“Where are you from?” That’s a question we’ve all probably answered countless times. Mostly, of course, it’s an attempt to learn something new about a person, to deepen our friendship. Occasionally, though, the question of where one hails from is used against them. They may have been lived in a bad part of time, or been raised on the wrong side of the tracks.
This is the kind of attack the Pharisees are mounting against Jesus in today’s Gospel. The case against him is coming to a fever pitch at this point, and they are using just about any piece of information to call for his death. This, of course, leads to the cross for him, and that story will continue to unfold rather vividly as we complete these last couple of weeks of Lent.
But for us, the gospel asks us to look at how we treat other people. How do we get to know them? Do we make judgments about them before we really do get to know them? What role does information like where a person lives, how much money they have, what they look like, and so on, have in how we treat them. Or can we possibly see them with the eyes of God, eyes that see the other person’s gifts?
If we don’t try to see other people with those eyes, who knows if we aren’t sending our Lord to the cross, yet again?