Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship

by Gregory Boyle

The things that haunt us, that cause us grief, can lead to emotional bludgeoning and tidal waves of shame. One of the signature marks of our God is the lifting of shame. Demons keep us from who we are. Jesus, we’re told, drives out demons—or anything that’s taken us over: drugs, celos, barrio. Yet, Jesus wants to demote “sinful behavior” and emphasize restoration in its place. Jesus, frankly, is not big on demons. He is more interested in driving out demonizing. So people in bondage need liberation, and people in exile need to return home. People who are blind need to see, while people who are sick and wounded need healing. People who are outcast need community. But we have been programmed to think that sins define us and that, once we have reached that point, there is no going back. Homies have their behavior always on their minds. Their “sin” is the power pack driving their shame. This source of disgrace is never-ending, and they are aware that others identify them by it. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus is passing through Jericho. He’s not staying. The gospel writer seems determined to underscore this. Jesus is just passing through the town. The crowds gather to watch him pass. A villager named Zacchaeus is too small to see much, so he scrambles up a tree to catch sight of Jesus. As Jesus is passing through, he spots Zacchaeus and says that he wants to stay—at his house. The entire crowd gasps. Zacchaeus is the chief tax collector—that is, the poster child of “the bad guy,”...