Pray for the persecutors: Spend 5 with Jesus: March 4, 2023

Readings for Today Pray for the persecutors If anyone says that it is easy to be a Christian, then that person has not read the gospel for yesterday and today. Wow. Without neglecting the love of neighbor, Jesus expands this love to include even your persecutors and enemies. And that is not quite so easy. It is much easier if we can keep people in black and white categories. The good guys over here, the bad guys over there. The people I agree with I will care for deeply, the people I do not like can be on their own. My friends here, my persecutors there. And on an on. And increasingly around the world, and certainly here in the United States people are put into groups we like and groups we do not. And heaven forbid we actually talk to each other or try to understand each other. See, it is easier to live in a black and white world, because it does not require me to think. It does not force me to consider complexities. It can be all about me. And we see this over and over again. But for Jesus, this is not the way it should be. It is not the way it is at all. There are two great commandments: love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. Except with Jesus' view, there is a catch. Everyone else is our neighbor. Everyone. No exceptions. And that is what Lent is for. I do not know about you, but I am still working on both of the great commandments. I need to love God more, so that I can love neighbor more. I am not at all where I need to be, or where God wants me in either case. But the good news is that Jesus does not give up on me, and Jesus does not give up on you. He died for you and me. And we need no more than that.