Piece of cake??

Christianity is so easy...just a plain piece of cake. That is until we get readings like the Good Samaritan on Sunday. I heard of a deacon who began his homily on Sunday announcing a second collection for the orphans and widows of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. He was joking, but what a question to chew on when Jesus asks us who our neighbor is in explaining the mission of the Good Samaritan. This is where the rubber meets the road in Christianity. This is where Christianity ceases being a piece of cake and actually becomes a little difficult.

To top it off, today's weekday Gospel has Jesus telling us He came not to bring peace, but the sword. Division will be rampant...why...because wherever free will is present, there will be division. It is free will though that allows genuine and authentic love of neighbor and love of God. Free will also can choose evil and we all know that happens. In the Good Samaritan and this deacons point about our enemies, lies a truth to wrestle with that makes us uncomfortable. That is really what Jesus does quite often...His teachings make us uncomfortable. It made the first century religious uncomfortable and He was put to death.

The bottom line, as followers of Jesus...if we cannot follow the hard teachings of Jesus and love enemies and minister to them, who will? Jesus tells us that anyone can love those who do good to them...that is not hard...but who can do good to those that harm them? Jesus did...He wants us to also. To follow Christ is picking up a cross in His hard teachings. If we as Christians cannot show mercy, then there is no hope for anyone...no one will learn that there is an alternative. For society and its ills, a dose of civility and mercy can stop so many examples of cyclical cycles of evil. We pray for the courage to love.