A couple weeks ago I was at Disneyland with Jen and the kids. She and Miah went on Pirates of the Caribbean while I sat with the sleeping Riley. After gazing for a long time at my beautiful, slumbering daughter (they are angelic when they sleep), I turned my attention to the passing crowd. I had just read a section of Kierkegaard entitled "Neighbor Love." This section speaks of the challenge of viewing others around us without distinction; being able to appreciate them as worthy of love simply because they exist; not to make judgments. So I tried this with the passing crowd. I tried to focus my gaze objectively on different individuals, tried to keep my mind free from assumptions, tried to simply love each one.
I failed miserably.
Before even a few seconds had elapsed, I found myself concentrating on externals: a person's ethnicity; the shape of their body; the cut of their clothes; the style of their hair. I was soon making judgments about each one; distinctions, Kierkegaard would say.
It is very difficult to look at people and love them. I don't believe we are conditioned to do this. The world we live in (esp. N.America) encourages us to dispense love only if the person we encounter meets qualifications A, B, and C. Even the Church is guilty of this, often withholding love from those who act or appear different. We make distinctions.
When Jesus talked of neighbor love he told a story about one who did not see distinctions. It was a story about a Samaritan (Luke 10). I want to be like this guy. I want to want to help my enemies. I want to look at people and see Christ in them. I want rid myself of these eyes that judge.
Because this is a story, not something based on actual events, it's tempting to simply see it as an impossible ideal; something to strive for, yes, but not something that can actually be attained. But this is just a rationalization to make us feel better. It is a command to love our neighbors. Here's how Kierkegaard describes it: "To love one's neighbor, therefore, means essentially to will to exist equally for every human being without exception."
Ouch! How difficult this is to do, on the bench at Disneyland or anywhere else! God, you give the commands, provide too the strength and the capacity to follow them, and give us the grace to accept your forgiveness when we fail. Amen.
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I try to do this every once in awhile and I usually end up loathing people. We're ugly creatures, and most days I'm like those guys in the Matrix, you know, the computer agents that can't stand the stink of real human beings. Or that guy at the end of the movie Seven that nearly throws up on somone on the bus because of the banality of the conversation. I have serious issues loving people, and loving myself. But the more I learn to accept God's love for me, the more I can see and carry out His love for all other people, no matter how broken or strange or messed up they are. Still it's not easy, and probably never will be. Loving others is an act of love rooted in the will, and it's half the fulfillment of the entire law. Nothing will accomplish it but the love of Christ dwelling in you.
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