I am often stunned into silence by the yawning gap between what Jesus taught and what power hungry Christians teach ABOUT Jesus.
In a recent Fox News episode on immigration, J.D. Vance invoked the medieval notion of “ordo amoris” to justify anti-immigrant policies. “Ordo amoris” isn’t something Jesus taught. It is Saint Augustine’s notion that there is certain order to love. For Augustine, love moves in orderly concentric circles from smaller allegiances to greater. Vance summarized the notion as follows:
“You love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus [on] and prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.”
It certainly seems logical to place one’s religion within the concentric circles of family, then community, then the world, The problem with that approach is that universal love suffocates when placed in those smaller containers.
If I look at my enemy from behind my patriotic defenses I may never reach past my smaller loves. If I love my neighbors within the capitalist system I may never see their true worth. If I love truth within sectarian Christianity I may never reach the radical love to which Jesus called his followers.
If Jesus wanted universal love to fit within the concentric circles of lesser loves, then why did he teach his followers to seek first the kingdom of heaven? Why did he say, “If any come to me and do not hate their own fathers and mothers and spouses and children and siblings, yes, and even their own lives, they cannot be my disciples.” (Luke 14:26-30). Clearly Jesus is exaggerating here, but he is just as clearly calling us beyond our lesser loves to one that is greater.
In fact, Jesus said his true family was those who do the will of heaven:
“Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:48-50)
Jesus obviously wasn’t speaking literally when he said to “hate” our family.” It seems to me was trying to awaken our inner vision so that we could see past our lesser loves to the tie that binds us all together. What sense does it make to call God “our parent” if we cannot recognize the immigrant as our human family? There are no boundary lines on universal love.
In fact, the best “Anti-Christ” I can think of is the jewel bedecked American loving white Jesus sitting on a throne of power in stained glass windows of churches across this nation.
When we pray for God to bless our nation instead of asking our nation to serve the common good we have rejected the call to the universal love that might actually heal our world. Jesus turned the “order of love” on its head. We must love our friends and family WITHIN a greater love that seeks justice for us all.