not that good at being bad

I came across this quote from Joan Chittister in my morning quiet time today:

Life is not a game we win, and God is not a trophy we merit. No matter how "good" we are, we are not good enough for God. On the other hand, no matter how "bad" we are, we can never be outside of God. We can only hope in each instance to come to such a consciousness of God that no lesser gods can capture our attention and no trifling, self-centered gods can keep us from the fullness of awareness that is fullness of life. It is the project of life, this coming to wholeness . . .

It made me think of what you hear sometimes in 12-step meetings, people saying how they thought of themselves as the worst of the worst, beyond any help, uniquely bad, only to find out after putting some sober days together that, in fact, they weren't all that good at being bad!

No matter how good we are--no matter how many good works we do--we can never be good enough for God. But thanks be to God, we can never be so bad as to be outside God's grace. We are never, ever, beyond God's grasp, never ever.

This week's Gospel (if you don't use the All Saints' readings) is the story of Zaccheus, the tax collector. His livelihood depended on defrauding others--stealing from them, in fact. He was, as far as we can tell, likely to have been pretty bad. And what does Jesus do when he sees Zaccheus in a sycamore tree? He invites himself over for dinner. This Jesus will eat supper with anyone, even those of us who are pretty good at being bad.

Thanks be to God.