Today’s readings are about God’s rules for us. In the passage from Deuteronomy, Moses has given the Law to the people of Israel. Now he’s encouraging them to obey the Law. Surely, this isn’t too hard. He says this, knowing that they probably won’t. The psalmist begs God to lead him and forgive his sins. He knows he hasn’t been perfect in following God’s law. Next, we have the epistle, in which Paul urges the Colossians to be led by God.
Lastly, in the Gospel reading, a lawyer, or religious authority, asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. As in other places, when this question comes up, Jesus asks the questioner what the Law says, and again, this man replies, love God and love your neighbor as yourself, and Jesus says, you’ve got it.
But this man asks another question: who is my neighbor?
Kind of sounds like he’s looking for a loophole, doesn’t it? Who, exactly, are these people I’m supposed to love?
So Jesus tells him the parable of the Good Samaritan. Your neighbor could be anybody.
This is not news to any of us. We’ve heard this story many times, and talked about it. Your neighbors are the people who help you, or who need your help. And they might not be the people you expect to be connected with. In Jesus’s time, the Samaritans were those neighbors the Israelites didn’t get along with. Their religious practices were just different enough to make them unacceptable.
In the 21st century, we know just how big the world is. We know there are a multitude of cultures and languages and religions out there. Here in the Bay Area, we see people every day who don’t look like us or worship like us or speak our language fluently. We’re mostly OK with that. Yet still, we find people to vilify.
So what can we do? Especially now, when it seems as if everything we’ve been working for all our lives is coming down. How do we love our neighbors?
Spoiler alert: I’m not going to say anything here that you haven’t heard before. I just think we need to keep reminding ourselves: do things that bring joy. Make art and music, grow flowers, feed people, laugh. Dance. Be kind. Smile at people. If they smile back, you both feel a little better. If they don’t, let it go. If you have money to donate, give it to organizations that are fighting for the things you care about.
It’s tempting to let our anger at people who seem to be determined to set us backwards take over. Of course we’re angry. We can’t help how we feel. But we do have some control over our words and our actions.
Sure, it feels good to vent sometimes, and we can vent among ourselves. When we’re talking to people we don’t necessarily agree with, I think it’s better to keep it positive. I don’t mean naïve, oh-everything-will-be-fine positive, but rather, talking about the specific things we are FOR. Justice for everyone; food and shelter, healthcare and freedom from fear for everyone. Kindness. Making the continued survival of people and animals and plants more important than how much money a few people have.
So let that be how we frame what we say. It won’t necessarily change anyone’s mind, but who knows? It might.
I think it’s important to stay positive, because it’s just more energizing, at least for me, than thinking about how awful things are. It also seems like a more loving perspective.