Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
The Neighbor
A religious leader asks Jesus a question: “What is the most important commandment?” As the Gospel of Mark tells the story, the questioner is friendlier than in Matthew’s Gospel. The questioner and Jesus agree that God may command us mortals.
Jesus gives a twofold answer: “Love God with all you are. Love your neighbor as yourself.” These two cannot separated, according to Jesus. Both answers are quotes, from Deuteronomy and Leviticus in the Torah, the first books of the Bible Jesus knew, similar to what we call the Old Testament, but arranged differently. Jesus also apparently understands that love is an act of will, rather than only feelings.
While originally “neighbor” in the Bible probably meant just fellow Hebrews, Jesus, who in the Gospel of Luke follows this with the parable of the Good Samaritan, has a broader definition.
Long ago I heard a Hebrew scholar share his helpful understanding of the second commandment: “Love your neighbor. She or he is like you.”
So many of our concerns come from believing the neighbor is not really like us, but is somehow inferior. A white person can enslave a black person, because a black person is inferior. A men can abuse a woman, because a woman is inferior. An American or Canadian can avoid an immigrant, because an immigrant is inferior. I can avoid a relative I don’t like, because my relative is inferior.
Of course, we often act this way because we are unsure of ourselves and feel better if we believe we are better than someone else.
Whatever we think of ourselves, God values and loves us more.
Hermann Weinlick, retired pastor
Minneapolis, Minnesota