What's the Problem?

Gospel: Luke 10: 25-37

A lawyer approaches Jesus with a problem: what must we do to inherit eternal life?  Jesus, in return, asks the lawyer what the law says, to which the lawyer replies:  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul; and to love one's neighbor as we love ourselves.  Jesus replies that this is correct.  So, what is the problem?  The lawyer then asks, Who is my neighbor?  Ah, there is the problem, one that gets bigger by the end of this encounter!

Jesus proceeds to tell a story that is utterly clear in its message.  We are to love everyone, including our enemies.  What is more, love consists not in abstract feelings or prayers.  This love must involve our actual encounter with our neighbor in their concrete needs.  It must involve the use of our own resources and means to care for the other person.  It means getting off our high horses and coming down to the level of the neighbor in need, regardless of who he or she happens to be.  

So, there is the problem: we do not want to do this.  What we do instead is to create theology and liturgy and all sorts of other things that we assert to be more important, much like the priest and Levite in the story.  We use our theology and liturgy to further separate ourselves from others so that we do not have these encounters with others.  But if we truly want eternal life, it will not be found in theology and liturgy.  It will be found in the encounter with our neighbor we do not like.