The Impossibility of Loving Others
And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “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 first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:35-40
Notice the second greatest command that Jesus gives, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” At first glance, maybe we think we can make this happen. However, when we dig into the word, “neighbor” as defined by Jesus, it is more difficult. Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan to explain who is a “neighbor.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” Luke 10:29-37
In this story, there is only one thing that signifies the neighbor, the one that needs mercy. And, the man that shows mercy is the one who is a good neighbor. No attention is paid to race, nationality, position, enemy or friend, the man’s past, but only the fact that the one man shows his love to the other man by showing mercy, helping.
So, regardless of the individual, everyone is our neighbor. We are to love everyone as our neighbor.
Now, this gets tough. Loving my enemy, those that have wronged me, talked about me, stabbed me in my back, this is difficult. Simply accepting someone is not loving someone.
But, this command gets even more difficult. When you tag the words “as yourself” at the end of that command, it becomes impossible. We naturally love ourselves. We naturally worry about number one.
Try as we might, our actions are at risk of being superficial. Our actions are at risk of attempting to make a name for ourselves. Jesus called out the scribes and Pharisees for “loving the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by me, ‘Rabbi, rabbi.” Man wants to glorify himself.
So, when Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, he is asking the impossible.
But, read the first command again. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
If we love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, the impossible becomes possible. Out of our love of God is birthed the love for our neighbor. To love as God loves is to put others first, not ourselves.
Later in that chapter in the Bible, Jesus emphasizes how we are to show love – humbly, serving others.
The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:11-12
Ultimately, we will always fall short of loving others as ourselves, but let the recognition of the gap in our love for our neighbor be fuel for more love. Direct the love at God, and His love will spill out of your life onto others as you humbly serve.
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar
Impact other. Live generously.
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