Love of God AND Neighbour
Matthew 5: 20-26
Today we are being called to deep virtue – beyond outward signs of worship and sacrifice to a deeper truth, known only by God and us. Jesus said if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember your brother has something against you, ‘drop everything’, ‘go’ and ‘be reconciled’ THEN come back and present your offering. This is you, coming to a realisation and then having the courage to go and do something about it.
This level of virtue is hard. Our tendency is to try to justify ourselves but Jesus is calling us to reconciliation and action. He is calling us to love of God AND neighbour and is showing us that one does not go without the other. We recall the words of the song…. ‘By being reconciled with one another, we prepare ourselves to meet our Lord.’
Once we have the courage to act and are reconciled with those in our lives, Jesus accepts our offering to Him. He then bids us ‘come’.