Jesus Doesn't Let Us Off the Hook

Feb. 23, 2025

When asked to give the greatest of the Commandments, Jesus named two, which summarize the entire Law and Prophets. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first and greatest of the Commandments. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
   
Throughout history, people have tried to put limitations on the Second Great Commandment. In the Scripture a lawyer asks, “But who is my neighbor,” and Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan to challenge the lawyer to ask himself, “To whom am I or am I not a neighbor?” Jesus does not allow us to let ourselves off the hook in any way.
   
In the Gospel for this Sunday, we hear Jesus give us His greatest challenge when He says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well.” He goes on and on with this incredible challenge.

Jesus goes on to say, “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
   
This is the heart of the Gospel, for it reveals the truth that this is how God loves us unconditionally, and we, therefore, are to love others in the same way.
   
At the end of our lives, as we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will be judged on only one thing: “Did we learn how to love as Jesus loves?”
—Fr. Mike Comer