Mark, My Words: October 25, 2020
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Good Grief, Love Your Neighbor!
In today’s gospel, the Pharisees miss the point that the commandments were made for people—not people for the commandments. In the abstract, they did love people—much like Linus (of the Peanuts cartoon), who said it best: “I love mankind—it’s people I can’t stand.” They quibbled endlessly about fine points of the law.
So Jesus tells them, “You can quit arguing. Here it is in a nutshell: Love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind. Oh—and love your neighbor as you love your own self.”
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? and yet—if we know how to love God or our neighbor, why is there so much casual use (even among church-goers) of rude or hate-filled words? “I can’t stand her.” “I hate him!” “She is such an idiot.” “He’s a troll.” “What a loser!” But what if we stop tinkering with ourselves and other people as if we were broken-down cars, and instead, see ourselves and others as God sees us?
Use your imagination to picture Jesus on the Cross, gazing at certain people in your life, forgiving them and loving them in spite of their violence, dishonesty, or evil intentions. We learn that WE do not manufacture compassion… but we BECOME compassionate when we choose to let ourselves SEE God having compassion on others. This way, you won’t have to say, “I love God, it’s people I can’t stand!”