Title: The Unbearable Heart
Contents
Sometimes when we see a pair that fits so well, we can feel the great power they put together. It's just my personal preference, but when I look at G. Rouault's portrait of a suffering and grieving Jesus, I see J.S. When I listen to Bach's Fuga, I fall into the most reverent and deepest religious atmosphere. It seems to be spiritually purified more than any desperate prayer. I don't know why, but it seems that our Lord makes a big impression with his suffering and sorrow rather than his glory, and when the mysterious organ music is heard, our heart seeking God becomes deeper and more desperate. I don't think it's because of that.
The content of the Bible verse we read today is so well known that there is nothing more to say on its own. However, the same situation where the scribe asks what the greatest commandment is for Jesus is found in Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, and Luke 10:25-28. Among the lessons and teachings, this was probably the most memorable and sure statement. For the scribes, this must have been the biggest problem.
Here, Jesus gives two answers to the question of knowing one of the greatest commandments to receive eternal life. (The Gospel of Luke derives two answers from the questioner.) First, it tells us to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Second, it tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. But it is clear that this is one, not two. It may also be because the source of true love for neighbor and strength comes from love for God. I want to go further and see Jesus as a neighbor who tells you to love God with all that you have, that is, to love you as yourself. In other words, it is one's whole devotion that connects love for God and love for neighbor. Because I can find my neighbor as God embodied in Jesus' words to love God and neighbor as ourselves.
The content of Luke's Gospel is especially important in this situation, in that Jesus taught the specific direction of the practice of that love using the example of the Good Samaritan. When the priests and Levites saw a person being beaten by robbers and bleeding and dying, the priests and Levites fled and went another way, but the Samaritan, who was the object of contempt and hatred in the Jewish society at the time, shows the most universal example of love. Of course, the priest would not have been able to touch a bloodthirsty by office, and the Levites would have been customary. Even Samaritans, who are despised by society, should not be overlooked at this rate. But Jesus is teaching a universal love that goes beyond the beliefs of special normatives, who pass by their own rules for those who bleed and die.
Let's take an example from Mencius (孟子). Mencius, who saw that human nature is good, says that everyone has a 'unbearable heart' (不忍人之心) and gives the following evidence:
When a child here tries to fall into a well while playing, people are surprised and saddened, not because they want to be praised by the people around them... ), a person who does not do good by himself is a person who harms himself.
It can also be interpreted as meaning that you have given up on being a human being. When it comes to ignorance (不忍), it is easy to think of an unbearable heart or condition with anger. There have been many people since ancient times who searched for the will of heaven (the reason for the existence of religion) by citing the original goodness of humans. I think that the good heart of a Samaritan is also in line with Mencius's talk of unkindness. This is called the 'Good Samaritan Law' and is sometimes used as a standard for a different level of law.
Perhaps the Lord we are waiting for is our neighbor who is wounded and bleed in pain. Another meaning of Jesus’ teaching the scribes that love of neighbor is love of God and giving the parable of the Good Samaritan is that the object of the Samaritan’s pure love, whom he cared for with all his heart and strength, was merely a person who met a bloodthirsty and dying thief. No, it seems that he was here to reveal that he was a neighbor whom I should love as myself. Those who are wounded, bleeding, and suffering are not the objects to whom we have the strength to com and forte and comfort. We can never be the superiors to benefit them. Rather, we should seek the image of the Lord in them. We will have to commit ourselves to mittere towards them. They are the object of our service. The mourning Jesus painted by Rouault is also a picture of our neighbor who is always groaning in pain. It is our confession of faith that when we see our suffering neighbors arouse our unbearable heart, serve them and dedicate ourselves to it.