How do you define equality? As I write this message, I hear fireworks going off in my neighborhood. The fireworks represent our independence in the USA. It is interesting to remember what being independent really means. That we are not under control or needing support from anyone else. Many of our children try to declare independence well before they are ready simply because they do not like to be controlled. Adolescence is too young an age to declare independence, but when is a good time to break away from support and control of our guardians? When can we claim equality which is a state of being equal in status, rights and opportunities?
Are we equal, when we are free from all things that try to control us? Perhaps, we are equal when our net worth is equal. But then how is someone’s wealth measured? Is it through bank accounts or through some other attribute that makes us wealthy? “Although he was rich, he became poor for our sakes, so that you could become rich through his poverty.” (2 Cor 8:9) How do we define equality? Is it the value of the gifts we give? “A gift is appreciated because of what a person can afford, not because of what a person can’t afford, if it’s apparent that it’s done willingly.” (2 Cor 8:12) The last part of that verse is so important to remember that it is not the gift but the willingness to give. The writer of Corinthians continues to say its a matter of equality so one day your surplus fills another’s deficient and visa versa. That makes us equal.
Jesus was asked to lay hands on an ill daughter of a prominent Synagogue leader. While he was traveling through the streets for that purpose, a woman with a bleeding issue for twelve years simply touched his clothes. She wanted to touch him because she had so much faith in his healing. Was she healed? Yes. The power left him immediately and he knew he was in the presence of a faithful person. Likewise, he healed the leader’s daughter. (Mark 5:21-43) Now, I ask you. Who was more deserving to be healed? The woman in the street became a living testimony of His healing grace. The leader was humbled by the mercy given to the woman but also testified the miracle of his daughter. They both became equal that day.
How do we define equality? I believe we first have to recognize the gift of life and life giver, through the eyes of others.
T