Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

• Matthew 5:43-48

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

• Luke 10:25-37

The Boilerplate

My wife started to write her thoughts down at one point in her life.  Some hints point to 2018 and 2019, after she had her open-heart surgery.  In spite of her trials and the atrial fibrillation (A-Fib) that required her to take blood thinners, this was before her major health decline.

Sometimes, she wrote a thought.  Other times, she wrote a Bible verse, and maybe her idea on that day.  Other times, it is a prayer, but I am going to take one entry at a time and try to write about it

Her comment

“Jesus knew the value of people and knew they are treasures.  People weren’t a stress to Jesus but a joy!”

• My wife’s next comment in this notebook

The Discussion

When I read my wife’s quote, I was reminded of a C.S. Lewis line about how the people whom we meet are either wonderful eternal treasures or despicable eternal horrors, or words to that effect.  His point is that no one is simply ordinary.  But Lewis was not telling us to make that judgment up front before we ever said, “Hello.”

I picked two Scriptures to accompany her comment to show what she was talking about.  Jesus is speaking in each case.

Jesus tells us to love our enemies.  Even the pagans love their friends and associates, at least to a degree, but loving one’s enemies is a little harder.  In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus picked a person that a Jew would naturally look down upon.  He wanted that visceral response from the listener, but Jesus wanted and received the correct answer.  The neighbor was the one who had done good.

The last line is important.  We are to go and do likewise.  We are not to judge whether that person is worthy of our attention.  We are to help the person up on their feet.

Is this person a treasure or a horror?  That is for God to decide, but it could just be that the person is neither at the moment.  It could be that the person might swing one way or the other based on who offers that helping hand.

My wife was good at that.  She had little to no stranger danger when she was a child.  She was pulled back when she wanted to touch a leper.  She was admonished for feeding the orphaned children through the fence at a posh party at an exclusive club, a party that her father would have never been invited if his boss had not brought him along.  She never thought in such terms.

Let’s not worry about the treasure or the horror.  Let us show God’s love and let Him sort that other thing out.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory