Drawing a Wider Circle
Bill Musser, Northeast Iowa Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
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He drew a circle that shut me out
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout
But love and I had the wit to win;
We drew a circle that took him in.
-----Edwin Markham
When I read Edwin Markham’s little poem about the circle, I am reminded of one of my favorite stories from Christian Scripture, the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 29-37). It is a tale that draws a wider circle, something Jesus often did in his ministry and his parables:
A man [presumably Jewish] was traveling along the road when some robbers fell upon him, beat him, stripped him, and left him to die. A priest walked by, saw him, and passed on the other side. A Levite, one of the religious hierarchy, also walked by and passed on the other side. Then a Samaritan came upon the scene. (Samaritans were rejected as “heretics, rebels, things to flout” by the religious people of the day; Jews and Samaritans would never think to eat together, worship together, intermarry, or even be in the same physical space together if it could be avoided.) It was the Samaritan who picked up the victim, bandaged his wounds, and paid for his lodging for the night. Concluding his story, Jesus asked, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The proper response was clear: “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”
Many in the religious hierarchy of Jesus’ day drew circles within circles, safeguarding their ritual laws and carefully delineating the differences between the “clean” and “unclean”, the “faithful” inside the circle and the “heretics” outside, often losing sight of the spirit of the law by focusing upon the letter of it. It was those on the “outside,” those who did not claim to have God in their circle, whom Jesus befriended. To those who insisted that God was on their side, Jesus responded with criticism. Their circles were too small, and so was their God.
I think of that Samaritan, and of how anyone who has ever been left out, ridiculed, put down, pushed out, omitted, dismissed, disregarded, or ignored would do well to draw a circle of one, keeping to him- or herself, if for no other reason than to remain safe. Yet it is that one, the “heretic,” the “one to flout,” who, in the end, draws a wider circle, one that is constructed of love and mercy, one that takes us all in.
May we go and do likewise.