Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song And Praise

While studying today’s gospel lesson, I was struck by the words of Jesus as they appear in this reading.  Sometimes, particular words jump out at you and cause you to hear the Word of God in a whole new way. These words are so familiar to us.  And, while I have known this before, as I studied this passage for today, some of the words truly jumped out at me and gave me pause.  The initial command Jesus gives is quite familiar when he says, “Love one another. I give you a new commandment:  Love one another.”  Quite honestly, I along with many of you have probably always heard these words in John’s gospel as a form of the Golden Rule. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Golden Rule – words to live by.  Right?  In fact, these are words Jesus, a Jewish man, would have been very familiar with.  Frankly, these are words Jews, Muslims and indeed people of all sorts of faith traditions hold as sacred. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.  Do onto others as you would have them do unto you and love your neighbor