SINGING THE MESSAGE

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This morning I was reflecting on tomorrow’s gospel passage, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, which reads, in part:

"You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. but I

I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Mt 5:43-48)

Jesus’ reasoning is very clear: Just as God lets his rain fall on the unjust as well as the just without making distinctions, our love  should be that way. The New Jerusalem Bible quite correctly translates that last line (“So be perfect, just as…”) this way: “So you must set no boundaries on your love, just as your heavenly Father sets no boundaries on his love.”

As I began to reflect on this verse, I had a flashback to yesterday's morning convocation in school. Each morning we begin with a service of scripture, songs and prayers. Yesterday was particularly spirited. Given the present atmosphere of divisiveness in our country, I would like to share a little of this experience with you, hoping that it might encourage you as it did me.

Picture our 550 teenage boys singing, many of them with their arms draped over one another’s shoulders. Black kids and white ones, Catholics, protestants, Jews, Muslims and an occasional Buddhist (you can see the kids singing like this in the 13-minute segment that Sixty Minutes did on us). They are singing loudly one of their favorite songs:

We have got to love people;

We have got to love people;

We have got to love people; love people!”

The next part of the song is a shouted chant:

You can’t choose (You can’t choose!)

Who to love! (Who to love!)

You’ve got to love people!

You’ve got to love people!”

This is Jesus' message in the gospel passage from the Sermon on the Mount quoted at the start of this post: You must set no boundaries on your love -- you don’t get to pick and choose who you love -- you’ve got to love people.

Then these lines change into a rhythmic mantra:

Love people, love people, love people, love people, love!

Love people, love people, love people, love people, love!

When we switch back to the first section, the energy and the volume have reached a joyful climax:

We have got to love people;

We have got to love people;

We have got to love people; love people!

So, here's a gift from our kids to you, a reminder of Jesus' words to us:

You can’t choose (You can’t choose)

Who to love! (Who to love!)

You’ve got to love people!

You’ve got to love people!

"You can't choose who to love!"