5 Octoboer 2015 - genuine compassion

Om nom nom

Jesus wants to give us a sincere love for our neighbors. He himself loves the Ninevites and he will work through even people who do not share that love in order to offer them to opportunity to repent. Jonah is "fleeing from from the presence of the LORD" precisely because he doesn't love the Ninevites. He doesn't want them to repent. God makes it so that Jonah's own circumstances and self-interest force him to reach out to the Ninevites as well. But Jonah doesn't have to be happy about it.

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 

We can imagine the lawyer worried about all of the implications this might have. What if the Ninevites are his neighbors? What if even the peoples he loves the least are entitled to his love and God's mercy? He probably hopes that the Ninevites can be left to their own devices in Ninevah. Surely the LORD can take care of them using their own in group, using people whose natural affections cause them to care about them. But the lawyer must suspect that this love is still imperfect. He desires to justify himself, to excuse the limits of his love, and so he asks Jesus, "who is my neighbor?"

Jesus tells of a Levite and a priest who pass by on the other side of the road. These are members of the robbers own people, but their love is too narrow to embrace him. The Samaritan is not from his people. The Samaritan might be expected more than the other two to simply pass by. Yet he has a genuine compassion on the robber that transcends this apparent division..

Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed mercy on him." And Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

God will lead us even when our love is narrow. He will use the storms and a whale if it comes to that. He will use our desire to inherit eternal life to make sure that we love our neighbor. But he prefers us to see our neighbors and have genuine compassion. If we can do this he is able to love through us more completely. Jesus makes us able to give of our very selves even for those toward whom we have no natural affections. We can show them the way to confession where their wounds can be bound. We can help them to receive the oil of the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the wine of the Eucharist. We can do this using the our own beast, our effort, and our resources. We can even contribute to the price of his care with our own denarii, our corporal and spiritual works of mercy, especially prayer.

The waters closed in over me, the deep was round about me; weeds were wrapped about my head

If the waters seem to be closing in upon us we may be trying to justify ourselves. It could be the narrowness of our own horizons and the limits of our own love which are closing in. Let us turn to Jesus so that he need not resort to the whale. Let us turn to Jesus so that he can teach us true compassion.