March 5, 2009

On the Journey

                            Our Love of God Revealed—

              A lawyer, an expert in the Mosaic Law, asked Jesus a question. Matthew, in remembering this encounter, believed the lawyer intended to test Jesus. Honest inquiry or religious test, this question was posed to Jesus: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [Matthew 22:36]  Jesus, the Rabbi, never failed to answer a direct question—honest inquiry or test. Jesus offered a rather direct, but very complex, answer: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” [Matthew 22:37-40] With his answer, Jesus established a direct connection between our love of God and our love of neighbor.

              Since the first century, followers of Jesus have wrestled with this linkage of God and neighbor. We ponder, explore, and debate this connection seeking to find a way to separate loving God from loving neighbor. Many of us are tempted to believe we can accomplish the love of God side of the commandment without loving our neighbor. Yet, Jesus refuses to allow such a delusion to stand.

              Of the followers of Jesus, in the first century, who left behind a written witness, John, the beloved disciple, appears to have understood this linkage of love of God and love of neighbor best. He refuses to allow us, twenty-first century believers, the comfort of our delusion for one minute. John wrote to the believers of the early church:

We love God because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother and sister, whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this commandment: Whoever loves God must also love his brother and sister. [I John 4:19-21]

Could John be any clearer about this linkage between loving God and loving neighbor?

              Both Jesus and John taught that our love for God is revealed in concrete acts of love toward our neighbor. Jesus opened the door of the kingdom of God to those who offered water, food, clothing, care, and friendship to their neighbors. Yes, “the least of them” are our neighbors. John taught this principle of active love when he asked this penetrating question, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has not pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” [I John 3:17] He emphasized the primacy of love in action when he wrote: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with action and in the truth.” [I John 3:18] Reviewing John’s teaching, it is obvious that followers of Jesus have struggled with this linkage of love of God and love of neighbor from the very beginning. Many have struggled and succeeded in loving God and neighbor. Many have failed to love both God and neighbor.

              Last week, in this column, I introduced to you a Russian pilgrim wandering all through the land seeking to learn how to pray without ceasing. I printed for you the first section of a treatise on loving God that challenged the pilgrim to question his assertion that he loved God. This week I share with you the second treatise that challenges the pilgrim’s claim to love his neighbor. Please read carefully—

   2. I do not love my neighbor. Not only because I am not ready to lay down my life for the good of my neighbor, according to the Gospel, but I will not even sacrifice my peace and my happiness for his good. If I loved my neighbor as myself, as the Gospel commands, then his misfortune would grieve me also and his prosperity would bring me great joy. But, on the contrary, I listen with curiosity to accounts of my neighbor’s misfortune and I am not grieved but indifferent to them and, what is more, I seem to find satisfaction in them. I do not sympathize with the failings of my brother but I judge them and publicize them. My neighbor’s welfare, honor, and happiness do not delight me as my own; I am either completely indifferent to them or I am jealous or envious. [The Way Of A Pilgrim, Translated by Helen Bacovcin]

The treatise challenges our love for one another by describing how our thoughts paralyze any concrete acts of love.

              If we dare read the gospels, we might be astounded to find out how often Jesus links our actions toward our neighbors and God’s response to us. I urge you to recall this teaching of Jesus: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” [Matthew 7:1-2] Recall: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.” [Luke 6:37-38a] I suspect these teachings of Jesus alone will consume great portions of our time in prayer, for only prayer leads to genuine acts of love toward our neighbor.

              I have come to learn a spiritual truth filled with both fear and promise. The lesson is this: My love for God is most clearly revealed in the concrete ways I love my neighbor. I know this lesson is true, for the Bible tells me so. Let us love our neighbor, so we may love God. Peace.jamie