Bury Our Axes

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40)

Once upon a time a man, whose ax was missing, suspected his neighbor’s son.  The boy walked like a thief and spoke like a thief.  But the man found his ax while digging in the valley.  The next time he saw his neighbor’s son, the boy walked, looked, and spoke like any other child (Lao Tzu)

Loving our neighbor (or the neighbor’s child) is made difficult by our suspicions.  We all tend to be suspicious or believe the worst about our neighbors, including those of different background, education, race, or nationality.  We suspect the “other.”

Jesus tells us that “everything” depends on our love of neighbor and the love of God.  It is up to us to bury our axes of fear and hate, and promote everything good, right, and just.

Deacon David Pierce