Christian Life 16 - A Meditation Joke

 This morning I was meditating on yesterday's sermon, the subject of which was a Bible verse I've recently quoted in this blog: "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:31)  My argumentative mind said, "well, piety is all well and good, but it can be taken too far."

This made me wonder "how far is too far?  How, exactly, do I love myself?"  In response, I began creating what I considered a rather humorous metaphor.

Let's say I've gone to a doctor and been diagnosed with heart disease.  I'm given a strict diet, an exercise regime, pills to take and am told to monitor my blood pressure.  All goes well for a while, but in reasonably short order my muscles begin to rebel.  "Good grief!  All this exercise!  Can we take just this one day off?"  The tongue chimes in, "No kidding!  Look, carrots and broccoli are fine, but, really, pizza!  I'm just saying!"  The stomach pipes up next. "What are you complaining about?  With a sip of water, those pills just slide right past you!  I've got to digest the damn things!"  Then the arm starts; "What's with all the squeezy-squeezy all the time?"  Before long all the organs have started a chorus.  "Really, this is the heart's problem, why should all the rest of us suffer?  It's the heart's fault!  It made it's bed, let it lie in it!"

I was sort of giggling at the ridiculousness of this image when it hit me.  Wait a minute!  We actually do that!  How many of us (myself included) have chosen to ignore our doctor's advice because of the inconvenience it causes?

I suppose that's why Jesus added a caveat.  "You know what?  Scratch that.  Don't love your neighbor like you love yourself.  Love your neighbor the way you wish your neighbor would love you."  Makes sense, don't you think?


Pax

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