for fun I tend not to read novels by Proust or James Joyce; I go lowbrow.  I will read anything that John Sandford writes.  My favorite recurring character in Sandford’s world of Minnesota criminal detection is Virgil Flowers.

Virgil is an interesting person, quite apart from his effectiveness as a detective.  He is the son of a Lutheran minister and yet Virgil is not religious at all, although he knows his scripture better than a lot of us who never miss a Sunday.  He is fairly profane and is notorious for his numerous sexual relationships, but he could never be described as an immoral person.  He is honest and forthright; he is ardently committed to justice.  He doesn’t pray, but he thinks deeply and sincerely about God every night before he goes to sleep.  Whenever I read these passages, I think of Psalm 63:6: “I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night.”

A lot of religious people spend a lot of energy identifying who’s on God’s side and who’s not, drawing lines and making judgments.  Whenever I encounter this tendency in others or in myself, I think of Virgil Flowers and I think that it’s hard not to see him as being on Jesus’ side even though he might not acknowledge it himself.

Wherever people are doing justice and exercising mercy, wherever people are acting in loving kindness especially to the poor and forgotten aren’t they on Jesus’ side?  There are many people who build up the Kingdom of God who never enter the doors of the church.  I’d love to help these folks know Christ more intimately, but I don’t for a minute believe that they are strangers to Christ.  What is a better indication that a person belongs to Christ than doing his work?  When we think of these people who are strangers to the church but friends of Christ, we need to listen closely and we will hear Jesus saying: “Whoever is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:40)

Prayer:  Our Father, may your kingdom come – may your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.  And may we welcome all who do your will as our brothers and sisters in Christ, your beloved Son.  Amen.