No one owns or controls God and no one is better in God's eyes than another. That is a difficult lesson for human beings to learn. After all, people love to feel morally and spiritually superior to others. Individuals, as well as nations, ethnic groups, and religions can often feel as if they have a special and exclusive relationship with God. Looking down on others can make us feel better about ourselves - privileged and special. But Paul the Apostle will not hear of it. His experience of the Risen Christ has taught him a valuable lesson: All - repeat, all - have fallen short of the glory of God. No one person and no group can stand before God and claim innocence. We have all failed to live up to God's commandments of justice and love. We need only look at the world around us and at the daily news for concrete proof of our collective failing. Jesus points out our blindness in the Gospel passage: we condemn those who rejected or killed the prophets but we continue to do the same things. But there is good news: God extends a loving and forgiving hand to all the people of the earth as a gracious gift. We cannot earn this - we must surrender ourselves to God and accept His gift with humility.