Being vulnerable

This Sunday’s gospel (Matthew 10: 40-42) is all about welcoming and being welcomed. Most of us are good at welcoming people into our space. By good I mean we are good at deciding who to welcome into our space, and who not to welcome for whatever reason. We are in control and the risks are few. But there is more at work in this reading. Many of us are a lot less comfortable with being welcomed. That involves venturing out and taking risk. It means letting go and being vulnerable. It offers the possibility of rejection. 

Brian McLaren in “We Make the Road by Walking” says that the way of Jesus, the way of vulnerability is “…a summons, a challenge, a life-changing invitation. Do we dare to step out and follow Jesus, to make the road by walking, to risk everything on an uprising of peace, an uprising of generosity, an uprising of forgiveness, an uprising of love? If we believe, we will make it real.” (p.150)