Crash Helmet Needed

May 3, 2021

Scripture

‘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 neighbour 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 neighbour?’ …. ‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbour 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 10:25-29,36,37 NIVUK)

Crash Helmet Needed

I thought my head was going to explode after listening to our Prime Minister rationalize his inaction and that of his subordinates and Minister of National Defence on behalf of victims of sexual misconduct in our Canadian military. Everyone tried to either know nothing or do nothing – while justifying it by some ethical code that defies humanity.

There is no sign that the opposition critics have done any intervention on behalf of the victims – it would interfere with scoring political points. This is a particularly sensitive subject for me because one of the freedoms I have had is to help victims’ voices be heard in the world of abuse. Not something I talk about much but when I see a minister avoid knowledge in order to avoid responsibility, Jesus’ story-telling power helps keep my head in one piece.

Jesus is in a sharp exchange with a legal and religious scholar about our highest calling as human beings – love God and love our neighbour as we love ourselves. While the scholar wants a definition of who his neighbour is to limit responsibility, Jesus makes the imperative “be a neighbour”. Jesus’ story focusses on our ability as privileged ones to find “good” ethical or spiritual reasons for avoiding responsibility. His portrait of the neighbour is one who has experienced exclusion and has compassion. Sometimes we forget that our highest expression of humanity is loving those whose needs we see, in the same way we see our own needs.

Jesus calls us to treat our neighbour the way we would want to be treated. If I were a victim of sexual misconduct, I would sure want someone to see my need and speak up for me. Pray for our country that its built-in structures that preserve the status quo to the exclusion of justice will allow our true humanity to express itself.

A Prayer for Today

God of Truth and Reconciliation, you don’t let me stay with weasel words to avoid my responsibility to love my neighbour. Help me to remember those times of my own woundedness when your love was expressed through loving friends, and empower me to “be” the neighbour to you and yours …. For Jesus’ sake