I felt quite shocked when I read this week's Bible readings. As a church we follow the lectionary... a set of recommended Bible passages for each Sunday from Common Worship. It's good because you never quite know what you're going to get and also it tends to follow a narrative. 

For this week we have Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 and Matthew 22: 34-end. I was shocked because the Leviticus reading is "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself." And the Matthew reading is Jesus quoting this to the Pharisees and Lawyers who have asked him 'what is the greatest commandment?' Perhaps you're still not understanding my shock... 

I guess it just feels so timely. Those who decide on the readings, years in advance, could have never known or predicted what we would have watched or listened to this week. They could never have known the devastation in Israel and Palestine that has been on our screens. I found myself thinking simultaneously, what on earth does 'love your neighbour' look like to an ancient war and deeply complex situation and yet, it feels so relevant and important. 

The risk I run here is over-simplifying a, as I said, deeply complex and tense situation. I also feel like what business do I have to even attempt to comment on a situation which I not only find hard to understand but that I also feel wildly under-qualified to do so. And yet, I am always challenged that ignorance is a choice and it's my job to become educated. I also believe that in the most complex and hard situations, simply not commenting is also not okay. 

My issue is also that this week's reminder to love your neighbour feel like it's over-simplifying things. Did Jesus really consider the intricacies of what it is to love our neighbours? Neighbours can be our physical neighbours, who live next door to us, but it's also metaphorical to all who we interact with. The person who pushes in front of me at Asda, I'm to love them? The difficult family situation where I feel hurt and misunderstood, I'm to love them? The people who I disagree with in nearly everything to do with politics and how they see the world, I'm to love them? The people that have been mean to me, I'm to love them? Come on, Jesus, really?

Well, yes, Jesus did get the intricacies and the pain that goes hand in hand with loving people. The Matthew reading where Jesus is being questioned by Pharisees and Lawyers is the Monday of Holy Week. They are trying to catch him out, find a reason to hand him over to the Roman authorities to be killed. He's just come in to Jerusalem triumphantly, with the crowd shouting 'Hosanna!' and just a few days later they'll be yelling 'kill him.' Jesus literally stood in a group of people who hated him, who wanted him dead and who will later murder him and said 'love your neighbour.' In other words, I'm to love these people. 

The situation with the Israeli Government and Hamas will continue to move at a pace that scares us, breaks our hearts and leaves us feeling helpless. And yet, this week the passages have reminded me that perhaps starting with the obvious, the basic truth is where we begin. Calling out from a place of safety, 'love your neighbour' reminds us of our privilege right now in the UK. It reminds us also of the hand the UK government have had in these atrocities. And yet, however simple and small it might feel, to call out 'love your neighbour' in the face of this war is a prayer, is a chance to intercede for peace, a yearning for a better life for our brothers and sisters. 

We intercede with our Palestinian and Israeli brothers and sisters, love your neighbour. 

Laura Verrall-Kelly, October 2023