by Diane Garrod

Created on: August 19, 2009   Last Updated: September 11, 2009

Today, it is hard to love ourselves, let alone our neighbors. Most of us don't even know our neighbors. The verse "Love your neighbor as yourself," is not just a suggestion, it is a commandment. It is a requirement for Christians. A requirement often ignored when we put up barriers of anger, fear, or scorn for a neighbor. How can love and the resulting tolerance become a bigger part of our lives today?

Jesus said "whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven." Jesus made the commandment "Love your neighbor as yourself," as the centerpiece of God's commandments.

OPPOSITION

This aroused the opposition of many who already considered themselves devoted to the law. He chose this verse plus one other "love God with one's whole being" saying "on these two commandments depend ALL the law and the prophets."

This was controversial because Jesus broke the Sabbath by putting human needs, such as the need for healing or even the desire to eat, above the hallowed ban on every form of work. He rejected many of the accepted views of ritual purity and impurity, going so far as to state "whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him." The Preachers of the time believed just touching a dead body could defile them rendering them impure. Those times, as today, didn't foster much neighborly love.

HARD TIMES AHEAD

As we strike out in the face of today's hard economic times, see job losses all around causing money problems and see politial battles in health reform heating up, more than ever loving your neighbor as yourself becomes more important. Remember, this commandment is not an option, it is a requirement. We can look beyond hard times and to what we can do with the resources we have in trying to love our neighbors as an opportunity.

NEIGHBOR DEFINED

In (Luke 10:27) a lawyer in a crowd stood up and asked "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus was very clear in defining the word "neighbor". He cited the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable an unsuspecting traveler was ambushed by bandits and left for dead.

The first person to come by was a preacher. He saw the man lying in the ditch, but he would have to undergo seven days of ritual cleansing if he touched the dead body so he crossed to the other side of the road, as if the man didn't exist. What do we do when we see someone stranded on the side of the road, or someone struggling to make ends meet, or a distant family member getting through health problems?

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