We truly are all in
"this" life on this planet together although you would think, given
some of the dispiriting rhetoric here and around the world, that we can just stop
interacting with others, just take care of us, and
ignore them. Of course, one of the largest issues in this life today is
eons old: a satisfactory definition of who us is. Another
lawyer asked Jesus in Luke's parable of the Good Samaritan, Who is my
neighbor? [Luke
10:25-37] We of
the human variety are determined to answer this question correctly,
that is, to suit our own needs and wants and keep within the rules we
have set, even when they change by whim. We build walls, fences, and tall gates
that are all designed to keep out the uninvited, the unacceptable, the dangerous
- in other words, those people, that kind, the others, THEM.
But here’s a shocker, we each
are the other, a member of “them” to someone else. We
create and receive suspicion and fear when we step away from what we think is
our special sheltered space to enter another’s. Of course, we must protect
ourselves and others from those who are truly dangerous
and who would do anyone true harm. But all too often we categorize someone as
dangerous because of gender, color, race, language, hair styles, clothing, body
art or lack of, another neighborhood, region, or country, etc. It's much easier
to have a big chart of absolutes – this group BAD, this group GOOD – and that
way we don't have to engage, learn more about, slip into liking, and are able
to avoid knowing that skin, muscles, blood, and bones are the same
in all of God's people.
It's difficult,
uncomfortable, even distressing at times, to sift through our own prejudice,
dislike, even hatred of an unknown person or group. It takes time away from the
easier activities of going through life without having to think for myself
because I know my group and will avoid those outside of it. It also involves
looking into oneself - how do I really feel about me? Do I have trouble loving
myself? Is it truly self-satisfying to dismiss or diminish another – or just an
ego boost of a very false sense of superiority or, even inferiority?
Jesus, answering this lawyer in Matthew’s Gospel, who is also a Pharisee,
gets directly to the point that all the Commandments of
God can be cleanly distilled into just two: 1. Love God completely, 2. Love
your neighbor as yourself. This concept is no surprise to the Pharasaic
lawyer. Earlier in Deuteronomy, Dt 6:4-5 specifically, is the opening to the
Shema (sheh-mah), which in Judaism is a part of morning and evening prayer: Hear,
O Israel: The Lord is our God, the
Lord alone. You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might. Earlier
still, in Leviticus 19:18b, is …you shall love your neighbor as yourself. It
is Jesus, however, who combines the two as the greatest and first commandment.
And a second is like it… and surprises them with what we now refer to as the
summary of the Law when he says to those who would trap him: On these
two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. If you think about it,
if you truly love God and love your neighbor as yourself, you will honor and
you won’t covet, steal, or otherwise break any of the other commandments!
Yet the obvious
questions remain as we search for loopholes and escape from the hard work: Who
is my neighbor? Answer: Any/Every human you meet. OK, I have
to “love” my neighbor, but do I also have to like my neighbor? Answer:
Not in a best friend sort of way, but an attempt to get to know her or him, or
them, might surprise you. Putting a face on a label challenges one’s pre-conceived
notions and what one has been led to believe by a group-think. Loving your
neighbor is more about acceptance and tolerance of differences and discovering similarities.
That instant judgement within ourselves is not easy to overcome, especially
when those around us are sticking with the usual plan.
Jesus was saying to the lawyer in this week's reading, and in the Good
Samaritan parable, just following the human-made-subject-to-change-rules isn't enough. We must be
intentional in our efforts. And yes, we will fail, often, but we must keep
trying. If we keep repeating to ourselves, as a mantra perhaps, Help me,
Jesus, to Love the Lord my God
with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my might, and to love my
neighbor as myself, and we are consciously and intentionally working to live
and act within these two commandments, we will discover a stronger faith in God,
and that on God’s Label, Them really are Us. Let’s all keep working on this, together.
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