By Bartholomew Bockarie Kamara
The Greek words for love – errors, philos and agape – state that “errors” love deals with that which exists between people in an intimate relationship. Philos means the love between two friends. And agape is the love that is extended to everyone irrespective of race, colour, age, tribe, region, religion, political party affiliations, etc. Therefore the agape type of love, which is the unconditional love, is the one that should be manifested to this effect and in this manner.
Our enemies are those who have hurt us in one way or the other. Better still those whom we have hurt in one way or the other; those that have caused us pain and emotional stress to some extent and we bear grudges or malice for them in our hearts, to the extent that we don't wish anything good for them. Rather, we wish bad to happen to them in revenge and avenge.
These people we consider enemies in our hearts, are the very ones Jesus Christ says in the scripture (Matthew 5:44, Luke 10:25-37) that we should love and pray for as well. This has been a very serious challenge in the life of any human being because, can someone love someone they consider an enemy or the one who regards them as such? The story of the Good Samaritan could be a force as to how the love of neighbour can be manifested as it was Christ himself who taught those who were around him and, it extends to us today.
The Jews and the Samaritans had a long line of history and that history brought about hostility and animosity between Jews and Samaritans, to the extent that a Jew cannot cross the path of a Samaritan or the other way round. As for the Jews, the Samaritans were their enemies and therefore cannot come close to them, and Jesus gave this teaching to his disciples and those who were around him: A man [Jew] was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho and was attacked on the road by thieves who stole almost everything from him, beat him up and left him nearly dead on the road. There came a priest [Jew] who was not an enemy of the man; he saw the man but passed by and didn't do anything to help him. Then came a Levite [Jew] who, like the first person, was not an enemy of the man. He saw the man but passed by and did nothing help him. Lo and behold then came a Samaritan who was an enemy of the broken Jewish man. Unlike the first two men, he decided to help him and did something.
He bent down and applied first-aid to the wounds and when he noticed that he was not dead, the Samaritan lifted the man and placed him on his animal and took him to an Inn. He told the Inn keeper to watch over the man until his returned and that he would pay anything being spent on him.
Now therefore, this man that was lying down on the road helplessly and hopelessly was a Jew. I strongly believe that if he had known that his helper was a Samaritan he wouldn't have accepted the gesture; in the sense that he would have decided to die on the road instead. Secondly the Samaritan didn't care about the identity of the man although he knew. He did not say that because the needy man was his enemy he was therefore not going to help him. What he saw lying down on the road was not an enemy but someone in need of love who deserved to be loved because he too was made in the image and likeness of God.
Our world was turned upside down when George Floyd died while being held down by a policeman. It brought to light something that was not always talked about: one of the remaining tragedies and evils of our time is the persistence of racism and discrimination. Some do more than others but we all feel the weight of this tragedy with a heavy heart. At its heart, discrimination is a lack of love for our neighbour, negating God’s very claim that all human beings are created in His image and likeness. Again and again, Jesus showed us what this looks like in life. What’s so radical about his example is that he went against established norms and cultural customs that were grounded in a lack of love for the marginalized: the sick, women, spiritually possessed, sinful, Samaritans, etc. He opposed structures of discrimination by loving every single person with whom he came into contact—affirming their inherent dignity and worth in the eyes of the Father.
For instance, He defied Jewish rules prohibiting interaction with lepers who were seen as unclean and cast out, willingly spent time with them to bring healing and forgiveness to their suffering and sickness. He spoke to women often, ignoring gender customs that told him not to approach them. A famous example of this is his speaking— and sharing the good news of the water of “eternal life”— with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:14).
Not only was it against the custom for a man to speak to a woman in this manner, but she was also a Samaritan: a cultural “outsider.” Jesus loved people with no limitations, boundaries, or exceptions. He would even elevate them in order to make an example of how truly important it was to love your neighbour. Loving one’s neighbour always extends to those beyond the limited walls of one’s immediate community, race, or background. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus elevated a member of the Jewish community who was at the time considered a cultural outsider, as an exemplar of how to truly love one’s neighbour.
So what does that mean for us today? In one sense, this parable uproots the notion that our “neighbours” can ever be limited. It is not just those who are physically next door to us; nor is it limited by their skin colour, gender, class, or some other factor to distinguish certain people from others. We are neighbours by virtue of being human beings made in God’s image and likeness. Jesus’s words are clear—those who love others regardless of class, religion, race, or gender are following the will of God. For this reason, the Church has always taught us thus: “Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, colour, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design” (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1953). “God’s design” is ultimately the New Creation brought about by Christ’s death and resurrection, one made of those “from every nation, tribe, people, and language” (Revelation. 7:9). As members of Christ’s Church, we are called to gather and unite, not scatter and splinter, in preparation for God’s wonderfully diverse Kingdom of Heaven.
This is why Archbishop J. Michael Miller wrote in his recent letter on racism that we must “work with vigour and courage to end racism by fostering structures and policies of economic and social justice.” Yet, true and lasting societal change begins with an individual conversion of heart. The Archbishop continues: “what is needed is a genuine interior conversion—the long road of a conversion that will compel personal change and systemic social reform.”
Saint John Paul II also cautioned us that “unless we follow this spiritual path, external structures of communion will serve very little purpose” (Novo Millennio Ineunte). His point, of course, isn’t that we shouldn’t strive for political and social change that brings about a just world for people of colour and others suffering from discrimination. Rather, it must start with our hearts. We must ask for God’s grace to be able to truly love others. It’s not enough to love abstract groups or classes of people. We must love concrete individuals in our midst. As Jesus did, we must seek to form individual relationships of love, understanding and compassion by praying for the grace to see others as God’s beloved creatures.
Saint John Paul II referred to this as a “spirituality of communion” which he defined in his Novo Millennio Ineunte thus: “A spirituality of communion implies the ability to see what is positive in others, to welcome it and prize it as a gift from God: not only as a gift for the brother or sister who has received it directly but also as a ‘gift for me.’”
This is why racism can only be eradicated by coming to understand the infinite value of each and every single person—by seeing with the eyes of God that every person is a gift. Racism, aside from the grave hurt it can cause to the victim, gravely hurts the perpetrator as well. It blinds us to the gift of others’ diversity: the unique and beautiful way a person represents an aspect of God’s being. But how do we adopt this “spirituality of communion” with others? The simple answer is: by doing what Jesus did. By making one-on-one connections with others—especially those who are marginalized and unjustly treated—and seeking to serve, know and love them.
It is hard and uncomfortable at times. This is why I’m so grateful we have an example to follow and a God to lean on in the process. We find the strength to do this by asking God in prayer to give us new hearts and eyes capable of seeing the giftedness and wonder of each and every person we encounter. Through Christ, we can work towards a world that is free of racism, sexism, tribalism and every other form of discrimination. We can work towards the world that Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned, where “all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing.” And that way, through detribalising, Sierra Leone can only get better.
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