Love is the simple and even obvious answer, but we also know it’s not the easy answer. That’s why we keep looking around at the burning world and wondering, what are we really supposed to do about all this?
I think Jesus still calls us to drop the illusion that the things that matter most in this life are scarce and that our true worth is not a gift and a given but something that each of us must earn for ourselves. These are the illusions the empire of money depends on. Jesus calls us away from that realm because it’s a realm that’s just too small for the abundant life the human heart was created for.
In feeling their shared pain and struggle, Euodia and Syntyche are invited to feel a gentleness toward one another. When we feel a gentle spirit toward someone else, especially someone from whom we’ve been estranged, we give space for two vulnerable hearts to beat in rhythm with each other. These are the moments when Jesus is most near to us. These are the moments that lead to joy.
The question Jesus keeps pressing upon me and upon all of us is What does it look like for us, here and now, to set aside our confident, violent visions of what we think would set things straight and ask what love requires? Ask perhaps what these strangers to us might actually need in their lives to make them a little more whole.
Because even an easy question like “Which child did the will of his father” leads to another more difficult question: which child are you? Which child am I? Our willingness to let these ancient stories nudge at us, poke at us, and even interrogate us is what faithful engagement is all about.