Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 5 verses 23 through 48:
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Amidst this season -- era even -- of division it is so easy to allow anger to take over and hatred to take root. But we cannot allow hatred to grab hold of us. We cannot allow evil in others to destroy the good within us.
This morning Jesus gives us a simple practice to keep us from falling into hatred -- Greeting. A simple greeting, a shake of hands, a call or a card, all work to humanize both our enemies and also ourselves. It's a practice of grace. And it honors the dignity in all others and also in ourselves.
The Quakers have a saying, "If in fighting a beast you become a beast, then the beast has won."
We are not beasts. We are children of God. And God made the sun come up the morning on everyone, including our enemies. So, perhaps the least that we can do -- as children of God -- is open our mouth (or our email) and offer a simple, "Hello, I hope you are well."
It may not change their hearts, but it might ours.
NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow we will read Matthew 9 and Luke 7.
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