Who is my Neighbor

 

     

    Homily: Sunday 30th Week in Ordinary Time – You shall love God & Neighbor
    1st Reading: Exodus 22: 20-26 – You shall molest or oppress and alien
    2nd Reading: 1Thess. 1: 5C-10- And you became imitators of us & the Lord
    Gospel: Matt 22: 34-40 – What is the Greatest Commandment

    The Apostle John was the only apostle who did not die as a martyr. He was exiled to the island of Patmos and died of old age. It was while he was in exile there that he wrote the fourth Gospel and the Book of Revelation. And there is a story which says “while he was already very old, his disciples would carry him to Church every Sunday. During the Mass, he would say to the people: “My dear children: love one another.” This was his one and the same message. After some time, one disciple asked him, “Master, why do you always say the same thing: Love one another?” St. John answered, “Because it is the command of the Lord. And if only this is followed, it will be enough.”
    
    Today’s readings speak of love for God and love of neighbor, which have been part of Jewish/Christian tradition since Mt. Sinai. But the understanding of what it means to love as required in Old Testament was amplified and clarified by Jesus. It was Jesus who came to teach, and to model what it means to love God and neighbor.

    The verses we heard today in our First reading from the Book of Exodus were taken from a huge number of laws concerning how the people were to conduct themselves within the Jewish community. These “laws” were meant to preserve a religious spirit and order among the people. All of these laws were seen as being given by God and keeping them was the way they showed “love” or reverence for God. These “laws covered such areas as theft, compensation of someone for injuries, immoral or immodest behavior and violent actions done to others.

    What we hear are verses about not molesting or mistreating foreigners, orphans and widows. If one were to harm one of these and they cried out to God, it says that God would mercilessly kill the abuser. We hear about the prohibition of demanding high or unreasonable interest or payback from someone to whom a loan is made. Yes, requiring some amount of interest is reasonable, but compassion was to be shown to those in need. If not the one who made the loan could expect God’s compassion to be withheld from them.

    All of these laws were quite specific and seemed to cover every eventuality. And the Jewish man or woman would have no problem knowing exactly what it means to love God, if they obeyed each one exactly. Now for some, that might be just what they would need to make life easy. Keeping all of these “laws” was how one showed love for God. But this begs the question, “does keeping the “law” mean it is love?” For the answer to this question, we need to turn to the words and example Jesus gave us.

    In the Gospel, Jesus is confronted once again by the Pharisees in an attempt to trap him into saying something which contradicts the faith and traditions as they understood them. So, they ask him which law or commandment is the greatest? And Jesus recites back to them, the very law that they claim to live by. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 called the Shema “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is Lord alone; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart." Every faithful Jew had these words memorized. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say, there is a 2nd commandment which is like it. He then quotes Leviticus 19:18, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” and He says that the whole law and the prophets depend or hang on these two commandments. And in responding to them in this way He links the two commandments together. He’s making them interdependent on each other. He is telling them that you can’t profess to love God, if you do not show love for your neighbor.

    Now the biblical or Jewish understanding of neighbor was defined by the expression, "the children of my people." Here, and pretty much throughout the Old Testament, the term neighbor implies more than just someone who lived next to you. It meant one related by the bond of nationality, a fellow countryman, another Jew. But Jesus means to expand this definition as well.

    In fact, in Luke’s Gospel account the Pharisees respond by asking then, “Who is my neighbor?” So, Jesus goes on to tell them the Parable of the Good Samaritan, a non-Jew, despised by Jews, who shows more compassion to a man beaten and left on the road than the other two Jewish characters in the story. But in Matthew’s Gospel, he leaves it more to us to not only think about who our neighbor is, but what constitutes loving that person. Regardless, Jesus told us in words and in actions what our mindset should be.

    So, who is my neighbor and what constitutes loving them? Well every single person who is living and breathing on this earth is my neighbor. And I am required to love them, not with the love of a husband or wife, mother or father, sister or brother, or even as a friend. To love my neighbor is to will their good and to care about their immortal souls.

    And this command may seem more challenging today than perhaps at any other time in history given what is going on in our country, our church, and in our world. For if we are to take Jesus at his word, then we are called to care about the souls of those who have caused harmed to us, to our family, to our country. We are called to care about the souls of those who profess to be Catholic, Christian, Jewish, or have no religious or faith-based affiliation at all but by their words and actions have strayed from what God and their faith calls them to be and to do. And sadly, we may also encounter those have turned their back on God altogether. But, if we profess to be disciples of Christ, then according to Christ all of these are our neighbor. So, if that is the case how are we to respond? What is our obligation to them? First, as I said, we must care about their immortal souls and we must pray for God to change their hearts. Next with a well-formed conscience rooted in scripture and the sacred tradition and teaching of the Church, we are obligated to call them to accountability and show them where they are in error. And just as when our children have gone off the right path and we must show them tough love, so it is with all of these others who are our neighbor.

    Today there is an evil which has infiltrated our country and our church. There are those in political leadership, Church leadership, in the media, and people of social and economic prominence who claim to be Catholic, Christian, Jewish, or profess to believe in God in some other manner but have lost their way. By their words and their actions, they have gone against the tenets of the faith or church of which they claim membership. Today we are enduring a diabolical wave of behavior by those in positions of power and influence which places the respect, the dignity, the protection of all human life on the same or even a lower level of priority as other social issues, like climate change, the economy, and health care reform to name a few. We see societal acceptance of all sorts of immoral behavior and sins against purity. We see intentional and aggressive attacks on traditional marriage and the family. We see Catholics, Christians, and Jews being persecuted in the media and at the hands of our political leadership. We hear a deafening silence and lack of outrage by our political leaders as Churches are desecrated and burned. We see inaction by those to whom we entrusted our safety and protection as we see people lose their lives to violence and our cities and neighborhoods being destroyed. We see a Church membership, both clergy and laity which appears to be divided in its understanding of the most basic teachings and traditions of our faith. And yet, the Gospels tell us that every one of these people is also our neighbor and that we should love them; not agree with them, not sit down and break bread with them, though Jesus would have, and we are not to give them a free pass. Rather we are to hold them and ourselves accountable for actions which contradict who and what the Lord calls us to be as baptized members of the body of Christ. So how do we do this? Well for those in political leadership, if we cannot sway them from the positions or courses they have taken, we are obligated to make our voices heard in the voting booth. For those in the Church and Church leadership who seem to advocate for positions which contradict the scriptures and Church teaching, we are obligated to reach out to them in writing or in person and express our confusion and/or dissatisfaction. For those in the media, or in other areas of influence, we have the right to express our discontent, and refuse to support the institutions or causes they represent. But again, we must do all of these things with a well-formed conscience, rooted in Scripture and the Sacred Tradition of our Church. We must know what our faith teaches and why it teaches it, before we can call others to accountability.

    But, first and foremost, we are obligated to pray for them; to pray that the Lord will change their hearts and we are obligated to pray for their eternal souls which are in immortal danger. And we must do so from a position of love, not anger, not hate, not despair because love cannot exist where anger and hate are present. If we do so in anger or with hate, we will fail in our efforts to help change their minds and hearts.

    This the challenge of loving our neighbor because St. John tells us in his 1st letter, “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.

    So, who is my neighbor? Everyone born & unborn, young, and old, rich or poor, sinner or saint. All are our neighbors.