Who do you love?

            It is so easy to love some people. The precious giggles and kisses from my two little girls make it so easy to love them. The diligent, consistent nature of my wife makes her easy to love. The sweet, gracious woman that is going through cancer treatments, but still makes time to encourage me and bring my family meals is easy to love. The ones that make us strive to be more than we think we can be, are easy to love. The ones that show love to those I love, are easy to love. The ones that I agree with, are easy to love.

            However, there are some people that I find very difficult to love. Those that would do harm, physically, emotionally, or spiritually to those I love, I find very difficult to love. Those that are untrustworthy, manipulative, domineering, or lying, I find very difficult to love. Those that make it clear, through their words and/or actions, that they seek to discourage me, I find it very difficult to love. Those that use their both their spoken words and written words to tear down and bring division, are very difficult to love. Those that I totally disagree with, I find difficult to love.

            Nevertheless, the words of Jesus keep coming back to me. The law is summarized in two commands, love God with all your being and love your neighbor as you love yourself (Luke 10:27). He goes on to explain who our neighbor is by telling perhaps his best known parable, the parable of the good Samaritan. This story has become so well known that it is easy to miss the profound nature of what Jesus means here. It means more than simply helping the person you see in trouble, though that is a very good thing to do. It goes deeper than that simple meaning.

            For hundreds of years the Jews and Samaritans were hated enemies. This hatred is still seen, to some extent, with the conflicts between Israel and Palestine today. Both groups claimed they were the rightful heirs of the promises to Abraham and Moses, both claimed they were the rightful owners of the land. It was dangerous to travel between the lands in Jesus’ day. It can be dangerous today as well. If one takes a direct route from Galilee to Jerusalem, it will take them through the West Bank. Most Israelites today will avoid that route if possible. Most at the time of Jesus would take a less direct route and go to Jericho first, then go up the mountain to Jerusalem.

            Danger could still be found on this route as well. Robbers often preyed on travelers as they walked this lonely road. Often those who had been mugged were left for dead. In our story, a Jewish man had been beaten, robbed, and left for dead. A good Jewish person on their way to the Temple would be very hesitate to touch someone that might be dead, because it would make them ceremonially unclean. Thus, preserving their purity was more important, in their misguided view, than showing love to their neighbor.

            When the lawyer asked Jesus who counts as a neighbor, he fully expected the answer to be other Israelites. Yet, Jesus surprised him, and all who heard it no doubt, by teaching that God is much more gracious than he. God is the God of the whole world and a neighbor is anyone in need. Jesus turned the man’s question around and asked him, who is real neighbor in this story?

            Jesus was asking him, can you see that your hated enemy is also your neighbor? The lawyer had deceived himself, and most of his time agreed, into believing that God had shown Israel love and grace so that they could remain isolated, secure, and pure. However, the grace and love that God shows each of us should stand as a challenge to extend love and grace to the whole world. We as Christians must not be content to watch while someone we do not see as a friend lies half dead in the road.

            Yes, it is easy to love those that agree with us, look like us, think like us, and make us feel good about ourselves. It is much harder to live up to the words of Jesus, “the world will know you are my disciples by the way you love one another” (John 13:35).

            In 1 John 4:7-11 we are commanded to love another, if we are unable to love, then we do not know God. God showed us what real love is by sending Jesus to die for us. Therefore, “if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

            Let us be known as a community of faith that shows love, grace, and compassion because we have been shown the same by God. If God only loved those who are worthy, showed grace to those who had earned it (as if that were possible), and expressed compassion to those who deserve it, none of us would know the love, grace, and compassion of the Lord. Therefore, let us go forth and do the same.