Neighborly Love || Matthew 5:43-45 || Manna for the Mind #14

Welcome to Day 14 of my “Manna for the Mind” devotional series! This series takes a passage of scripture (typically 1-3 verses) and builds its understanding through its context and connecting scripture. Doing this helps us understand what the Bible truly teaches us. 

Matthew 5:43-45

43          You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.

44          But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!

45          In that way, you will be acting as the true child of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

By teaching us not to retaliate, Jesus keeps us from taking the law into our own hands. Revenge isn’t a part of Jesus’ vocabulary. When Jesus walked out of the tomb, he could’ve quickly sought revenge against the people who killed him, but he didn’t. What did he do? Jesus loved them. He knew that the evil done to him and caused by others was a part of the almighty plan God had set in place. Jesus didn’t seek revenge and doesn’t want us to seek revenge.

We can overcome evil with good by loving and praying for our enemies. Loving our enemies might heal a hurt they were dealing with that caused them to hurt you. Praying for our enemies shows God that you genuinely care for them and allows God to start his divine action for them. Praying for them plants the mustard seed that God can supernaturally grow to love those who commit cruel and evil acts.

The Pharisees interpreted Leviticus 19:18 to understand they should ONLY love those who love in return. They also interpreted Psalm 139:19-22 and 140:9-11 to mean they should hate their enemies. Jesus flips these understandings upside-down. By acting in love for your enemies and treating them well, you will show that Jesus truly rules your life. Often, the best way to show you’re a Christian is to show others how you can love as Jesus loves us. This is possible when we give ourselves entirely to Jesus as our Lord. Through this, he can deliver us from our natural self-centeredness. There will be moments in life where the thing to do may seem correct in our eyes but goes against what God tells us. We must trust the Holy Spirit to help us show love to those for whom we may not feel love.

Let’s look at Leviticus 19:18. This verse that the Pharisees understood to mean that they should only love those who love us back.

Leviticus 19:18

18          “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

How they misunderstood this to mean, “Love those who love you,” I will never understand. There have been almost 3,000 years and ample translations that got it to where it is today. Love your neighbor as yourself. How do you love yourself? It’s a big question to wrestle with. You might love yourself by caring for your skin, hair, and teeth. You might love yourself by wearing clean clothes and doing laundry, even though you might not want to. You might love yourself by going to a job and earning a paycheck so you can eat and have shelter, even though the job sucks. You can love others by caring for them, giving them clean clothes, food, shelter, etc. The main thing was to not seek revenge or hold a grudge. Instead of doing either, put that energy into loving each other.

Paul quoted this verse to show that love fulfills the requirements of the commandments. I’ve discussed how the Ten Commandments fulfill the “Love God. Love People.” mindset. Look at this:

• Love God: 1) Don’t have any other God but me. 2) Don’t make an idol for yourself of any kind. 3) Don’t misuse the name of the Lord your God. 4) Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy.
• Love People: 5) Honor your mother and father. 6) Don’t murder. 7) Don’t commit adultery. 8) Don’t steal. 9) Don’t lie. 10) Don’t covet.

Love is at the center of all these. God wants his love all to himself and not given to anything else we might worship. Not necessarily another god, but it could be money, a job, friends, a significant other, or something else entirely. People should be treated appropriately with respect, integrity, purity, truth, and contentment.

James quoted this verse and called it the royal law. This is the law for the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s a simple thing to understand. Love rules above all.

Romans 13:9

9             For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These – and other related commandments – are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Again, we hear to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Self-love can be healthy. It can also be unhealthy. Our love for ourselves can be healthy until it turns to pride. Pride in ourselves can lead to self-centeredness and allow our world to revolve around us instead of keeping our focus on God. Self-love can be healthy and healing. Even if you struggle with low self-esteem, you still probably do at least one of the following:

• We don’t let ourselves be cheated or injured or get out of situations that could lead us to be cheated or injured.
• We take care of our bodies or even exercise. Small steps or the entire routine, we still take care of ourselves.
• We clothe ourselves reasonably well. This doesn’t mean going out for the designer names; instead, we go with the basic outfit.
• We should have a roof over our heads. It may be our parent’s roof, our friend’s roof, or a homeless shelter’s, but it is a roof.
• We get angry if someone tries to ruin our relationships or a close friendship. We don’t act on that anger, but we can still feel it and deal with it healthily and appropriately.

Loving others as ourselves means we actively work to ensure their needs are met as much as we meet our own. Now, some of us struggle with self-care. Some of us have a mental health struggle that makes doing any of the above very difficult and nearly impossible. When we meet someone struggling, we might not choose to love them as we love ourselves. Jesus knew this would be a situation where our pride would get in the way of our love. So Jesus changed this.

John 13:34

34          So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”

Jesus was getting ready to be killed on the cross. Because there wasn’t much time left, he changed the framework. The concept remained the same but was re-framed in a new way. Jesus wasn’t going to be around after this, at least physically. Changing this allowed the disciples to show the world that they were followers of Christ. We’re not loving those around us as we love ourselves. We’re loving others as Jesus loves us. We’re showing them that we care for them as much as someone willing to sacrifice themselves on our behalf.

Let’s go backward a little bit in Exodus 23:4-5 to see how love triumphs through the Old Testament laws.

Exodus 23:4-5

4             “If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey that has strayed away, take it back to its owner.

5             If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, don’t walk by. Instead, stop and help.

The thought of being kind to enemies was new to the Israelites. This concept was something they feared, primarily when their world used revenge as a common form of justice. If a man found a lost animal owned by the enemy, he was to return it immediately, even if they knew his enemy might use the animal to harm others. We’re not the ones to deal with justice. The justice is for God to manage. We’re supposed to obey God and treat others the way God treats us.

Jesus reinforces the teaching here to reach out to all people in need. ALL people. When we apply God’s laws of fairness and kindness to our enemies, we show how different we are from the world. It’s a radical, upside-down way of living life, but it’s worth the process. Amen.

Father God, we thank you for the ability to love each other as you love us. With grace, mercy, and compassion, we are grateful for the ability to share those gifts with the world. Help us comprehend what those gifts represent and how we can share them with those around us with our own gifts and talents. In your name, we pray. Amen.