Have you ever been punched in the face by someone you haven’t even met?

That happened to me this week. The attacker was Richard Stearns, the author of a book I’m currently reading. I have not finished “The Hole in our Gospel” yet, so I will not be posting a review of it at this time, but this one passage did shake me up enough that I wanted to share it with my friends.

The part of the book that hit me in the face was Stearn’s modern paraphrase from Matthew 25. Stearn’s version goes like this:

For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved.

“Ouch,” is about all I can say at this point. I can tell something in me has to change.