And this love we show isn’t a reserved love, but brotherly love-full, open, and welcoming. It reaches even to the foreigner, the poor, the weak, the ones who are not like us. Still, some had a hard time extending such hospitality to the less favorable or those who were more different.īut God asks us to show others the kind of love that doesn’t stop when we see a stranger. In biblical times, people would bring strangers into their homes to give them a hot meal and a place to rest for the night. The Bible encourages us to love strangers. Our love isn’t meant for only those we know. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Seeing our enemies as people worthy of love and respect is the starting point to love. He only responded with, “The one who showed him mercy.” Love reaches past the hurt, anger, and differences and cares for the other person’s wellbeing. When Jesus highlighted this, the expert could barely speak the enemy’s name. In Luke 10:25-37, an expert in the law responded to Jesus’s quoting of this verse by asking that very question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with the “Parable of the Good Samaritan.” In the parable, an enemy to the expert was the one who loved the neighbor. And probably just as long, people have been asking the qualifier, “Who is my neighbor?” We want to get that straight, because we don’t want to waste our love on someone who doesn’t qualify. Leviticus 19:18Īs far back as Moses, God has been asking us to love our neighbors as ourselves.
It’s easy to get caught up between right and wrong and our list of rules. For this, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery,’ ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness,’ ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Romans 13:8-9 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.His love extends to the righteous and the unrighteous, so our love should also know no bounds.
It’s through loving the unlovable, we grow closer to God. These verses stress loving those who do nothing for you, even those who cause you pain. As part of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, these verses follow the elimination of the practice of taking an “eye for an eye.” In just a few words, Jesus dismantled age-old traditions by pointing to the importance of the heart and loving those who seemingly deserve love the least. If we are to love as God loves, we must love our enemies and keep the peace.
34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. 31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.ģ2 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. 30 Give to every man that asketh of thee and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. 29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. 27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, 28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
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