Love Your Neighbor

When Jesus was alive, He was always being questioned. Sometimes, he was being questioned by people who were really interested in the answer. They needed His guidance, His personal touch on their lives, His compassion. At other times, He was questioned by the religious leaders of the time (Pharisees, Sadducees). Most of the time, they were not really interested in His answer. Instead, they wanted to trick Him. The common people absolutely loved Jesus, however, the religious leaders did not. They were threatened. They wanted to try to find a reason to make Jesus look like the fake they thought He was.

One particular instance of this questioning was set up by the Pharisees. They found an expert of the law to ask Jesus a question. He asked Jesus "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (Matthew 22:36). This might sound like a simple question, however, there are 613 different commandments found in the books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The Pharisees were hoping that Jesus would anger part of the Jewish people by His choice.

The problem with their logic is that Jesus was the author of the Bible. Of course He knows the correct answer and the most important commandment. He calmly, and without hesitation, responded "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself." Nikki has already written about loving God with everything you have. I'm going to focus now on the command to love your neighbor as yourself.

The first question you may have is, who exactly is my neighbor? Jesus actually addresses this with a parable. He tells a story about a man who is robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the side of the road. There are three people who walk past this person. Keep in mind, he is laying on the ground bleeding and naked. The first two people to pass by were a priest and a Levite. These are both religious leaders. If they truly loved God with all of their heart, they would have had compassion on the man. Instead, they actually crossed the road so they wouldn't come in contact with the man and walked by. They left him there. They had absolutely no compassion. The third man was a Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans really, REALLY did not like each other. They were constantly fighting with each other. Of the three, this is the man you would expect to have no compassion. Instead, he saw the injured man and had pity on him. The Samaritan went to the man and bandaged his wounds. He lifted the man off the ground and put him on his donkey because he didn't have the strength to walk. He took the injured man to an inn and paid for his stay. He asked that the inn keeper call the doctor and do whatever the man needed in order to care for him. He made a promise to the inn keeper that he would come back and pay any other expenses that his initial payment didn't cover. The Samaritan took his own time, resources, and money to care for this man that he didn't even know. Jesus points out that the "good Samaritan" is the neighbor to the injured man because he is the one who shows mercy. Jesus then says that we should do the same.

Thankfully, Jesus doesn't leave much to chance. Because now, you might be wondering, ok, I need to show mercy to people…what does that mean? Jesus told us that too when He gave us the golden rule. In Matthew 7:12, Jesus says "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Most people know the golden rule by heart even if we can't turn right to it in the Bible, however, it is something that is often taken for granted. This is not something that comes naturally to us.

Nikki and I have done our best to teach our kids to keep this in mind as they interact with people. When we were first teaching it to Harrison, he could not keep it straight though. When he was not behaving very well, we would ask him what the golden rule was. He would say, "Do to others what they do to you." He didn't hesitate. While this is cute from a young child, it is the natural reaction for most of us. Don't get mad, get even is a pretty common thought process held by many people. This, however, is not what Jesus taught. Jesus teaches that if we are struck, then we should turn the other cheek also, we should love our enemies and pray for people who treat us badly, and we should forgive someone repeatedly when they sin against us.

If we truly love our neighbor as ourselves, our lives will be different from other people. We will treat other people the way WE want to be treated whether or not they deserve it. It's the kind of love that Jesus gives to us. He gives freely. If we do the same, we will make a difference for those we encounter. They will see what God's love truly looks like. They can have a tangible experience with a God that they don't know or understand. God is spirit and can't be seen. We, however, are not. We are able to carry the love of God to those in need. Not because they have done anything special to, or for, us. But instead, because we are loving them in the way that God intended.

Put it into practice: As you interact with people, consider the golden rule. Are you treating them the way they are treating you? Or, are you treating them the way YOU want to be treated? Give an honest evaluation of your actions and motivations over the next week. Is there someone you need to forgive even though you feel they have treated you poorly? Have you treated someone poorly because that is how they treated you first? With every person you encounter, make an honest effort to treat them as you would want to be treated.