We need more songs about the alternative values of Jesus. In readings today, God tells us to forget about being right, religious & respectable. The gospel especially (Matt 9) has Jesus calling a tax collector (Matthew) to follow him, which he does. Then, while he was having lunch, tax collectors & other outcasts came & joined him. When he was criticised by the "right" people, he told them to go & check the prophet Hosea (an OT reading for today):"What I want is mercy, not sacrifice!"
To make matters clearer, he heals two women that any right-thinking religious person should have nothing to do with: a woman with a serious menstrual malfunction & a girl who had already died. They laughed when he said she was only sleeping, & he was going to wake her up.
'You've got the strangest ways, you've got the strangest ways,
you've got the strangest ways, how can I understand you?
Man say bigger, he want bigger,
you come ever so small.
Woman say stronger, she want stronger,
you come ever so weak.
They were looking for a strong man,
a hero with a strong hand,
you came with peace, you came with love,
they thought you were the wrong man....'
(from the collection 'God. Version 1.0')
