Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself
When Jesus was asked to identify the most important commandment, he clearly stated two of them (Mark, Chapter 12):
1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
2. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Let’s consider the second commandment, loving your neighbor as yourself. If we accept the clear meaning of these words, the following would flow from this principle:
You must love a murderer as much as you love yourself.
You must love a child molester as much as you love yourself.
You must love every terrorist as much as you love yourself.
You must love that annoying person at work as much as you love yourself.
If we follow what Jesus said, we must love everyone equally. No ifs, ands, or buts.
At some level, this principle makes sense to most of us. We can feel its truth in our hearts. Yet I have never met anyone who I would say has lived according to this standard – who has truly loved EVERYONE, and I mean everyone, as much as himself.
Have you ever met someone who you could state, with certainty, has loved every human being equally? Don’t answer too quickly. Make sure the person you are about to identify has loved everyone in the world equally. This is an extraordinarily high standard.
It seems that humans don’t have the capacity to carry out this commandment. Is the commandment meant as a standard to aim at, but one which we can never actually attain?
I don’t know the answer.
Many religions endorse the concept of loving everyone equally. This is not something that is found only in Christianity.
In today’s world, it seems that we are not even close to following the commandment to love everyone equally.
I have heard some Christian clergy explain that we can “hate the sin while loving the sinner.” Therefore, we can love everyone. This explanation does not seem genuine to me. In every instance where I’ve heard these words uttered, I have noticed that the body language and voice of the person making the statement is inconsistent with the claim that he or she truly loves the sinner. What I hear and feel in these cases is condemnation – not love.
That being said, I am not arguing with the standard expressed my Jesus. My heart tells me that we should indeed love our neighbors as ourselves.
How do we embrace this standard and follow it consistently? Is it even possible?
I welcome Christian and non-Christian comments and perspectives on this issue. Perhaps I can include some of those comments and continue the discussion in upcoming editions of this newsletter.
– Jeff Keller
© 2008