Being Passed Over

I have never been any good at sports. That may have been one of the reasons I did not particularly like playing them. All the other kids would find my lack of ability one more way of making fun of me. When teams were chosen I was one of the last – if not the last – to be picked. Sometimes I would be left out completely. The others would use the excuse that they wanted the teams to be even. I was the odd man out. Those were the first experiences I had of being passed over. You may have experienced the same and know the feeling of being unwanted. It does not just happen to us when we are children. It happens in the adult world as well. I can tell you many stories of people who for one reason or another have been passed over at work to have someone with less experience or ability promoted over them. 

For most of our lives, being passed over is not a good thing. It is filled with disappointments and brings about anger and self-doubt. We question if we should be where we are, work for the company we work for, and even if we should keep the relationships we have. Although, sometimes, though not often, being passed over leads to change and improvement. One great example of that is the story of the exodus.

Remember the whole story. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers because their father passed over them in his attention. Yet God used that for good and Joseph was promoted to a high position and kept Egypt from suffering because of the famine brought on by drought. Egypt welcomed Joseph’s family when they came only to enslave them later. No amount of persuasion could convince the pharaoh to let them go until the day when God’s angels passed over the houses of the Israelites. That event was so different than any other time they were passed over that they celebrate it to this day.

That is the difference between God’s acts and our acts. We act out of selfish wants and desires looking out for ourselves. God acts for all. We see that same selfless action in Jesus. An act so surprising that it caught Simon Peter unaware. Jesus did not pass over the chance to save us from our selfish desires and in that night gave of himself so that we may not be passed over by God. You have been called into the kingdom, washed in the waters of baptism, and fed at this Holy table not because of your good works but because Jesus loved you so much that he would not pass over you when choosing the kingdom of God. You have been chosen to love others as Jesus loves you. No more passing over others who do not meet your standards. Instead we are called to embrace all as God’s creation inviting them into the kingdom.