Exodus 22:21-27
Psalm 1
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46
There is a particular moment in time that is unlike any other. It's the moment that catches us in profound disbelief.
It is a pause in our own personal history, where nothing else can happen because all that can "be" in that moment already "is" and we can never un-know it.
And it's in the middle of such a pause that we record our relationship with God. Our hopes, our fears, our pains, find expression in ways that words can not.
Whether it comes by way of the senseless killing of innocent people by the hand of one with no meaningful grasp of the sacredness of life,
Or whether it comes by way of hurtful words falling from the lips of a neighbor, a friend, a parent, a person of trust - in that pause we record a "knowing" that wasn't there before.
And those moments leave us forever branded with the stuff that makes up the gift of "empathy". And again, we are faced to look anew at something so simply expressed from the beginning of time, and realize it still needs repeating - after all this time..
"Teacher", the Pharisees tested Jesus, "which commandment in the law is the greatest"?
Jesus answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."
"This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it", "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets".
There's no room to fudge on either of these commandments. You can't have one without the other!
Looking back to the ancient days when Moses led God's people out of slavery, we see that God wasted no time laying down some rather specific requirements about the treatment of one another.
"You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt".
Because you have been aliens yourself, you, above all, know what it is like. And, because you know that, there is no room to fudge.
God doesn't hold us to things we do not know, but He does hold us to the things He has taught to us.
Then God said, "You shall not abuse any widow or orphan". Can there be any doubt of the meaning of His words? Because I have loved you and defended you, and have dealt with you with compassion, I have given to you the gift of empathy.
And because you have empathy you will deal compassionately with the weak and defenseless around you, as I have dealt with you..
Empathy allows emotional identification with another and it is a gift from God. It gives us the ability to know, before we act, the harm we can do when we exercise the gift of Free Will He has also given us.
It is the direct guidance of God, to be used with the utmost care.
Imagine living in a world where only the fat cats survive, and where all others are trampled like ants, having no defenses of their own. Before long, the world would be overtaken by a few fat cats who had nothing left to eat but each other.
Collectively, we all share in the lessons learned by the grace of God's love. And, collectively, we all share the pain when we willfully reject His instructions.
When we have faithfully learned His lessons, God shrouds us with "Empathy", the urgent call to stop and think before we exercise our options.
I pondered, for a while, the essence of including Paul's Letter to the Thessalonians in today's lessons. I thought of what a weighty burden it is to carry around this gift of empathy.
Paul, sitting in prison, had better things to do than brood over the outcome of his ministry with the Thessalonians. He had already established Christ's Church there and now the rest was up to them to follow through. His responsibility ended there.
But Paul, painfully aware of the pitfalls waiting for his friends were many, and the success of Christ's Church was hanging in the balance.
Made up of gentiles converted from pagan cultures, the church was still in it's infancy when Paul was spirited away.
It probably was no easy task to round up this bunch of people whose lives were deeply rooted in the chaotic standards and values of the time - and turn them around to a deep faith in Christ.
Reinforcing the teachings of Jesus would not be easy, and keeping them on the straight and narrow could be a bit like expecting to herd a feisty litter of kittens.
Paul must be there for them, and with them, if his ministry was to succeed. The momentum must be kept alive, leaving no room for his congregation to fall back on their old pagan ways.
But Paul, unable to go to them, dispatches Timothy to go to go in his stead and to bring back report of the conditions he finds there.
When Timothy returns with good news, Paul is cautiously relieved and begins a letter for Timothy to deliver back to the Thessalonians.
Paul pens words of commendation and thanksgivings for the good reports Timothy has brought of them. Yet, Paul's words seem guarded, almost as much a prayer as an affirmation.
"You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition."
Paul's next words sound a bit defensive, but with no wonder given his experience of persecution.
"For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts"
"As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others."
"But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children." How much easier it would have been for Paul to be with his people, to see with his own eyes that all is well.
Hopefully, they have learned well, he thought, and have received God's grace to guide and support them. It had been such a short time since they left their pagan lives, and they might easily fall away again.
So burdened with empathy, Paul was eager to leap ahead even at great risk, to keep them strong in their new faith.
As it were, Paul's fears were unfounded, and he trusts the accuracy of Timothy's report. The Thessalonians, too, have received the gift of empathy.
They can no longer fudge on God's commandment to love one another as God has loved them.