"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it, 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" -Matthew 22:37-39 (NRSV)
Who is our neighbor? Growing up, Mr. and Mrs. Brown were on one side of my house and Mr. and Mrs. Broom were on the other. This was my naive, elementary understanding of neighbor. They were my neighbors simply because of the location of our houses: 349, 351, and 353 7th Ave Place NW. But now? Who is our neighbor? I guess Mexico and Canada are our geographical neighbors. I have some crazy Eastern Europeans who live across from me in our apartment complex. But who did Jesus mean? I bet he meant gay people, those inflicted with HIV/AIDS and Malaria, those who are homeless, the elderly...are you uncomfortable yet? You mean I have to love them? What if he meant, dare I say it, Osama bin Laden.
Gasp. Please, take a seat if you need to. Jesus knocks us off our feet quite frequently with the things he says. "Forgive them, Father. They know not what they do." These people are screw ups, God...but it's not their fault. Show them your love anyway. And are we not called to be like Jesus? Doesn't "Christian" mean "little Christ"? Put Jesus's words in your mouth and speak them from your own heart. Really. Do it. "Forgive them, Father." Through Christ, we have the power to forgive. What an immense blessing...but too, what a tormenting curse. With this power comes great responsibility - isn't that always the case. Do we really have to forgive everyone? Not only forgive them, but LOVE them.
"Hate the sin, love the sinner." Have you heard that one? It's so catchy. But, in my experience, sin is a part of who we are. If we love the sinner, and don't love (even hate) the sin...isn't there a little part of the sinner themselves that we hate? We must love their whole being - including all their baggages of sin. Do you love yourself? After all, aren't we all sinners? So, we need to forgive (to LOVE) the gay population, the elderly, the children, the homeless...hold on, here we go again, Osama bin Laden.
When I was born, I was not just born into America, I was born into Christianity (literally, it's my last name). It is part of who I am just as much as being an American. Call me unpatriotic, call me blasphemous, call me a terrible American. That's fine. It's all opinion...just like this blog. I still remember September 11th. Admittedly, I was young and stupid and didn't understand its devastation until years later, but this doesn't mean I am not still impacted by it. My heart still aches for those families whose dad's favorite chair still sits empty every night in their dens, for those children who will never get to experience their mother's love, for those siblings who no longer have a brother or sister to call to share exciting news with. But, as a Christian, my heart also breaks for the death of bin Laden. He was a child of God just as much as you and I are.
My charge to us is this: Let's think first about what we're celebrating. Are we celebrating being a step closer to peace (even though one step isn't much compared to thousands of miles)? Or are we celebrating the death of a child of God? Which would Jesus celebrate...think about it.
