Tempering the human need to belong to a community with the grief of being shunned or exiled by that very community you wish to belong to is a very relevant social problem in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Biblical passages are replete with requests for role reversals, promises of restoration and outsiders being made to feel welcomed at the banquet table. Social anthropologists refer to a similar phenomenon they describe as “insider/outsider” social status.

	Who are the insiders/outsiders in our community? How can we change those roles or eliminate them altogether?

In Matthew 28:1-10 and John 20:1-18, we are told of Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Christ. What distinguishes the passage in the gospel of John is that Mary is grieving alone. She is grieved because she sees the stone has been removed from the tomb. Imagine if you will, what it was that Jesus did for Mary Magdalene. Regardless of what you believe may have been socially unfit about Mary Magdalene; her encounter with Jesus changed her social status from outsider to insider. And he loved her unconditionally.

In the Gospel accounts Mary’s grief for Jesus is on full display. She witnessed Jesus die a cruel, vicious and agonizing death. All she can do for him now is care for his body. Imagine her angst when she gets to the tomb, and sees it has been disturbed. She seeks solace from the other disciples. So why don’t they give it to her? Why is there no acknowledgment by Peter and the other disciple of her distress? Why do they just leave Mary weeping outside the tomb? Again, Mary is grieving alone. But interestingly enough, Mary can see things apparently the male disciples could not: two angels. And then she sees the risen Christ.  

	Are we guilty of missing or not acknowledging someone’s pain, as the male disciples did with Mary?

In Jeremiah 31:1-6, God makes a covenant with the people of Israel that they will always belong to God. The Holy One consoles Israel with the promise to restore the fortunes of Israel and Judah and bring them back to the land they once possessed. Such restoration will encompass community building (verse 1), urban renewal (verse 4) and agricultural abundance (verse 5). In other words, the people of Israel will always have insider status with God just as Mary Magdalene has insider status with Jesus because she saw him alive before anyone else.

We find the notion of Christ’s promise of contact and comfort fortified in Acts 10: 34-43 where the theme of liberation is illustrated as Peter preaches his last evangelistic sermon. Peter opens with the proclamation that “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (verse 34 and 35). With regard to God’s love and salvation God exercises no partiality as to race, gender, sexual orientation, profession or any other status. One’s particular status or characteristics within the diverse pantheon of God’s own creation cannot hinder one from the love of Christ. Nonetheless, the questions we are left with are “what is right?” and “who is acceptable to Christ Jesus?”

	What are we doing in our churches to give LBGT brothers and sisters a similar sense of belonging and restoration?

The answers to these questions can be found as we seek God, particularly, in our own private contested places – those spaces where we deem ourselves sinners, where our fellow human beings assert our sinfulness and most importantly where we are confronted by God. In those places where we experience grief, alienation and shame, Christ promised to meet us. If we avail ourselves to Christ and to the bounty of his love we grab hold to the promise of the caveat Peter expresses when he conveys “that everyone who believes in [Jesus Christ] receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (v. 43). All things considered and experienced, it is belief in Christ that ultimately matters. All of the Easter passages for this week echo the call for belonging and restoration.