Matthew 22:34-40
When Jesus gives us his answer to the scholar of the law in today's gospel, it isn’t anything new. He literally quotes the Old Testament, directly from the Torah, the part considered the holiest section. You can see an expansion of that second part in the first reading, when the lord tells the Israelites that there is no question, he is on the side of the poor, the alien, the widow and the orphan. But when you read the historical books of the Old Testament, you see that there wasn’t much recorded about how well the people followed these directions. In fact, the opposite seems to be true. And I don’t think things have changed much since Jesus’ time either. We certainly can point with some satisfaction to our Church and how down through the ages there have been movements within the Church to show love to those in distress -- the many religious orders, the lay movements, the founding of hospitals and colleges and orphanages -- Jesus is not talking about institutional charity. In a similar passage in the gospel of Luke, he follows this with the story of the Good Samaritan, to point out the way we are to love our neighbor.
But we don’t. I don’t anyway. I encounter someone whose cardboard sign tells me they are homeless, and I look the other way. If I’m ever downtown, and I hardly go anymore, I try to avoid the person whose belongings are all in a borrowed shopping cart. And I bet most of you are the same way. Oh, I want what is best for them, and I guess that’s sort of love.
Perhaps we should look at the words of Jesus more closely. Our attention is naturally drawn to the first statement, the love of God. But Jesus really mentions three loves -- of God, of neighbor, and of ourselves. And I wonder sometimes whether our inability to carry out Jesus’ greatest commandments in a wholehearted way has to do with our not loving ourselves. Most of us, especially in this community, take care of ourselves physically. We aren’t given to drug or alcohol abuse. Some of us exercise and watch our diets. I guess taking care of our physical needs is love of self. But what do we put in our minds? Where do we go for mental stimulation? I don’t know about you, but for me it’s hard not to follow the clickbait trail when I turn on my computer. Before I know it, I’m learning things like “what the Catholic Church does not want you to know.”
And now that I can get almost any program any time, thanks to Netflix, I’m watching old shows that I missed when they first came out on network tv. And there are people that fill their minds with porn or spend hours playing realistic video games. This sort of thing is not loving myself, it’s the opposite. And what do we put in our souls? Jesus said, “where your treasures are, there your heart will be”. And he urged us to lay up treasures in heaven” so our hearts will be there as well. And I can only hope God is giving me some slack about all the distractions I experience when I’m praying or trying to study scripture, both of which I don’t do often enough or well enough. That’s not loving myself.
If you read the biographies of some of the great saints, like Saint Therese of Lisieux, you often find a moment in their lives when things changed, and they settled into proper love of themselves, which freed up their power to love their neighbor and God. Theresa realized that she didn’t have to be a missionary or a martyr, she would be love, love in the heart of the church. Saint Francis discovered his true self when he heard Jesus tell him to build up his church and began doing exactly that. When we really learn to love ourselves, we embrace who we are, warts and all -- and in doing so we become in tune with God, who long before we do, has already embraced us.
Then we can love our neighbor, which indeed means meeting them at their point of need, like the Good Samaritan, like Jesus himself; but it also means that we look at our neighbor and see that he or she bears the image of God. When we see that, our whole attitude towards our neighbor changes; and we are more inclined to love them as we love ourselves. Sometimes it’s tough love, which takes courage; but tough love is better than no love at all. If we have removed the beam from our own eye, we can help remove the speck from our neighbor’s eye. And if we are always aware that God loves us as we are and has our back, it’s easier to meet the needs of those we are called to love.
And as we love our neighbor who is stamped with God’s image, we begin to love God even more, since we realize that wherever there is love, there is God, because as John tells us in very simple terms, God is love.
So begin by loving yourself as God loves you, inadequate and sinful as you are; then look for God in your neighbor and love your neighbor because of that; and then as you exercise love, you will discover that where there is love, there is God. And in loving this way, you will love with all your heart, soul, and mind.
