"Which Commandment of the Ten is greatest?" Now this was nothing novel, Jewish scholars had been debating this question for centuries. What IS interesting, however, is that Jesus provides an answer without any hesitation whatsoever: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the greatest and first commandment. And, a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets."
Yet it's this second portion, "loving others as yourself," which got our Lord into trouble.
For some reason, people throughout history have thought that we can separate our relationship with God from our relationship with others. That we can pick and choose those we will like, love, feel good about, approve of and forget about the others. Where did we ever get such an idea? Certainly not from Christ; for our Lord challenged us to even love our enemies!
Jesus loved everyone – and expects nonetheless from us. This is why He imparted to us a New Commandment: "that you love one another as I have loved you." He might not have liked what people did. He didn't always feel good or approve of their behavior, but Jesus loved everyone – and this got Him into trouble because it set Him at odds with so many Jews.
Not only did Jesus love the rich and poor, old and young, male and female, healthy and sick, Jew, Samaritan, Roman, and Gentile, He especially loved sinners: thieves, prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers and all who were outcasts. Because of this the so-called righteous people were not gentle in their condemnation: "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them!" And they were right. He did. As someone once said, "Jesus never lost his taste for bad company." And I sure am glad for that, because that means there is room at His table even for me!
Fr. John
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