“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” Jesus in Matthew 22:39
“The point [of loving your neighbor as yourself] is not to meet a temporary need or change a startling statistic; the point is to exalt the glory of Christ as we express the gospel of Christ through the radical generosity of our lives.” (David Platt, Radical, p. 135)
“Blogging theology is far easier that living it. Writing on ministry is easier than actually being a servant. Beware of self-deception.” (Rick Warren, Twitter, Feb 17, 2011)
Jesus is cornered in the temple by those in religious power who seek to discredit Him. An expert in the law steps forward, testing Him (v. 35), and asks a question: "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He 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 great and foremost commandment (vv. 36-38).
Then, without being asked, Jesus also mentions the second greatest commandment, “to love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 39). And He adds this commentary: “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets" (v. 40).
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus faces a similar encounter. Upon hearing the command to love your neighbor, someone asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). Jesus answers by telling the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37). Whereas the religious leaders in the story chose to pass by on the other side, a Samaritan stops and gives aid to a hurting man. The Samaritans were a despised race (much like the Roma or “gypsies” of Eastern Europe or the Toba of South America). Jesus ends the story by affirming that a neighbor is not one of the same religion or race, but one who shows mercy in spite of differences in religion or race. Jesus then commands, “You go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).
And I see a resurgence today of Christians who “go and do likewise.” One thing I have learned from my kids’ generation is the value of mercy ministries. While I have proclaimed Christ on secular universities and in Muslim lands, my kids in the name of Jesus have hugged AIDS orphans and loved on those living in trash dumps in third world countries.
In our world today just about every place where the gospel can be freely proclaimed has heard of Christ; frontiers in missions are closed to those who are exclusively proclaimers. It will take “missions of mercy” who show love to their neighbors to get the message of Christ into unreached places. Emergency aid workers, school teachers, medical professionals, even business people can take Christ into parts of the world that are closed to traditional missionaries.
Yet we must guard against the trend that the social gospel frequently loses the gospel. That is why we must continually be reminded that loving one’s neighbor as your self is the second greatest commandment; the first is to love the Lord. As John Piper reminds us, the best way to love our neighbor is to warn him of the horrors of hell.
Jesus said on these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets (v. 40). Jesus said nearly the same thing in Matthew 7:12, also known as the Golden Rule: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Each of the 600 plus commandments in the law of Moses, including the Ten Commandments, can be categorized under either “love God” or “love your neighbor.” Thus our faith has both a vertical (love God) and a horizontal (love others) component to it, making the cross even a more appropriate symbol of our faith.
Yet I am also troubled and convicted by the second commandment. Do I really love my neighbor as myself? Am I as concerned for their health care and family relationships as I am mine? Do I care about their eternal destiny as I do about my own family? Is my justification for sometimes passing by beggars “because they will spend it on alcohol” merely an excuse for my own selfishness? As Doc Holiday said in an old western, “It appears my hypocrisy knows no bounds.” Lord, may the fruit of my love for You be more about my love for my neighbor and less about my passion for theology.
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