Many of the Old Testament passages we are learning from are mentioned once or twice in the New Testament, but today’s verse has a whopping eight! This jumps out to me as saying it must be important, so let’s begin with the original verse before we move forward.
In the nineteenth chapter of Leviticus, we find the Lord telling Moses to speak to the people (who are still in the wilderness, by the way), reminding them that he wants them to be holy as his people, because he, the Lord their God, is holy. The rest of the chapter follows with the practical application of what that might entail. He includes some of the Ten Commandments as a framework and then goes into detail on how a person is to relate to his neighbor. This is where we find our focal verse.
Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18 CSB)
Love your neighbor but not your enemy.
It’s so easy to get things wrong. Because God had instructed the people through Moses to love their neighbors, a consensus grew that love was not, therefore, required for one’s enemies. It makes me wonder if the people never considered one of their neighbors an enemy, which should have brought some conflict to their minds, but by the time of Jesus’s entrance on the world stage, it was obvious hate for one’s enemies was a given. After all, hadn’t God not commanded the Israelites to wipe out their enemies? To cleanse the land of them? That wasn’t very loving.
Still, they used this as an excuse to be ugly or take advantage of anyone considered an enemy. Jesus, in his sermon on the mountainside, decided to nip that misconception in the bud.
“You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)
The holy living God expected in the wilderness had definitely lost its luster by the first century. The law of God had been twisted to allow for unholy attitudes that were unbefitting for a people who claimed to be followers of the Almighty God. Even the unrighteous had benefited from God’s goodness and grace. Hating those different from us made us just like any other unrighteous person. It certainly didn’t reflect the perfection God required.
Loving one’s neighbor is part of the picture.
Even a rich Jew understood that loving one’s neighbors as yourself was what God required, and after he’d asked Jesus what other good things were needed to have eternal life, Jesus wanted to show him the law wasn’t quite enough.
“If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he asked him. Jesus answered: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as yourself. “I have kept all these,” the young man told him. “What do I still lack?” “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:17b-21)
Just as loving one’s enemies seemed an impossible task to those on the mountain, selling everything and following Jesus was just as hard for that rich man. The Law was incapable of bringing the perfection God required; that’s why Jesus had to come in the first place. Jesus requires complete surrender. He’s fulfilled the Law’s requirement for us.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were much like the rich man. They thought they’d followed the law to the letter, but Jesus reminds them that really, it’s just two laws that needed their full attention and adherence.
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
Were the religious leaders really loving the Lord completely and their neighbors as themselves? Hardly, for they had a long history of putting themselves above the common people.
Yet, there was a scribe mentioned in Mark’s telling of this encounter who seemed to catch on.
Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, teacher. You have correctly said that he is one, and there is no one else except him. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question him any longer. (Mark 12:32-34)
But who is my neighbor?
As I mentioned earlier, it would be easy for me to not love my neighbor if I considered him my enemy. The Jews had their share of enemies, and an expert in the law learned his lesson when trying to test Jesus by asking the same question as the rich man. Jesus answered him with a question.
“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?” He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:26-29)
Who would have thought that one short phrase from Leviticus would cause so much turmoil in the lives of the people of God? Jesus used a story to answer. We know it as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The lesson was that just as their enemy, the Samaritan, was willing to help his enemy, a Jew, then we too must be willing to view and help everyone, even those we consider enemies, for they are our neighbors.
Ouch.
Love fulfills the Law.
Just as Jesus indicated through his interactions with religious leaders and other Jews, love for God and for one’s neighbor fulfills the Law. Paul got it and shared it in his letters to the churches.
Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet; and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)
Our freedom in Christ should not lead us to forget that our faith in him is expressed only in love.
For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. (Galatians 5:13-15)
And James knew that this love, which is to reflect God’s love for us, does not show favoritism.
Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. If, however, you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (James 2:8-9)
In dying for our sins, Jesus exemplified and fulfilled the law, showing love while we were still sinners, still enemies of God.
Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. (Colossians 1:21-23)
We have been transferred to the Kingdom of the Son. May we walk worthy of that calling, loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves—to his glory. In this will all know that we are truly his disciples.
Grace and Peace
If you missed the last Learning from the Past post, click HERE, or start the series from the BEGINNING.
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