Jesus Has AIDS

World AIDS Day 2013

In the end of the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus mentions taking care of the sick and judges the nations based on a simple premise, “what you have failed to do for the least of these you have failed to do for me.”  Jesus consistently incarnates or becomes the sick, mistreated and vulnerable.  According to the World Health Organization, over 35.3 million people worldwide are currently living with HIV/AIDS, an estimated 1.6 million people died of HIV/AIDS in 2012, 1 out of every 20 persons in Sub-Saharan Africa has HIV/AIDS and HIV/AIDS is the world’s leading infectious killer (http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/hiv/facts/en/index2.html and http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs360/en/index.html).  The ongoing suffering of the HIV/AIDS crisis has created a world in which Jesus has AIDS.  I believe that Jesus liberates us to love through our encounters with the sick, mistreated and vulnerable.  On this day, may we not fail to remember that our salvation and liberation lies with those with HIV/AIDS.  May we be the hands and feet of hope and healing.

Amen.