The Prison Bowl of Forgiveness
Matthew 25:36
"Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me."
I read the other day that inmates at San Quentin Prison in California had written reviews of the food and had posted it on the foodie website Yelp. In checking out the reviews, some were from visitors who had toured the prison.
Here is one of those:
"I've been told that the breakfasts here suck, but at least it has a nice view. Easy on/off freeway access, friendly staff, vending machines that work, and a cute yellow line for visitors to follow while being monitored."
For the regulars, the reviews aren't as chipper:
"Food's crappy except for Friday which is "Chicken on the Bone" day..and Sunday morning is the microwavable-like Grand Slam breakfast...everyone else there for the most part are dirtbags, with no realistic if any plans of changing. The violence is high to low depending on where your housed..mostly stabbings happen in badgers reception where the level 4's are on the first 2 tiers, surrenos and whiteboys on partially the 2nd to 3rd...and PC'S up the rest of the way."
Putting a review of prison food on Yelp would be funny if it were a gag. But, since it seems to be legit, many Conservatives (Law and Order types) would instead gag on the flavor of entitlement in the review. Like what else can we do to make your stay more enjoyable? Silk sheets, original Monet's on the walls, pedicures and spas, and fresh flowers to your suite each morning?
Punishment is not supposed to be fun or enjoyable, unless one likes pain. Yet, I think it is too easy to go too far the other way; to really not give a damn about prisoners, what they eat, and whether they live or die. "Here is your gruel, dammit. Take it or leave it." For, we are more like that prisoner than Christ. The Gospel meal is for the hungry...and let us be honest. Those sick, lonely, in prison, and unclothed, are often more ready to eat, than the satiated and self-centered of invisibly-incarcerated by sin and Satan, not inside the Penitentiary.
Since I have been staying in Acts 10 for a spell, I noticed that both Peter and Cornelius had vision from God. That Peter could contest the vision message the first time still shows him as willful one. Peter, like the San Quentin prisoner, protested having to eat the "bad" food (as an aside, I really have not figured out why God first instituted the dietary laws and then rescinded them; there is obviously a lot more going on than just food.)
The other night, in that hazy bridge between consciousness and sleep, I had a vision of sorts. I believe it was from God. In it, I saw a pure white bowl of food, like rice, being given to me to eat. The food, a metaphor, when eaten, would purify and satisfy me internally. After eating, I was to pass to bowl of forgiveness to others. The pure white bowl now was discolored and had taken on a dirtied tint. I considered that even my forgiveness had my sin staining it, and I had to be forgiven for my lack of forgiveness. I deduced that I would be most like Christ if I could pass that bowl to my fellow prisoners of sin without tainting it....it would be as white leaving my hands is it was when I first received the bowl.
Interestingly, as I was waiting to get my hair cut yesterday at the Barber Shop, I went to Matthew Henry's commentary on Acts 10:19 where he writes:
(19-33) "When we see our call clear to any service, we should not be perplexed with doubts and scruples arising from prejudices or former ideas. Cornelius had called together his friends, to partake with him of the heavenly wisdom he expected from Peter. We should not covet to eat our spiritual morsels alone. It ought to be both given and taken as kindness and respect to our kindred and friends, to invite them to join us in religious exercises. Cornelius declared the direction God gave him to send for Peter. We are right in our aims in attending a gospel ministry, when we do it with regard to the Divine appointment requiring us to make use of that ordinance."
As a note to those reading, Lina and I are headed out to California and I probably will not blog until I return to Pa.
"Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me."
I read the other day that inmates at San Quentin Prison in California had written reviews of the food and had posted it on the foodie website Yelp. In checking out the reviews, some were from visitors who had toured the prison.
Here is one of those:
"I've been told that the breakfasts here suck, but at least it has a nice view. Easy on/off freeway access, friendly staff, vending machines that work, and a cute yellow line for visitors to follow while being monitored."
For the regulars, the reviews aren't as chipper:
"Food's crappy except for Friday which is "Chicken on the Bone" day..and Sunday morning is the microwavable-like Grand Slam breakfast...everyone else there for the most part are dirtbags, with no realistic if any plans of changing. The violence is high to low depending on where your housed..mostly stabbings happen in badgers reception where the level 4's are on the first 2 tiers, surrenos and whiteboys on partially the 2nd to 3rd...and PC'S up the rest of the way."
Putting a review of prison food on Yelp would be funny if it were a gag. But, since it seems to be legit, many Conservatives (Law and Order types) would instead gag on the flavor of entitlement in the review. Like what else can we do to make your stay more enjoyable? Silk sheets, original Monet's on the walls, pedicures and spas, and fresh flowers to your suite each morning?
Punishment is not supposed to be fun or enjoyable, unless one likes pain. Yet, I think it is too easy to go too far the other way; to really not give a damn about prisoners, what they eat, and whether they live or die. "Here is your gruel, dammit. Take it or leave it." For, we are more like that prisoner than Christ. The Gospel meal is for the hungry...and let us be honest. Those sick, lonely, in prison, and unclothed, are often more ready to eat, than the satiated and self-centered of invisibly-incarcerated by sin and Satan, not inside the Penitentiary.
Since I have been staying in Acts 10 for a spell, I noticed that both Peter and Cornelius had vision from God. That Peter could contest the vision message the first time still shows him as willful one. Peter, like the San Quentin prisoner, protested having to eat the "bad" food (as an aside, I really have not figured out why God first instituted the dietary laws and then rescinded them; there is obviously a lot more going on than just food.)
The other night, in that hazy bridge between consciousness and sleep, I had a vision of sorts. I believe it was from God. In it, I saw a pure white bowl of food, like rice, being given to me to eat. The food, a metaphor, when eaten, would purify and satisfy me internally. After eating, I was to pass to bowl of forgiveness to others. The pure white bowl now was discolored and had taken on a dirtied tint. I considered that even my forgiveness had my sin staining it, and I had to be forgiven for my lack of forgiveness. I deduced that I would be most like Christ if I could pass that bowl to my fellow prisoners of sin without tainting it....it would be as white leaving my hands is it was when I first received the bowl.
Interestingly, as I was waiting to get my hair cut yesterday at the Barber Shop, I went to Matthew Henry's commentary on Acts 10:19 where he writes:
(19-33) "When we see our call clear to any service, we should not be perplexed with doubts and scruples arising from prejudices or former ideas. Cornelius had called together his friends, to partake with him of the heavenly wisdom he expected from Peter. We should not covet to eat our spiritual morsels alone. It ought to be both given and taken as kindness and respect to our kindred and friends, to invite them to join us in religious exercises. Cornelius declared the direction God gave him to send for Peter. We are right in our aims in attending a gospel ministry, when we do it with regard to the Divine appointment requiring us to make use of that ordinance."
As a note to those reading, Lina and I are headed out to California and I probably will not blog until I return to Pa.
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