LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, ‘LoveG25 the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul’ and ‘LoveG25 your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.”
Luke 10:25-28
In both Matthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-31, a person asks what the greatest commandment is. In this passage, an expert in Jewish law asks Jesus “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Rather than answer him, Jesus turns the question back to the lawyer, the expert, by asking him what the Law says and how he “reads it” or understands it. Then the lawyer answers with the two greatest commands: to love God and love your neighbor. He is referring to what is written in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. If you are familiar with this passage in Luke, you know that the lawyer still tries to trip Jesus up by asking, “Who is my neighbor?” Then Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, the point of which is that your neighbor is the person God places in your path with no regard to race, religion, culture, etc. Jesus said, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets,” as recorded in Matthew 22:40. How can this be? The first four of the Ten Commandments deal with our love for God. The final six commandments concern our love for people, our earthly relationships. They are 1) honor your parents, 2) do not murder, 3) do not commit adultery, 4) do not steal, 5) do not lie, and 6) do not covet. If we love our neighbors—basically, everyone—we will not do them any harm. Therefore, we would be obeying the Law. Going beyond the “thou shalt nots”, loving our neighbor would imply doing good to him/her, actualizing the Golden Rule: “In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
How can you love your neighbor this week? Think about the ways you wish others would treat you and do those things for others. Make a list of positive things you can do for someone else. Then, follow through and do them. When confronted with a difficult situation, ask yourself what the loving response would be instead of reacting immediately. Take a breath, pray silently, and ask the Lord to infuse you with His love before responding because the only way we can truly love our neighbor is to have the love of Jesus overwhelmingly overflowing in our lives.
Lord, help us to not only love You because You first loved us but also to love others the way You command us. Help us to pause before answering harshly and seek Your help to respond lovingly as well as truthfully. Let Your love radiate through our lives as we seek to grow more and more like You.