Love your neighbor
From today’s Scripture: “He said to them, ‘Whose image is this and whose inscription?’ They replied, ‘Caesar’s.’ At that he said to them, ‘Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.’”—Mt 22:20-21
“Not my monkeys, not my circus!” A friend of mine recites this classic line whenever someone tries to drag her into another person’s business. “Somebody did this, somebody did that, what are you going to do about it?” Jesus has an answer to that today. See this guys’ face on the front of a coin? Deal with him on your own. That’s not the important stuff. But he continues, repay “to God what belongs to God.”
So we’re not given a ticket to ignore our neighbor! The love that God intends for us to have and to share is definitely what belongs to God. Making sure our love of neighbor spills to justice and charity in society is certainly a Christian obligation. So Jesus has a clever answer to those trying to trap him into a political position. If the question is, What are we going to do about this candidate or that leader or whoever—the answer is, think first about the most important questions, God’s questions: Am I loving God? Am I loving my neighbors as myself?
Let us pray: Today, Lord, help me to love my neighbor. Help me to see beyond opinions and demands; help me to see that everyone is created in your image and deserves my love.
Today’s author is John Feister, an award-winning journalist and leader of Glenmary’s Communications Team.
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