Love your neighbor as yourself

In Matthew 22 and Mark 12, we read about an expert of law asking Jesus what the greatest commandment is? Jesus answered, "'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.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40). The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind. In Mark, there is another phrase added as well: "with all your strength." (Mark 12:30). In Luke 10:25 ff, the table was turned and Jesus asked an expert of law what is written in the Law about what he must do to inherit the eternal life. The expert answered similarly with the greatest commandments.

Previously in my postings of December 24, 2010 and March 12, 2011, I considered what it may mean to love the Lord "with all my mind" and "with all my heart." Today I would like to meditate on what it may mean to "love your neighbor as yourself."

In Luke 10, there was an ensuing conversation between Jesus and the lawyer. The lawyer asked Him, "who is my neighbor?" To this, Jesus answered with the parable of the good Samaritan, essentially pointing out that whoever you can have mercy on is your neighbor. There is therefore no limit to who is the object of my neighborly love. Indeed Jesus taught us to love even our enemies and pray for them, just as our Heavenly Father lets the sun rise on the evil and the good and sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:43-48). Paul admonished likewise, "as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Galatians 6:10).

Having defined who our neighbor is, Jesus also tells us the degree to which we must love our neighbor. That is, Jesus commands "love your neighbor as yourself." What does "loving as oneself" mean? Is Jesus merely pointing out the fact that we all tend to be selfish and if we care for and love others as we would care for ourselves, that would be sufficient? I rather think that there is a deeper meaning.

In the Bible, there is one place where the expression "love as oneself" is used, besides in this Second Greatest Commandment. In Ephesians 5:25-28, after telling husbands to love their wives, just as Christ loved the church, Paul writes, "Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself." He goes on to say that the mystery of the union between a husband and a wife is really about the mystery between Christ and His church. Just as Adam called Eve his "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Genesis 2:23), Jesus considers us, His church, His "bone of (His) bones and flesh of (His) flesh," that is, His body. Therefore, to love as oneself is to love as Christ has set the standard in loving us, His church. His commandment for us to love our neighbor as ourselves is to love our neighbor in the way that He Himself has loved us. Indeed this is the new command He gave us: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34).

Ah, how high is the standard our Lord sets for us! High great are His expectations of us! The standard for our love is His love for us, just as the standard for our holiness is His holiness (I Peter 1:15-16). Even this high standard is evidence of His love for us that He considers us His children and therefore wants us to be like Him!!!

"Lord God, You are holy. Your love is from everlasting to everlasting. How high, how wide, how deep, and how long is Your love. Yet, You command me to be loving the way You have loved me. Thank you, Lord, for considering me worthy to receive the command. I only pray that Your Holy Spirit will lead me and enable me. In Jesus' Name, Amen."