Love and Hate in Scripture

Are you as disgusted as I am with all the vitriol being spread back and forth relative to the President and his supporters these days?  Hateful expressions are rampant on both sides, liberals and conservatives, via social media posts and shares and on news media programs.  Each side is guilty.

Hate is the opposite of love.  Do you know what Scripture says about love and hate?  The answer is:  Plenty!  According to Jesus, there are two “greatest” commandments:  “The first is this:  ‘Hear, O Israel!  The Lord your God is Lord alone!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  The second is this:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these.”  (Mark 12:29-31).  Love your neighbor as yourself!!!  As I see it, many, many people are disobeying the second greatest commandment!  Jesus’ modern-day statement might begin with “Hear, O liberals and conservatives!”  It is both a truly dreadful and shocking situation. 

I was taught that my “neighbor” refers to everyone else on the earth besides me.  The list indeed includes everyone.  Name one individual, one class of people, one nationality, one ethnic group, a liberal or conservative person, a person with a serious physical or mental illness … anyone at all.  The commandment is to love them.  If an individual is sinning in some way (in our opinion), it doesn’t matter.  We absolutely MUST love them.  Hate the sin, yes, but love the sinner.  It can be hard.  But, in my opinion, what we must absolutely NOT do is publish or share any kind of statement that shows our hatred of them.  It applies to anyone demonstrating hatred of a person of a different race as well as anyone demonstrating hatred of someone with a belief system different from ours.  A person with liberal beliefs must NOT demonstrate any sort of hateful feelings for anyone with conservative beliefs.  A person with conservative beliefs must NOT demonstrate any sort of hateful feelings for anyone with liberal beliefs.  We might not like what they say or do, but we must NOT show any feeling of hatred toward them.  We must love them.  That is the second greatest commandment.  If the feelings are toward a politician and his/her words or actions, the task is to show your opinions by voting. 

I believe that if we love God first, then love of neighbor and hatred of sin will follow.  For Scriptural treatments of love, try reading the first letter of St. John (“God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him”) or the Gospel of John, Chapter 15 (“This is my commandment:  love one another as I love you.”)  How nice it would be if all the vitriol would disappear. That is my prayer for today.  Amen!