As we begin a new year I often think back on my life which now numbers more decades than I ever imagined. I do not engage in “what ifs” because all in all I have enjoyed my journey. As with anyone my biography has had its ups and downs, struggles and victories. There have been times so wonderful that I found myself wishing that time might be made to stand still. Other moments were so difficult that I wanted to escape from them as soon as possible. All in all mine has been a series of events much like those that most human beings encounter. I have learned that small pleasures are the most valuable and that people are mostly good. I have found myself finding strengths that I never knew I had.
While my life is mostly good I have seen that others have been challenged with immeasurable suffering. I think of how horrific it must be for people who have been shunned by society and treated without the kind of respect and kindness that should be the due of everyone, not just those who are the same as I am. As a child I saw Black people sitting at the back of buses and being humiliated by segregation. My mother told me of the prejudices hurled against immigrants like herself. From my mother I also realized how isolated and despised and misunderstood those afflicted with mental illness so often are. I came to know members of the LGBTQ community and learned about the tragedies of hatred that they endure even to this very day. I comforted women who had been abused by brutal men.
Somehow I have been thinking about one of my mother’s repeated quotes discussing “man’s inhumanity to man.” Historically we humans have a dark track record of being cruel and sometimes even deadly in our relationships with one another. We humans even managed to put a good and gentle man to death on a cross for no legitimate reason other than misunderstanding his message of love.
At this time of year I look at the Christmas cards that I received from friends and family members. There always seems to be one that stands out more than the others. In the long ago in the year of my youngest daughter’s birth one of my dearest friends gave me a greeting that simply said, “Love was born at Christmastime.”
I was so taken by that message that I framed the card and kept it on a wall in my home until it became yellowed with age. Somehow the essence of the Christmas story and the life of Jesus was synthesized in those five words. It all seemed so simple to me. The reason for the season is that we learned from that baby born to Mary and Joseph how we are supposed to love. The words of Jesus, the adult, were so very clear when he told us to love our neighbors just as we love ourselves. A whole religion called Christianity grew up around his message and example and yet we have forgotten or maybe ignored the heart of what he told us to do.
Slaveholders read the Bible. People who hung Black men from trees read the Bible. Some who abuse each other read the Bible. Men who put Jews in concentration camps read the Bible. Even today the Bible is being used as a weapon to hurt others. It’s an age old hypocrisy of humans to use religion as an excuse for hate or greed or power.
I recall a time when many people walked around with shirts and lanyards emblazoned with the letters and question mark WWJD? Of course they asked, “What would Jesus do?” and they were a kind of reminder to us to consider how this great teacher would expect us to behave in any situation. Somehow I don’t recall any account of his life including fire and brimstone rages about people. What I do recall is his willingness to perform miracles in defiance of silly rules prohibiting such things on certain days of the week. I remember him touching people with leprosy when others ostracized them for being unclean. I think of the time that he praised the Samaritan who was considered to be an outsider in his community. I know of his love of Mary Magdalene who was thought to be a fallen woman. Over and over again he demonstrated his unfettered love and concern for people who were generally ostracized and hated.
I think if Jesus were to return today he would be saddened with some of the interpretations of his message. We’ve muddled the simplicity of what he told us to do with exception after exception. We drive immigrants seeking refuge from our midst then go to church proclaiming our piety. We judge people even as we know that Jesus chided us for judging lest we also be judged. We spew hatred for people that we do not understand and pretend that our intentions are grounded in the rules of religion, forgetting that there is one basic rule that will allow us to always do the right thing.
If we truly love one another we will not steal or harm or spread lies about each other. We will honor everyone just as Jesus told us to do. We will not cheat or scheme or neglect each other. Jesus took complicated rules and boiled them down to a few words that said all that we need to do and he told us exactly how we all should strive to be. If we truly want to praise God and live properly in this season of celebration we will take a deep breath and offer kindness in all things. We don’t have to understand someone to love him or her. I feel certain that is what Jesus wanted us to know. In the final analysis it’s all about love.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 