LOVE AS BRETHREN

LOVE AS BRETHREN

How many times do we confess to breaking the Fifth Commandment?  Not because we have literally broken the law of Thou shalt not kill by killing someone.  Usually, thank God, it’s not that bad.  Rather, we have committed lesser crimes against the Fifth Commandment, crimes like hatred, violence, unjustified anger, even venial sins like impatience, intolerance, and so on.  These may be not as serious as downright murder, yet our blessed Lord condemns them also.  “Ye have heard that was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill… but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment… whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”  He doesn’t quite say you’ll go to hell for calling someone a fool, but he does say there are serious perils in doing so.  If we’re willing to condemn others so easily and without any reason, we’re really not loving our neighbor as ourselves, placing ourselves in danger of escalating from name-calling to violence and hatred.  In other words, our actions can easily go from venial to mortal sin, and then we are truly in danger of hell fire.  So be careful with that temper, watch yourself and cultivate the virtue of patience, remind yourselves that you’re no better than your neighbor, and if we are to expect patience, tolerance and forgiveness from others, we had better respond by giving patience, tolerance and forgiveness in our turn.

The old cliché that we should hate the sin but love the sinner is one that is all too easy to set aside in the heat of the moment.  We may legitimately despise the sins of God’s enemies.  We are surrounded by daily atrocities against our divine Creator, and we are not only allowed to have contempt and hatred for these acts of rebellion against God, we are duty-bound to loathe and despise such behavior.  But when it comes to the individuals who commit these acts, we are equally bound in charity not to loathe and despise them, tempting though it might be.  Our duty is to show charity at all times, especially when we’re in direct contact with these persons.  Charity does not mean being friends with them, it doesn’t mean condoning their crimes and sinful actions.  But it does mean that our ultimate aim for them is the salvation of their souls and not their damnation.  We must seek to bring them to the truth, to know the error of their ways, to convert and rediscover the laws of God.  We must seek for the good in our neighbor, not just the bad.  We should even seek to excuse others from the gravity of their offences if we can find any excuse at all.  Accuse yourself, excuse others.  Only God knows their true motivation and will mete out justice with mercy as appropriate.  Our job is to obey the two greatest commandments of our loving God by loving our neighbor as ourselves—the neighbor for whom he suffered and died.  All the other commandments, including the Fifth, is subordinate to this one great law, and we would do well to give it the priority it deserves. 

We may not feel particularly loving towards those who persecute us or who attack God’s laws, but we must rationally acknowledge that these are misguided sheep who have strayed from the fold and need to be brought home.  Even if some of them truly are wolves in sheep’s clothing, it’s not for us to judge which ones.  You see, being a Christian is all about giving up our own feelings to do what’s right by God.  It’s not an easy way of life, and sometimes goes against the strongest instincts of our nature—our fallen human nature, let’s not forget!  The reward is simply in pleasing God by obeying his commandments, even the ones that are sometimes the hardest to keep.