Love your neighbor as yourself. Bet you haven't heard that one before. It's one of the most basic concepts of being a Christian. That being said, it can also be one of the most difficult. People try to avoid loving others in different ways. We have Jesus' timeless parable in the Gospel of Luke about the Good Samaritan, and how he acted towards the injured man. We love that story and always imagine ourselves as the Samaritan. But are we?
Luke 10:29-37 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” 30 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. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 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. 35 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.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
What of the two men who avoided the injured man? Why were they so cold and calloused? Let's take a look at the requirements of cleanliness that the Levite and priest were required to follow in order to serve God in the Temple.
Lev. 19:11-13 11“Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean for seven days. 12 He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.
The man at the side of the road appeared dead, or close to it. The Levite and priest were both, in all likelihood, going to fulfill their duties at the Temple. They could not do so if they touched the man and he happened to die. So in concern for their duties in the Temple they left the man there. In attempting to be who the people would see as "holy", (a visible performance) they neglected what was actually holy (the dangerous and unclean work that would disqualify them from the Temple for a week).
Their reason behind inaction was so they could serve God in the "normal" or visible way. In not acting to help the man they were disobeying God's command to love their neighbor. (Lev. 19:18) So does this mean I believe that works save us? By no means. However, the decision here shows us what was of importance to these two men. Praise rather than lowly service. How often do we err in similar fashion?
Love your neighbor as yourself. Now you've heard it again. But what I find the most odd about modern teachings on this command is the stressing of the "love your neighbor" and lack of detail of the "as yourself." I guess we just assume it means super-love.
But does it? Think about how you love yourself. When you mess up, (which we all do) how do you react? Do you console yourself and say, "Its ok, I love you (me)". Most of us will tolerate more flaws from others than we do from ourselves, we are bothered when we make errors we shouldn't and we go to pains to fix them, or (foolishly) try to cover them up. Loving yourself doesn't mean you let yourself get away with everything. In fact, it often means the opposite. We would work hard to make ourselves better, and we care about the result.
Conclusion
That is how we are to love our neighbor. Not give them a free pass to do whatever they please to us or themselves. We are to care, to love, to help, and to show God's love even when that means not going easy on that person (only if it is for their benefit and not merely ours). To love; truly as we do ourselves, means to care and to invest, not to smile and condone whatever they are doing. That isn't love, its carelessness. Jesus didn't wink at sin, nor should we, in our lives or others.
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