Spring 2006 Chris Hoke, Assistant Jail Chaplain
For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.
Matt 9:13
Why did Jesus hang out with and call sinners to follow him? I’m increasingly convinced that they were the people best suited for his mission.
Reading the gospels with dozens of inmates—especially first generation Latino street gang members—I ask the men, “If you were Jesus, what kind of people would you want to follow you?”
These are individuals who can operate outside the religious establishment, ready to lose family and all possessions for the sake of one thing. Many have already laid their lives on the line for a member of their gang. Most have few reservations in coming alongside the ill-repute in the community and getting arrested by the authorities. They often have stories of others plotting to kill them.
I’ve been involved with a network of the youngest, most notorious Chicano Sureños, and have been challenged when reading Jesus’ call in Luke 6: If you only show love and respect to members of your own, what makes you any different? Even Norteños and cops do that.
Though guards shake their heads at the names of men I request to meet, a number of these 18-22 year olds tell me how they are praying for each other inside and outside the jail. Two nights ago, a 19-year-old felon who goes by “Travieso” —Spanish for “Naughty”—was eager to tell me that he’d prayed for his prosecutor last week... who just that day had suddenly decided not to press half of his charges.
Covered in tattoos and smiles, these are the ones the Father chooses to adopt, who Jesus chooses to follow him
