Show no partiality. (James 2:1)
He makes the sun rise and the rain fall on the bad and the good. He commands us to love your neighbor as yourself.
So: He commands us to love ourselves, by the light of God, since He loves each of us, by His own glorious light.
He loves the losers who don’t make any sense, by His glorious light of perfect sense.
So even us losers are supposed to love ourselves by the light of God.
And He commands us to love the neighbor just as much.
Which neighbor? The sweet-smelling one? Yes. The bad-smelling one? Yes.
And Who is it Who commands all this? The Triune God. The crucified Christ. He identifies Himself especially with people who smell bad, and mumble, and can’t quite get it together.
“Lord, remember us, even though we deserve to die, when You come into Your kingdom.”
He says, “Don’t despair. For this one moment of love, you win an eternity of paradise.”
Father Mark,
What’s the chances that we can always exhibit the egalitarian ideal? Who does He think we are, anyway, Mother Teresa? Command, you say? Wow, where are the Ten Suggestions when you really need them?
In God we trust.
LIH,
joe