Thursday after Epiphany

Lectionary: 215

Beloved, we love God because

he first loved us.

If anyone says, “I love God,”

but hates his brother, he is a liar;

for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen

cannot love God whom he has not seen.

This is the commandment we have from him:

Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

The words hate and hatred do not appear often in the Bible. The attitude of hatred is not encouraged, especially towards one's enemies. We might hate their ways, but never the unfortunate people who live by those ways. 

With the polarization of politics and society in the United States, hate and hatred have reappeared in our conversation. Many people hated Barack Obama, much to the amazement of his supporters. As many or more hate Donald Trump, to the amusement of his people, who might say, "Now you know how it feels."

But hating politicians is almost expected, it's like the rancor certain characters generate in pro wrestling or the daily soaps. They are people who, for the news they generate, are very far away and have little impact on our daily life. 

Unfortunately that remote, apparently harmless kind of hate often metastases; like a cancer it can spread into other parts of the body politic. Someone is bound to overhear the attitudes of a respected citizen, one who is regarded as an upstanding, moral person. If that model hates, even unconsciously, he encourages it in others. 

"Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?" Henry II grumbled in Normandy, in 1170. Four of his knights immediately went out and murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury, Saint Thomas Becket. 

It is not a long step from the racist remarks about a coworker at the dinner table in the privacy of one's home, to a shooting in a shopping mall, church, or school. Children overhear and absorb the attitudes of their parents, relatives, teachers and ministers. Many people watching the story unfold on the evening news wash their hands of the killing. But others go out to buy an AR-15, to participate vicariously in the killing. Although they say they intend only to defend themselves, the weapon is a sacramental for racism, like a crucifix or holy water for Catholicism. 

If anyone says, “I love God,”

but hates his brother, he is a liar;

for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen

cannot love God whom he has not seen.

Our incarnational religion doesn't abide fantasies of moral living; it confronts us with our real attitudes about other people and says, "This is how you love your God! Do you fear Jews, African-Americans, gays, drug addicts; do you shun their company and arm yourself when they come near you? This is how you love God."

When Jesus was born in a manger he and his mother were despised by the neighbors who lived in decent, proper homes. When he wandered the roads of Galilee and Judea he was homeless and hated, like many Americans and millions of refugees. They deplored his freedom, and demanded to know why he didn't obey the laws like everybody else. They felt perfectly safe against God's judgement as they mocked his nakedness on the cross. They let someone else drive the nails, pull the lynching rope, and throw the electrical switch, but they shared the hate. 

This is the commandment we have from him:

Whoever loves God must also love the sister and brother.