See that tiny ship on the horizon – the one that looks like maybe a boat? It’s a cargo container ship. It’s enormous. For frame of reference, see the picture below of the Ever Given which was infamously stuck in the Suez Canal. Bear in mind that each of those boxes you see is a semi-tractor trailer.
That’s at least the size of the ship on the horizon. Yet it appears to be minuscule. Our perception of its size is distorted by distance. We also cannot see the part of the ship that is underwater.
That same distortion of perspective can occur when we observe other’s lives. We minimize or dismiss painful wounds because we are too far away from either the person or the wound. For the person, their perspective is of something so very large it is overwhelming and they cannot understand why others cannot appreciate its enormity. The disconnection makes things even more painful.
Jesus bridged that disconnection by coming close to those no else in society would approach: lepers, tax collectors, blind, so many others living at the margins. He recognized the enormity of what they faced, he came close, and he engaged.
How can we do less? Where are we needed?
Just Sayin' 