Our final reading is from the Gospel of Saint Matthew. Matthew 22: 35-40, the story of the Greatest Commandment, is the most beautiful conclusion imaginable to a service we've tried to focus around the vocation for married life.
It has only recently occurred to me that this passage, too, commands us to be part of a Christian community. As Christians, we so often answer the question "who is my neighbor?" by assuming it's a metaphor--everyone is my neighbor. Christ does love all men, and command us to do likewise, but is it really possible for feeble, post-fall man?
I offer an unconventional analogy. Most people hated The Matrix II, but it did profer a potent understanding of human nature. One of the Matrix's programmers explains to Neo that he is only one of very many "The Ones" in the history of the human race. They're blips, extensions of man's need to be free from the program. These other "The Ones" have all had one thing in common, a love for all of humanity. Because they love humanity, they choose to destroy almost all men in order to save a few for the preservation of the race. But Neo is different. Neo doesn't love all men. He loves only Trinity, his lover. So, rather than choose to sacrfice her for the good of humanity, he fights to save her.
It isn't a perfect analogy, but it is at least an interesting reflection. All the others have loved humanity, but have chosen to sacrifice most human beings for the preservation of the human race. Neo loves only one, but through that perfect love, eventually saves all humanity.
Man can't choose to love everyone. It isn't in our fallen nature. It is often in trying to create a Utopia for all humanity that we do some of the most horrible things imaginable to individual men. But we can choose to love one--our spouses, or a few--our families, or even many--our community. It's by loving our neighbors that we learn how to love others. And that is the powerful reminder Adam and I want for our marriage.
You can read the other posts in this series by clicking on readings below.
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