illusion:  perception of something objectively existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature—Merriam Webster On-line Dictionary

This morning, Sister Mary Cora, from a nearby Catholic Church, visited our campus and shared about a ministry that they have to migrant workers living in the city and surrounding area of Daejeon, South Korea.  The migrant workers are people from Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand.  Theses workers live and work on the outskirts of the city and they labor primarily in the agricultural sector.  Sister Mary Cora stated that the work of the migrant laborers falls under the “3-D” classification.  

“3-D” stand for the 3-D’s of: 

Dangerous, Difficult and Dirty.

In other words they do the work that no one else wants to do.  The migrant workers here in South Korea are very poor and very lonely people.  Many of them are living in the country illegally as their visas have long since expired. They don’t want to leave South Korea because the combination of work, friends and familiarity has turned this foreign country into what they call home.

As I consider Sister Mary Cora’s description of the Daejeon migrant workers and their “3-D” classification I find myself thinking about Jesus and about being a disciple of Jesus Christ.  I can’t help but think that the Daejeon migrant workers are the types of people that top Jesus’ list as the “least of these” in Matthew 25 and the “blessed” in Matthew 5. 

I see the “3-D’s” of Dangerous, Difficult and Dirty as accurate descriptors of Jesus’ call to His disciples in Matthew 10.  His words are jarring as He calls them to go out into a world as aliens and strangers and do the work that no one else wants to do—invite the lost and lonely to come home.

I am still thinking along the lines of illusion……