Matthew 22:35-46, September 17, 2017, Osaka Church
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
We don’t think of ourselves as saints. Rather, we feel crushed by the reality of our own hearts and actions. We hate ourselves. Sometimes we even hate ourselves intensely. But at the same time, there is nothing more precious to us than ourselves. We always embrace ourselves as the most precious thing in our lives. When others point out our flaws and shortcomings, we may appear humble and grateful on the surface, but deep down we are deeply hurt. There are even times when we hate the person who pointed them out. At times, we may lash out at ourselves – this “self we loathe so much,” with words as sharp as fire, but even then, there is a sweetness of self-pity clinging to it.
We hate ourselves so much that we want to destroy ourselves, but we love ourselves so much that we want to embrace ourselves forever… We have been torn between these two opposing feelings groaning as we are pulled apart by them. We have long since forgotten what it feels like to have a the relief of a peaceful heart.
Now, one day Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” to which He answered:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
Love God with all your heart…with all your heart, mind, soul, and body. To remind themselves of this command, devout Jews would write it on parchment, put it in a small box, tie it to their foreheads and left hands with string, and recite it twice a day. What was novel about Jesus’ answer was that he added the commandment to “love God with all your heart” and to “love your neighbor” as “the same thing.” He did not add one commandment to another; he said they were the same thing. This is two different ways of restating the one most important commandment. Love of neighbor is one with love of God.
But did you notice? This commandment doesn’t simply say “love your neighbor,” but commands us to love our neighbor “as ourselves.” Some translate “as yourself” as “as you love yourself.” However, this could be interpreted as meaning, “All people are self-centered, and we must love our neighbor with the same intensity and magnitude as our selfish love for ourselves.”
“As yourself” means “recognizing that our neighbor is just like ourselves.” This means loving our neighbor as a “person” just like ourselves…a person created by God in His “image” and loved by Him without discrimination. At the same time, it also means that we should love our neighbors as fellow humans who have rebelled against God, leaving him and damaging and tarnishing the divine image that God gave them, but who nonetheless receive God’s mercy, are loved by God, and are called by God. By loving those whom God loves most, we testify to our love for God.
And by loving our neighbors, we find our true selves. Love is not selfish meddling, overreaching, or imposing sentimentality. It is finding out what our neighbors really need and giving generously of what we can give…what we have, what we can do, and even our time and being. To do this, we must reach out to our neighbors, understanding their situation and the deepest recesses of their thoughts. There we find ourselves—created in God’s image and, through our communion with God, endlessly transformed into His likeness; and we also find ourselves, endowed with such wonderful potential but still losing our way and struggling and groping in the darkness. We find ourselves and our neighbors—people who thirst for God, yearn for God, and never cease to search for Him, and who can only find true joy in Him. We find our neighbors and ourselves as “the same people.”
At that moment, loving our neighbors is no longer a morality. It is a great adventure in which we turn our bodies toward the joy of loving God, both with ourselves in communion with God and with our neighbors, who share God’s love with us. This is the beginning of a slow but sure escape from the loathing we feel for ourselves as “unlovable.”