Go and Learn

             “Go and learn what this means,
           ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’”
                           —Matthew 9.13 (quoting Hosea 6.6)

There are two religions in the world:
the religion of being right
and the religion of being loving.

They are incompatible.
Get it right and you may hurt someone.
Love, and you may break a rule.

We are always practicing one
or the other every moment,
always choosing.

This is Jesus' faith in a nutshell:
not religious orthodoxy but loving behavior.
Not being right but being loving.

I know this, and believe it deeply.
Yet Jesus' words stick:
“Go and learn.”

I'm not there yet.
I'm still right, and proud of it.
Still learning, still learning.

 

Steve Garnass-Holmes, unfoldinglight.net June 9, 2023