"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love is the fulfillment of the law. We have been focusing on our response to what we have seen Jesus do and what we have heard Jesus say. Now Jesus introduces us to His instruction on how we are to live in the most ordinary of circumstances—especially when things go wrong between us. The truth is that God is close to us; He understands our human condition. Jesus after all became like us in all ways except sin. Certainly, Jesus lays out the way we are to live. His call and His instruction are extraordinary. He asks us to become like our Heavenly Father, Whom He reveals to us. At the same time, Jesus knows that we grow into that life through a process—and that there will be roadblocks along the way.
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love is the fulfillment of the law.
We have been focusing on our response to what we have seen Jesus do and what we have heard Jesus say. Now Jesus introduces us to His instruction on how we are to live in the most ordinary of circumstances—especially when things go wrong between us.
The truth is that God is close to us; He understands our human condition. Jesus after all became like us in all ways except sin.
Certainly, Jesus lays out the way we are to live. His call and His instruction are extraordinary. He asks us to become like our Heavenly Father, Whom He reveals to us. At the same time, Jesus knows that we grow into that life through a process—and that there will be roadblocks along the way.
Our journeys are marked by failure, misunderstanding what the Lord and His Church teach, and by our own human stubbornness. We want the Church to say what we want it to say. We want God to do what we want God to do.
And so, Jesus shows us the process He wants us to use when we encounter failure, misunderstanding, and stubbornness. It is a process of conversation intended to correct and restore.
Our opening hymn, the Introit, taken from Proverbs 9:7–8, tells us that correcting a scoffer—someone who is arrogant, prideful, and refuses to accept correction or instruction—wins us abuse; whoever rebukes the wicked gets hurt. But the wise, when rebuked, will love us.
That sets an important parameter for us. Who can truly benefit from the correction of the Church and Her members? The wise, of course: those who are sincerely working their way toward the model Jesus placed before us.
There comes a point when continuing to argue with someone who has decided to scoff at correction accomplishes nothing. Jesus Himself recognizes this possibility: "If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile..."
There are a couple of lessons here.
The first is that we must take correction seriously. We should never become incapable of hearing the truth. When we refuse every attempt at correction, we place ourselves outside the very process Christ has given us for reconciliation.
The second lesson is that the enormous power to correct comes with an equally enormous responsibility. Christian love cannot simply say, "It is okay," when something is not okay. Sometimes we love one another precisely by speaking honestly, listening humbly, correcting gently, and holding one another accountable.
"Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law."
Sometimes fulfilling the law of love means having difficult conversations. Sometimes loving our neighbor means correcting him. And sometimes loving our neighbor means having the humility to allow him to correct us.
