No Added Value Needed

Value added is one of those economic or business terms I remember from some course or another. As I simply remember it, value added means what happens when you take one product or raw material and make something more out of it. You "add value."

I thought of that first when I read this morning's Gospel where Jesus mentions that sparrows are so important to God that God knows when even one falls. He then says:

Matthew 10:31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

I don't know what Jesus meant in the original context. In Matthew's context Jesus is telling his followers that they didn't need to be afraid of persecution, threats to life and limb, or even death itself. But as I read it today I thought of the whole idea of "value added."

In short what I heard was that we don't need any "value added." As we are, we are valuable to God. As we are God cares. As we are!

Wait a minute. Haven't I heard that we are abhorrent to God when we are in sin; God can't get anywhere near us because we are sinful, unclean? How many times have we heard an evangelist trying to convince us to follow Jesus by pointing out how bad and sinful we are? How often have we then translated that into all kinds of self-depreciation, shame, fear, self-loathing?

No one is worthless or value-less, says Jesus. If we are that bad that God can't come near to us, then what do we truly believe about the Incarnation, about Jesus as true God not only walking among us- next to us- but living in the very flesh we share?

For me that is but a tiny little step, inches, at most, away from the just as powerful understanding that this promise of "no added value needed" isn't just for me and my type (take your pick, I have a number of different "types".) Jesus is talking to people. Humans. Walking, talking, breathing, eating, sleeping humans. How then I can make a judgment about any other of those who share my humanity with me? How can I say it is all right to ignore or put down or put out or worse hate or kill them?

At least that's where my pondering takes me this week. Thank God that God made me just as I am.