Matthew 21:28-32
“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
” ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
It’s the political season again and thinking about local laws has lead me to a controversial idea. That idea is that if Jesus were here, he would probably be helping registered sex offenders find housing. I don’t think it would be a political thing or that it would be on TV. I imagine it would start as one person being helped and others coming along as word-of-mouth advertising spreads. Considering that his time on earth was short, I don’t imagine that he would allow it to sidetrack his ministry. Still, it answers the quintessential What Would Jesus Do question for me. (I usually despise the theology behind the asking of that question. That’s why I say it answers the question for me, not everyone. This is my idea based on my understanding of Jesus, not a moral imperative because I say so.)
I could see this parable being told in our time. I could see Jesus saying that the so-called morally-depraved are entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you.
Of course, the consequences of this idea are many. For one, the first person that commits another crime after being helped will begin a public outcry against people doing this. It won’t matter about the others that have not re-offended. It won’t matter if all but this one became a Christian. In the search to assign blame, it will be reasoned that if this group did not exist to assist someone that needs to be permanently punished for the rest of their lives, the person may not have re-offended. Peh.
Another consequence, as I mentioned earlier, is that no church will go along with it wholeheartedly. Rick Warren can talk all he wants about being a part of the community, but it’s only for the socially acceptable causes. I pick on Pastor Warren because any church based on polls of the community will never ultimately challenge the community. Even those that bought into the Business Driven Church could not readily endorse such a proposal because the proposal itself is bad for business.
Still, with all of that, it is possible to provide this service with a minimum of fuss. Most cities provide a list of their schools with addresses. Many states list all the day care facilities by address. It would seem possible to use Google Maps API to cross reference this data and shade in areas that are approximately 2000ft away from all the listed addresses. If this software was presented to the state workers that work with offenders, it makes their job that much easier.
Again, all of this came up in thinking about this political season. It also came up with my continued search into who Jesus is. Jesus was friends with society’s worst. He hung out with those that no one would be caught dead being seen with. He even defended some of them publicly (John 8, Luke 7). I think as someone that calls himself a follower of this man, I need to consider his life and actions.
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