Who Will be in Front of You at the Pearly Gates?

Luke 9:48 [Jesus]  said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, andwhoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” John 10:16 "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd." 

Our minister Father Rob posed a question to us this Sunday "Who will be in front of you at the Pearly Gates?" He asked us this in the context of the prejudice that exists in all of us. . Racism is the most common and laziest form of prejudice. To judge people by the color of their skin. Of course, having just visited the South Father Rob concentrated on the prejudice that still exists against African Americans 47 years after the Civil Rights Movement. My mind went back 73 years to Executive Order 9066 when prejudice against Japanese Americans lead to their imprisonment in Internment Camps for the duration of WWII.Racism exists in a post 911 world against Muslims and against any from the Middle East. Father Rob also posed the question "Will you be scandalized by who that person is in front of you at the Pearly Gates?" In the 1940s there were undoubtedly some who would be scandalized that a Japanese or Japanese American or German or Italian might be in front of them at the Pearly Gates. In the 1960s a white southerner might be scandalized that an African American would stand before them in line at the Pearly Gates. There's a joke that says "The fact that there's a highway to hell and only a stairway to heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers." Our own prejudice allows us to assume that we will be on the stairway to heaven and that those who have opposed our views will be on the highway to hell. Carolyn Myss in her CDs Entering the Castle which is based on the works of Saint Theresa of Avilla shows two different ways of looking at the same situation. Suppose you saw someone with everything you think you want, money, fame and fortune and then you find out that person in a past life or several past lives was a serial killer. You would think How unfair! Why should this person be rewarded for their bad behavior? However, if you look at it through the eyes of a mystic you think what better way than to have others who are reliant upon them. She goes on to use the analogy of Jacob Marley in the Christmas Carol burden by chains in the afterlife. She says the more weight you carry around with you the longer you have to wait to reach the next level. The weight we carry around are our prejudices. Certainly race is a prejudice we most easily identify but there are less obvious forms of prejudice as well. I was confronted by a different form of prejudice when someone posted this on social media "Each week, millions of upper class middle class Americans put on expensive dress clothes and load themselves into SUV's and drive past homeless shelters, orphanages, prisons, missions, and half way houses on their way to a very expensive and nice church, where somebody tells them how to be more like Jesus. That is f-ing (fully spelled out) awesome let me tell you." Two things crossed my mind as I read this, The first was the person(s) quoted in this photo were obviously prejudice against people like me who went to church. The person who wrote this, pre-judged people who go to church as: wealthy upper middle class, that their churches are expensive, we ignore the plight of the less fortunate on our way to a place where they tell us how to be more like Jesus. In other words, the person pre-judged us to be wealthy hypocrites. The second thing that went through my mind was to confront my own prejudice against this person and others like he/she who do not believe in God or who are "spiritual but not religious." My prejudice existed because I felt who was this person to take such a moral high ground? Did they even believe in God? Did they ever study the teachings of Jesus? In other words, I was scandalized that this person should be in line in front of me at the Pearly Gates.

 Two days earlier another friend posted an article about addiction and that there are now studies coming out that indicate that drugs aren't the source of addiction it's disconnection. The "tough love" we have been taught for so long by the government and by "experts" is actually more detrimental to an addict because it further disconnects them from society and I would argue from God's love. The third Step in AA is to give over to God.I often wondered with the addicts in my own life what was it that was missing from their lives that they had to fill with drugs/alcohol. So I asked one who I knew had fallen off the wagon after many years of sobriety. He said when he was younger he did it to have a good time. When he fell off the wagon this last time it was to kill the pain at the loss of his son. He also turned away from God because he could not understand why with all the shit he had pulled in his youth God was visiting his vengeance upon his 6 year old son in the form of Leukemia. No amount of persuasion even from his father who is a minister could dissuade him. His family did not abandoned him, his brother even beat the crap out of him when he found out he was using again. They surrounded him with love and light (and fists) and each in their own way showed they still cared. Eventually, he realized that his suffering was eased not by the alcohol but by sharing memories of good times with his son with other members of the family and hearing their stories. The scars were there but not the wounds. Would we be scandalized if an addict was in front of us in line at the pearly gates? "and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” If we truly believe that all sins are forgiven upon our death then we will encounter those at the pearly gates who would have scandalized us to keep company with in life. Will you be forced to confront your prejudices from this life in the after life. "Who will be in front of you at the Pearly Gates? Will that person scandalize you?"