Love, Even Them

Gospel:  Luke 6: 27-38

The commandment to love others is uncontroversial in the abstract.  It even warms our heart when we apply it to people we already like and when we regard it for ourselves.  The commandment grows far more difficult when Jesus states here that it must also apply to strangers and our enemies - to people we do not like.  It grows even more difficult when Jesus gets specific and states that we must give to everyone who asks of us, not just those we deem worthy with our arbitrary categories of exclusion.

It is not coincidental that we are given this Gospel on this particular day with this particular anniversary in mind, and in the midst of the particular violence and divisiveness we face in our world.  We are reminded of the many times we have not followed the commandment of Jesus in this regard.  We see the effects of those failures in the world around us, in the hate and invective that fills our culture, in the ever increasing body counts of those lost to senseless violence around the globe.

Today is a day for us to reflect on how we might put into practice this commandment and teaching of Jesus in our lives - in the interactions we have each day in our work and homes, in the way in which we comport ourselves on social media, in the way in which we think about others, in what we choose to pray for and how we choose to pray for it.  Today is a day for us to reflect upon and imitate how Jesus himself lived his own commandment and teaching.