Loving Neighbour as Self

While the world is full of beauty and stunning acts of compassion and charity, we are also acutely aware of the many acts of hatred, abuse, disrespect, violation and general rottenness occurring across our world. We take joy in the former and despair over the latter, laughing and crying together as our human frailty brings us together in solidarity, recognition, and perhaps even that sense of thanking God that it’s not us suffering the heinous events that others are going through.

But why are some people just plain nasty to others? Why are they broken and twisted in ways that seem to demand the damage of other human beings? I keep coming back to Christ’s confirmation of the most important commands of God, and his underlying command to all people: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbour as you love yourselves.” (Mt 22:37-39; Mk 12:30-31; Lk 10: 27). There is nothing ambiguous or metaphoric about what Jesus says here; it is absolutely simple and crystal clear – love God with everything you’ve got and love every other human being as if they are you! So why are some folk just rubbish when it comes to respecting, loving and showing compassion for other people?

Looking closely at what Jesus says, in the sense of loving our neighbour as we love ourselves, I wonder how we should love ourselves, and if we do that in the best way possible? We are created in the image of God, we are loved by a heavenly Father, redeemed at great cost by the eternal Son, and enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, so if we recognise that truth and live in the grace and wonder of that truth, how can we possibly fail to love ourselves perfectly and fail to love others perfectly? And therein lies the sad answer . . . too many people simply do not recognise how important and precious they are to God, they don’t grasp that they have his divine image stamped on them, and they have no idea that they are loved more deeply than they can possibly imagine. If their own self-image, which is God’s image, is twisted out of shape, unknown and unlived, then they can only respond to others in that same way, with twisted respect, forgotten love, and non-existent compassion. Others will not be seen as precious or important, but as things to be used; not as human beings made in the image of God, but as ‘different’, and ‘other’ to be feared, exiled, and killed; not as human beings deserving of respect and consideration, but as strangers to be viewed with suspicion and mistrust.

The neighbour we are called to love as ourselves may easily become something treated as so much refuse if we do not abide in our own self-respect and self-care, seeking the holistic healing Christ intends for each of us in our humanity, regardless of our condition. Do note, I use the word ‘healing’ not ‘cure’ . . . we may have a dreadful terminal illness, but still be healed in our response to life and death; we may have some or other disability, but still be healed in our attitude towards life’s challenges. The difference is seeing through our own eyes dimly and seeing through God’s eyes clearly – if we see ourselves through God’s eyes, we shall more certainly see others through the eyes of the divine, but if we only view ourselves through our own dim vision, we simply cannot begin to see others clearly.

Have you loved your neighbour as yourself today . . . and if so, did that make you smile with the gentle satisfaction of acting justly and doing something good that brings a lightness to the heart, or did it make you scowl with annoyance and resentment that has left you heavy and brooding for the rest of the day?