Word to the Wise
Monday, March 2, 2009 - Monday in the First Week of Lent
[Leviticus 19:1-2; 11-18 and Matthew 25:31-46]You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
If we need a "program of life" that will be expressive of what Jesus expects of us, the scene depicted in Matthew 25 is about as clear as anything can be! There are very good people who do these things who are not Christian or Jewish or Moslem or any of the world's religions. Yes, that's true. Our faith in Jesus is the motivating force for acting as he describes. There are those who would point to the scene of the Final Judgment which Michaelangelo painted on the wall of the Sistine Chapel, which rather terrifies than consoles! They suggest that the fundamental reason people would do good deeds is terror and fear about what will happen if they don't. Again, there may be folks who act from that motive, but that is not what Jesus offers. He quoted from Leviticus: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. It is sad to think that compassion might have to be compelled by fear. I would hope not! We should see every person as a child of God, even if they are deformed by hatred or physically repugnant to us. If we become insensitive to their very existence, as in the case of Dives who seems unaware of Lazarus on his doorstep, we will have to accept the consequences of our insensitivity! It seems to me that today's gospel scripture urges us to look for those who need our compassion and not just wait for them to come to us. It's not a matter of imposing our need to be compassionate on someone as if we are using them as a stepping stone to God's approval! We just need to open our eyes and ears and hearts and minds to our neighbor and realize it could be ourselves! AMEN