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<p>It seems we live in a time marked by discontent. Each day some basic part of existence becomes more complicated and difficult, something new pops into frame that layers on anxiety, broken relationships tax us, sickness eats at us, politics discourage us, the financial and emotional costs of living weigh us down. Does any of that resonate with you? If it does, that means one of two things. Either this miraculously found the one person that feels this way, or (and we’re betting on this second option) it resonates because many of us share the experience. In a time of polarization and division, common ground is hard to find. <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://development.hgu-staging.com/en/articles/discontent-by-the-numbers-are-we-all-sick-of-the-same-things">What if we can find unity in our shared discontent?</a></p>
<p>This is not a new thought—we stole this one from Jesus. We noticed that a very strange mix of people would all flock together around him—<a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/jesus-befriended-tax-collectors">tax collectors</a>, sex workers, religious elite, fishermen, zealots, rich, poor, sick, healthy—on paper they had no business sitting together or getting along. But they all joined Jesus at the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/jesus-invited-everyone-to-sit-at-his-table">dinner table</a>. Why? Our working theory is that they all shared one thing in common: they desperately wanted something about their lives to change. They were each sick of something.</p>
<p>And Jesus caught a lot of flack for sitting at a table with this mix of people, especially the part of the mix that others wouldn’t sit with. His response was so simple: “It is not the healthy but the sick who need a doctor.” And if you look at his life, Jesus played the role of doctor without hesitation at all times. He was always hanging out with people who felt sick whether it was with physical ailments or more hidden conditions affecting the heart and mind. And that got us thinking: what are we most sick of today, and what can we learn from Jesus that could maybe move us in the right direction?</p>
<p>To tackle the first part of the question, we sent out surveys and took a road trip across America and sat down with people to ask this question: <strong>what are you sick of?</strong> The responses made it clear: we are sick of a lot. You can take a look at the numbers <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://development.hgu-staging.com/en/articles/discontent-by-the-numbers-are-we-all-sick-of-the-same-things">here </a>, but listen to these first hand responses:</p>
<div class="special-quote">I’m tired of being tired, I just want to be as active as I was 10 years ago.</div>
<div class="special-quote">I’m sick of chronic pain.</div>
<div class="special-quote">I’m sick of not being able to get a job that’s paying to train you, but companies don’t want to hire you if you have no experience.</div>
<div class="special-quote">I am sick of groceries being so expensive.</div>
<div class="special-quote">I am sick of divisive politics.</div>
<div class="special-quote">The gun violence around my house. I hear at least two shots everyday.</div>
<div class="special-quote">I am sick of everyone complaining. I just want everyone to be excited about life. Even on the bad days.</div>
<div class="special-quote">I’m sick of myself.</div>
<div class="special-quote">I&#8217;m sick of lots of things. Probably too many to list.</div>
<p>These are personal answers, but if you’re anything like us, as you read these, you start to see a bit of your own story in them, a piece of your own sickness, a piece of our collective sickness. And we think it’s fair to say <strong>we</strong> are sick, not only because we share the sentiment, but because this discontent affects our communities and relationships often as much as it affects us personally. So we might feel sick, but we’re sick together.</p>
<p>Where does that leave us? Well for starters, we’re in good company. If you feel sick, you are not alone, it seems that most of us do. And two, if you feel sick, then you are exactly the type of person Jesus sought out and exactly the kind of person he tailored his message for. How he lived and what he taught functions as a great model for how we can <u>help each other respond to the things that are weighing us down.</u></p>
<p>We’ll end with this. Jesus knew people felt sick and he offered some help. He outlined a whole framework for a healthy kind of living, a way to fight the different sicknesses, in a speech now known as the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve talked about pieces of the framework before—pieces like “<a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/loving-your-neighbor-is-nearly-impossible-how-can-we-do-it">love your neighbor</a>”, “<a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://hegetsus.com/en/featured-videos/love-your-enemies">love your enemy</a>”, “<a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/how-did-jesus-step-over-barriers-of-race-gender-and-stigma-on-the-side-of-the-road">do not judge</a>” or “<a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/jesus-forgave-but-did-he-forget">turn the other cheek</a>”. But it’s how he ended the Sermon on the Mount that gives context to what this framework really does for us. He ended with a story about a man who builds a house on the sand and a man who builds a house on the rock. In this story, the rains come and streams rise on both houses, though only the house built on the rock survives the storm. A friend of ours, Ian Simkins, said it well, “Jesus is honest about the human condition. He doesn’t paint a flowery picture, suggesting that following him means life will become a walk in the park. The rain, wind, and floods will come. Hard times will come our way. We will encounter great, unexpected difficulties in our lives. The way of Jesus doesn’t lead you out of hardship, but through it.”</p>
<p>What are you sick of, and how could Jesus’ example help us move forward?</p>


We’re all sick of something

<p><span class="highlighters">So, <a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/who-is-my-neighbor">who is my neighbor?</a></span></p>
<p>Remember the golden rule? Treat others the way you would like to be treated? Well, Jesus had a version of that: “<a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/what-does-it-mean-to-love-your-neighbor">Love your neighbor</a> as yourself.” He wasn’t the first one to say it — it was written into Jewish law — but he confirmed that it was one of the most important things for us to do, one of the major keys to a fulfilled life. So, <a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/who-is-my-neighbor">who is my neighbor?</a></p>
<p>Jesus was asked that exact question, and his answer made some things pretty clear. He told a story: A man is walking down a road when he is jumped by some robbers and beaten within an inch of his life. A little later on, a priest walking down the road — a priest of the dying man’s same ethnicity and religion — sees him lying there and walks right past him. Sometime later, another holy man with a similar background walks right past the dying man as well. Finally, a Samaritan man — a complete stranger from a culture that was a historic enemy to the Jewish people — walks up and bandages the man’s wounds, puts him on his own personal donkey, and takes him to an inn where he pays out of pocket for him to stay and be healed.</p>
<p>Jesus was asked about neighbors and answered with a story of travelers. Why? Because your neighbors are not just the people you live and spend your time with. Your neighbor is anyone you interact with. Whether you know them, like them, look like them, or not, they’re your neighbor. Jews and Samaritans often hated each other. They had a long history of bad blood. Jesus was painting a picture of total opposites.<br />
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="h390 alignnone wp-image-1854 size-full" src="https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote2-1.png" alt="" width="950" height="910" srcset="https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote2-1.png 950w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote2-1-300x287.png 300w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote2-1-517x495.png 517w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote2-1-768x736.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px" /><br />
Have you ever been to the airport and sat down across from someone you’re certain would disagree with you on every one of your fundamental beliefs? You can just tell by the way they dress, the book they’re reading, the food they brought to the gate — your view of the world and theirs must be irreconcilable. Are you picturing that person in your mind? Great. That’s your neighbor. And so is the man asking for change at the red light. And the family member who is estranged. And the person you’re hoping doesn’t move in next door. They’re all your neighbors.</p>
<p>So then, the second part of the equation is figuring out what it means to love all those neighbors as yourself. This is where it gets hard. In the story he told, to love our neighbors requires altering our plans and path to be kind to people without ever expecting anything in return. The way Jesus talked about it, loving your neighbor is wholly inconvenient, wildly selfless, and nearly impossible to do well all the time.<br />
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="h390 aligncenter wp-image-1852 size-full" src="https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote3-1.png" alt="" width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote3-1.png 1200w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote3-1-300x200.png 300w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote3-1-743x495.png 743w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote3-1-768x512.png 768w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote3-1-600x400.png 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><br />
But Jesus didn’t seem to care about us doing it perfectly. His teachings suggest that he wanted us to consider our intentions and do the work to act from a place of empathy. Eventually, loving our neighbors is an action that can become intuitive. So, how do we do that? There are three simple steps that can help. When Jesus told that story and mentioned that a Samaritan man was walking down the road, the crowd would’ve tensed up. Many hated Samaritans. But Jesus shockingly made the Samaritan the hero, perhaps showing the first step in being a good neighbor is to avoid <a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/how-would-jesus-be-judged-today">judging others</a>. Jesus didn’t teach hate or assume the worst.<br />
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1853 size-full" src="https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote4-1.png" alt="" width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote4-1.png 1200w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote4-1-300x200.png 300w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote4-1-743x495.png 743w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote4-1-768x512.png 768w, https://hegetsus1dev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LovingYourNeighbor_Quote4-1-600x400.png 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><br />
Another clue is in the word “neighbor.” In Greek, the language in which this story was written, this word is “plesion,” which just means “near.” The Samaritan man whom Jesus sets up as the model good neighbor? He approaches the dying man. He gets close. The other two walk past on the other side of the road. So, step two is to practice drawing near to people we would otherwise avoid. To strike up a conversation. To listen to their perspective.</p>
<p>Imagine for a moment if the people pictured in the video did exactly that — listened to one another as a neighbor. They might not come to agreement, but they certainly would become better neighbors — by getting close and listening.</p>
<p>And the final clue is in how the Samaritan man puts everything on hold to care for the dying man. It’s an extreme example, but at its core, the man is putting the needs of another above his own. Step three is to choose humility. To put yourself in the other person’s shoes and to attend to their needs like you would take care of your own. Jesus modeled this by washing his disciples’ feet — the teacher humbling himself before his students. Jesus wasn’t blinded by quick judgments, and neither was the Samaritan. They both got close and then put their neighbor’s needs above their own. They loved their neighbors. What would it look like if we all made an effort to love ours?</p>


Loving your neighbor is nearly impossible. How can we do it?

Jesus befriended tax collectors

MOTS Neighbors-3

We all have different definitions of the word neighbor.

Confessions-1

Jesus’ love was often unexplainable and undeserved. When have you received unexplainable love?

Disconnected | Part 2: The Paradox of Discontent

Is what we're sick of pushing us apart, or can it bring us together?

Be Childlike

Back in Jesus’ day, children weren’t regarded the same way they are today. This made his teachings around the value of being childlike countercultural.  Jesus taught, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” And he lived it out — childlike in humility, compassion, and gentleness. What can we learn from his example today?