If you imitate Jesus’ ministry, you will find yourself entering the company of “tax collectors and sinners,” conversing on equal footing with the “unclean,” accepting the hospitality of Samaritans and lepers, and saying, with the authority of your own experience, “Your sins are forgiven.” Moreover, we shall find ourselves leaving others the freedom to reject the gospel and to find their own way to Jesus with or without our help. This proves, therefore, that Jesus’ ministry is rooted in the ordinary world and expressed in the most familiar human activities of generosity and love.

It [Christ’s priesthood] is founded on the assurance that GOD’S great conversation with us is unending, that the HOLY will go so far as to forgive all and build the world anew on the rubble of our past wrongs. Jesus’ antidote for our craziness-our arrogance and hypocrisy and lovelessness — is the unflagging love of GOD, so rash and excessive that it will even blithely leave the ninety-nine to seek out the one stray (Matthew 18:10-14).

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Have there been instances when you avoided the yourself from the marketplace? How did it feel?