When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He gave the listener a 3-part bonus: Love God with all you have and love your neighbor as yourself. Who is my neighbor? the respondent followed with – then Jesus told a story about the least likely person a 1st century Jew could imagine – that person, and everyone else, is your neighbor. And this, in a nutshell, is what is, and has been wrong, with America and the American churches for a very long time. It isn’t always easy to love oneself in a way that is both generous and self-affirming. My experience is that people are either narcissistic – which is self-lust – or missing empathy – which is self-loathing. John the Baptist told those listening that if they had two coats, they should give one away. Jesus told His disciples that if they were asked to carry armor one mile, carry it two. Sometimes sacrifice is strength, like turning the other cheek.
Rev. Cameron Trimble wrote today, “MAGA, at its core, is not a political platform. It’s a theology—a false religion built on grievance and fear. It replaces God with ideology. It replaces love with control. It doesn’t just reshape policies; it reshapes people—training them to see enemies where there are neighbors, threats where there is difference, weakness where there is compassion.” This is the world Jesus lived in because people are, and always have been, naturally wired for survival, which can become selfishness if it isn’t tempered with grace. We see people everywhere supporting vindictive legislation and religious control by one faith because, they say, of their Christian faith. They are telling the truth – they are absolutely behaving this way because of their faith, but that faith isn’t connected to Jesus, as they claim.
Self-love frees us to love others and to be generous when we don’t have to be. Self-love comes from realizing that if we are worthy of God’s love, others are worthy of our love, because we are all made of the same cosmic dust and God-blessed Spirit. Show me someone being vindictive and I will show you someone who is unhappy with who they are. “Do to others” Jesus said, “as you would have them do to you.” If you hate who you are, you will do violence to others. If you love who you are, you will love others. We get to choose.
Prayer – Holy God, help us to see inside ourselves and find ways to heal our trauma and love who we are, so that we can be better, in Your name. Amen.
Today’s art is “Soul of Compassion” by Kelly Thompson.