For laypeople there may be no more important direction from Jesus than today’s Gospel. Today’s version is from Matthew but the one from Luke is probably the most famous because it is linked to the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
In any event, in this world of conflict and strife we need to especially pay attention to Jesus’ command to love God and neighbor. So many times we tend to love others to the extent that they agree with us on politics or whatever we value the most.
It’s heartening to see some Jews and Palestinians actually talking to one another and not just shouting past one another. Those examples are few in number but they do exist and we should learn from them. Are Jews called to love even Hamas. In a word, yes, but let’s remember what we mean when we say love. Christian love, Agape, is “willing the good of the other” according to St. Thomas Aquinas. As I’ve said numerous times over the years sometimes that love manifests itself in praying for that “other” without any further action we might associate with loving. You might ask, why would we love, or pray for, an other who is bent on destroying an entire people? It is exactly the extremism of their beliefs that most causes us to need to pray for them and their change of heart. A really important part of hate is seeing the other as something less than human. Praying for that to change in all people, Jew, Palestinian, American, and everyone else is key to loving our neighbor in our current world. It is the innate dignity in all of us that comes from being made in God’s image and likeness that leads to this requirement to love neighbor, friend, enemy, etc.
Nothing I’m saying here should be construed to mean Israel should not defend itself. It should, all countries should. But lasting change, the kind this world needs, will come through the conversion of hearts. It is that conversion that Jesus is referring to in today’s Gospel as well as in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. You might replace Samaritan with Palestinian, or even Hamas fighter, odd as that might sound, in a modern reading of that Parable.
As I write this on Friday morning Pope Francis has asked for today to be a day of fasting, penance, and prayer for peace, especially the Middle East. If you didn’t know that, or if you weren’t able to participate as you would have liked I encourage you to set your own day for this purpose. If you can’t do everything, do what you can. As a management consultant I used to listen to was fond of saying, “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Do what you can to pray for peace, with justice, for the world, especially in Israel and Gaza.
I’ve focused on today’s situation in our world but these “Two Great Commandments” of our faith are timeless. Loving God and loving our neighbor, even those we find difficult to love, are among the most important things we do in the Christian life. If you completely ignore these things, or even some part of them it’s not Christ you’re following, it’s your own religion. Let’s not be those people.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace, Bob
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