Variety: Matthew 25v40

And the king will answer them, “Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” —Matthew 25:40

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis reflects on how we are called to love imperfect people imperfectly:

This is the kind of love Rabbi Jesus was talking about. If they’re in prison, if they’re hungry, if they’re naked, if they’re lonely, if they’re a stranger, a widow, a child, if they’re an outsider, if they’re last, they become first. In our holy imagination, this kind of love is radical: beyond borders, beyond religion, beyond gender, beyond sexuality, beyond have and have-not, beyond blue and red; it’s love your neighbor across these religious categories and belief systems….

I’m wondering what love means now. On the way to an election and on the other side of it, whenever you hear these words, who’s your neighbor and how do you love them? Can you see and feel their humanity? Sense their connectedness to you, the way you’re alike, even though you’re different? The way their blood is red, no matter what color their skin is? The way their heart beats, no matter who they love or how they love them? Can you sense your neighbor’s kinship with you and therefore be imagining that their self-interest and your self-interest are intertwined?...

What will love have you do?… What is a starting place to look at the world through someone else’s eyes and have empathy for them?… Who’s the one person that you want to understand better and want to learn from and perhaps also teach? Pick a person to start with. I’m not saying go to the person that will make you feel in danger or in harm, but somebody who can be a conversation partner about what love needs to be now for all of us. Will you consider that one person and then maybe another who can increase your tribe, help you to see things differently, help you to love more profoundly? A neighbor, not exactly like you, but a neighbor, nonetheless. Let’s try that, won’t you?