NOTES: 01.27.2021
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22:36-39
Who are our neighbors?
The argumentative family member that nobody seems to get along with
The homeless people we might encounter at some point
The people we see at school such as classmates and teachers
The person in another country
The person who voted differently than you
The brothers and sisters in Christ who might not think like you do
Basically everyone!!!!
It is a challenging command, but it is essential. Jesus made it the second most important command for a reason. It might even feel hard to ever reach and conquer. The world logic tells us to love someone when they do so back to us and if they are nice but if they are mean then its ok not to love them. Yet, Jesus tells us otherwise and we have to remember that Jesus' logic breaks what the world’s logic says and calls us to do otherwise. We are called to be different and to be set apart from the rest. But Jesus made it very clear, “We should love our neighbors ALL THE TIME.”
Now, how do we show/ love our neighbors?
We love God first and ourselves second. Loving God first means that we receive His love for us because He loved us first. God’s love for us is unconditional. It’s hard to understand that kind of love and even harder to display. That’s probably why we often sink to the level of loving other people only when it feels convenient. Loving ourselves isn’t some type of self-absorbed love. Loving ourselves means we see our value because Jesus did, to the point that He died on the cross for us! Learning to love ourselves because of the value we have in Jesus will help us love our neighbors.
“When we love our neighbors, we are being the hands and feet of Jesus.”
