Subtitle: Another observation for these contentious times when, as I perceive it, there is little love lost between opposing persons, tho’ sharing a common humanity, on any issue…
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them…‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Leviticus 19.1-2a, 18b)
Jesus said: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12.31a)
The Apostle Paul wrote: The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, you shall love your neighbor as yourself (Galatians 5.14)
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Jewish and Christian scripture and tradition speak with one voice. I am to love my neighbor (who is anyone) as I love myself.
However, I do not always love (think kindly of, feel favorably disposed toward) myself. Therefore, “as yourself” must mean something else, something more…
I have found it in another word of Jesus: “I give you a new commandment. Love one another as I have loved you.”[1]
As I interpret it, I am to act toward all with a self-sacrificial benevolence that can and will see life and the world through another’s eyes, so to esteem another’s experience as significant as mine own; indeed, to value another as sacred as I myself.
Do I continue to stand, to speak for the sake of persons, principles, and positions – whether social or political – for whom and for which I agree? Yes. Yet, as I do, I continue to respect the common human dignity of all, even, perhaps especially those with whom I disagree.
© 2022 PRA
#loveisloveisloveislove #lovetheuniversalneed #selfsacrificiallove #everyoneismyneighbor
[1] John 13.34
occasional observations of mind and heart, soul and spirit 