Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 10, 2019 - Thursday after Epiphany, or Jan. 10
[1 John 4:19-5:4 and Luke 4:14-22a]THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2019 CHRISTMAS WEEKDAY - Thursday after the Epiphany [1 John 4:19-5:4 and Luke 4:14-22a] Beloved, we love God because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. [1 John] These words from the first scripture of the day set the threshold for loving God. That threshold is our neighbor! If we hate our neighbor, we cannot in truth say that we love God. If we try to narrow the definition of “neighbor” to make this easier, we have only to read the parable of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel According to Luke [15:29-37]. One of the ways in which we fail in this regard is by categorizing an entire group of people and saying, “They are all the same.” The ugly history of racism in this country could be Exhibit A. Another way we can fail is in refusing to forgive a person (or, as above, a group of persons) for some failure on their part. Family feuds are an example of this. The words of the “Lord’s Prayer” which we say over and over again ask God to forgive us to the extent we forgive others! The words from 1 John make it clear that God loves us, but they also make it clear that to return this love we cannot detour around our neighbor and say “I love God!” AMEN
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