As I
reflected on a passage from Ephesians today (Ephesians 4:32-5:8), it brought to
mind a story I heard in one of my catechism classes years ago. I think the story drives home what Paul is telling
us.
A certain
man was very wealthy and raised an orphan boy with all the love and care that
he could. The boy grew up, got married,
and had a son of his own. He wanted to
show his gratitude and love to the wealthy man, but he lived far from his
benefactor. When he asked what he could
do to show his appreciation, his "father" told him, "There’s
nothing that you can do for me that you haven’t done. I’m already as wealthy as I can be, and your
gratitude and love are all that I could ask.
But there, right next to you, is someone I love as I love you. I can’t be there to show that love, but I ask
you to do for him what you think is best, to do what you think I would do. That’s the best way to return my love."
We’re those
orphans whom God has chosen to include in His family, and if we’re truly
grateful for all that He’s done for us and wish to imitate His love, then we’ll
turn to the broken people next to us, those whom God loves as much as He loves
us, and we’ll show what we’ve learned from our Father. Living in the endless wealth of God's love we’re
free to do and give whatever we think best: we’re doing it in His holy name.
In several of
the gospels, we’re presented with an extraordinarily powerful image of Christ;
a Christ that empowers and frees. One such
example is the story when Jesus recognized the suffering of a crippled woman
and rescued her from her ailment on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17). St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, calls
us to be imitators of God. Although we
can’t perfectly imitate God, we can learn from and strive to emulate the life
of Jesus, who God reveals Himself through. As Jesus used His gifts and life to empower and
free those in need, He showed us that following the path of Christ calls us to
empower and serve others through our own gifts and talents. Whether that entails comforting a family
member or friend in a difficult situation or reaching out to the suffering of
those afflicted by poverty or sickness, we can recognize that service to others
is fundamental to the message and life of Jesus.
There can be
no dissecting our love of God from our love of neighbor. There’s no nuancing
who is and who is not my neighbor, just like there can be no conditional love
of God. In other words, you can keep
holy the sabbath and care for those in need. In fact, caring for those in need is keeping holy the sabbath.
Loving God
means loving our neighbor, especially those left alone and abandoned – often
referred to as the widow and orphan, the cripple and leper, the sinner and
foreigner. For us it means loving those
who have a different skin color than we have, speak a different language,
practice a different religion, and wear different clothes. It certainly means loving the most vulnerable
and forgotten in our midst…the unborn, the migrant, the prisoner, the homeless,
and those preyed upon for being a woman or gay or Black.
The Gospel
doesn’t say “Love the Lord your God when it’s easy.” It doesn’t say “Love your neighbor who is like
you.”
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