Why Do You?

Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? — Luke 5:30.

We hear the same type of questions twenty centuries later. We still talk in terms of “them,” “those people,” and “not our kind.” Labels and quick judgments are made only worse by social media. Despite God’s parables about lost sheep, lost coins, and lost and prodigal sons we do not listen. Across history people such as St. Francis, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and MLK have talked with eloquence about our brothers and sisters, but nothing seems to change except what we call the barriers between “us” and “them.”

I came across a quote today. Eloquence is wasted on those who will not hear. I read it several times, and found myself asking, “Is that my problem? Maybe first I must open my ears, and close my mouth.”

Give up judgments, give up comparisons, and delete the need to understand.

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About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.