Love Your Neighbor: Part 1–And Your Enemies Too

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 (MEV)

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor.  Hate your enemy.’ But here is what I tell you.  Love your enemies.  Pray for those who hurt you.  Then you will be children of your Father who is in heaven.  He causes his sun to shine on evil people and good people.  He sends rain on those who do right and those who don’t.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Even the tax collectors do that.  If you greet only your own people, what more are you doing than others?  Even people who are ungodly do that.  Matt 5:43-47 (NIRV)

 

So, Jesus said to love our neighbor AND love our enemies.  There are two implications here.  The first is that our neighbors might BE our enemies.  The second, is that what Jesus is really saying is to love everybody, that way you don’t miss one.

You all remember the story of the Good Samaritan, right?  But do you remember the story behind the story?  Here’s how it went down:

A lawyer got up and put Jesus on the spot.

‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what should I do to inherit the life of the coming age?’

 ‘Well,’ replied Jesus, ‘what is written in the law?  What’s your interpretation of it?’

 ‘You shall love the Lord your God’, he replied, ‘with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your understanding; and your neighbour as yourself.’

 ‘Well said!’ replied Jesus.  ‘Do that and you will live.’

 ‘Ah,’ said the lawyer, wanting to win the point, ‘but who is my neighbour?’

 Jesus rose to the challenge.  ‘Once upon a time,’ he said, ‘a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was set upon by brigands.  They stripped him and beat him and ran off leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down that road, and when he saw him he went past on the opposite side.  So too a Levite came by the place; he saw him too, and went past on the opposite side.

‘But a travelling Samaritan came to where he was.  When he saw him he was filled with pity.  He came over to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine.  Then he put him on his own beast, took him to an inn, and looked after him.  The next morning, as he was going on his way, he gave the innkeeper two dinars.  “Take care of him,” he said, “and on my way back I’ll pay you whatever else you need to spend on him.”

‘Which of these three do you think turned out to be the neighbour of the man who was set upon by the brigands?’

‘The one who showed mercy on him,’ came the reply.

‘Well,’ Jesus said to him, ‘you go and do the same.’  Luke 10:25-37 (NTE)

 

With this parable, Jesus answered two questions—”Who is my neighbor?” and “What does love really look like?”

 

A neighbor is anyone you come into contact with, not just those you would PREFER to come into contact with.

 

And love?  We have discussed before that agape, the Greek word for “love” in this example, is not an emotion, but an action.  It is kindness in motion, having an unselfish concern for others, seeking the best for them, and doing everything in your power to make that happen.  The Samaritan had no incentive to help the Jewish man in the story, as Jews and Samaritans hated each other with a passion.  Nevertheless, he was motivated by love for God to show compassion to this man, who on any other day would just as soon have spit on him as looked at him.

 

Love involves sacrifice in any context, but much more so when it involves our enemies.  It’s easier to step on someone’s neck than lift them up, especially if they don’t like you either.

 

Love of this nature can only come from a posture of humility.  To seek the best for others, you must already be in the habit of having a mindset that the welfare of others takes priority over your own.

 

Now that does not mean to never look after your own interests.  Just consider the needs of others first, THEN yours.  Have the heart of a servant, just like Jesus did.  He set us a crystal-clear example of what that looks like, throughout His entire ministry, and explicitly at the Last Supper.  So why do we have such a hard time following that example?

 

(To find out, come back for Part 2—Rights or Responsibilities?)