“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” -Matthew 22:39-40
If there is one verse I think we, Christians, continually get wrong, it’s this one. It helps that Jesus thinks it’s in the top two. If every sermon ever preached dealt only with this command, “love your neighbor as yourself,” I think we might be in a better place then we are now.
Instead we have a sort of Bipolar love. We spend all kinds of time and energy loving ourselves, and barely any loving others. I’ll buy myself a luxury item before I’ll make sure my neighbor is fed and clothed. That’s the truth of the matter. If we take the command at face value and evaluate our lives accordingly, I think all of us will find we aren’t living up to it. But, that’s not even really my point, I don’t expect us to actually live up to it (I can hear some jumping in, “we’ve all sinned, that’s why we need Jesus!”). The truth is, we aren’t even trying. Jesus says it’s the second greatest commandment in all of scripture and rarely is there a church or sermon that is even making an attempt.
Maybe because I’m a parent, or because discussing a bipolar individual will get confusing, but I think using the analogy of love for your children is an easier way to discuss this. Imagine for a moment that you have two children, and you say you love them both, our commanded to love them both. However, this is what your love looks like. For first child you not only feed them, but pay for them to enjoy dinners out, and daily luxury drinks. The other child you feed just once a day, a small meager meal, not enough to meet his basic nutritional needs. You not only send the first child to school, you buy them new clothes, a backpack full of supplies, pay for all their field trips, but them educational toys and books and everything else they need to be successful. The other you might allow to go to school, if there is a free option available, but you send them wearing their only tattered outfit, no supplies, no support. You can say you love them both, but your actions tell a completely different story.
This is what our bipolar love looks like. We are the first child and our neighbors the second. Nobody would say that is loving your neighbor, it’s not even attempting to love your neighbor. It’s true that we are not even close, but worse, we haven’t even started trying.
You rock Adria, and I think your super right on. I'm with you on often not feeling like "Jesus said so" is a good answer.
BUT, it seems like that is usually a great answer in most bible-believing churches (to a degree of course). And that's what nags me. I'm all about your understanding why we do what we do within the larger story, but I also think that most Christians would say, if it's commanded in there your supposed to be doing it, even if you don't understand it completely.
So, my argument would be, I'm all about teaching the whole story and bringing understanding to it, but in the meantime, if you spend time praying or taking communion (even without a big picture understanding of it), then you ought to be working on this loving your neighbor thing too.
So, this might be a big, broad concept that swallows up this very specific issue, but I'm going to chance it, because I think it is at the root of your proposed problem: that Christians, as a whole, "haven't even started trying" to love our neighbors.
Why should I love my neighbor as myself? To be completely honest, for me, because "Jesus said so" isn't a good answer. The better answer is because of who Jesus is as the fulfillment of the biblical narrative. I believe that there are serious cracks in the theological foundations of both the social gospel and the escape gospel as told, in general, by Christians who lean politically left or right, respectively. Starting to try to love our neighbor begins with biblical literacy and rigorous theological thought on the lay level. These I find lacking on both sides of the theological spectrum. It also begins with the end of political alignment within Christendom. In my opinion, there is no political system on earth that is able, in and of itself, to do biblical justice (though one can often be tricked into thinking so during campaign season). Yet, many American Christians continue to hold onto a political alignment or a patriotism that would suggest that someone other than Jesus is Lord of the cosmos.
And, just this, that Jesus is Lord of the cosmos, ought to be the compelling reason for Christians to begin to try to love our neighbor. "Love your neighbor as yourself" doesn't tell me that Jesus is Lord of the cosmos. That he ordered it. That there is a primal cosmic economy (social and moral) that has been lost, and that I am responsible to participate in recovering it. The entirety of the biblical narrative tells me that. Perhaps we would be more apt to try to love our neighbor if we put more effort into understanding the story we find ourselves in, because the story as a whole, not just its various parts, is most compelling.
*Please forgive any generalizations.
**Also, I'm not a bleeding heart. If Jesus isn't Lord of the cosmos, you won't find me doing anything he said. You'll find me making money and drinking fine wines in beautiful places. But, he is. So, I am…trying to follow.
***The Church needs an orthodox, biblical and theological teaching/training revolution.
Ariah, you are right. As Christians, we absolutely should love our neighbor even without understanding the "big picture". And we should do it because we follow God's teaching in the Bible (which you pointed out) related to other things like prayer and communion. However, what I think a.lenore was getting at is that without a good understanding, or at least a constant reminder, of the full narrative Christians have a really hard time following God's teaching about things like prayer, communion, and loving your neighbor.
Without the compelling nature of the truth that Jesus is Lord of the Cosmos, that "God first loved us", that He is "the Beginning and the End" of everything, and the rest of the story of His relationship with us…without the story as a whole to guide our understanding and actions "Love your neighbor as yourself" just becomes another difficult task that we're supposed to do, but that doesn't make a lot of sense. It's much easier to eat a piece of bread and drink a little cup of grape juice without understanding why. That doesn't cost us much. "Love your neighbor" is a costly exercise that most people won't even try to do without a compelling reason.
I think that is what you were getting at in your original post, and what a.lenore was trying to expand upon. You said that we have a bi-polar love. We take the first part of what Jesus said, and leave the second. You reminded us that as Christians, we follow Jesus; and Jesus said that "on these TWO commandments hang ALL the Law and the Prophets" (emphasis mine). Therefore, as Christians, we should be doing these TWO things.
a.lenore just added that the reason why is that American Christians are guilty of laziness or neglect. We often don't know the full story and therefore we replace the truly compelling reasons for following God/Jesus' commands with the very weak reason: "because I said so." Try telling a teenager that you don't know to do something and when they ask why, tell them: "Because I said so." We all know what the next question usually is (in varying degrees of rudeness and crudeness): "And who are you to me?"
Joel, thanks for sharing that further insight. I think that helped me see the perspective a bit more as well. And I have to acknowledge, both Joel and Adria, that I largely agree with you. An a purely physical, intellectual level, I think we all need to be convinced and compelled to act not in our own self interest but for the good of others. I think Christians and non-Christians alike find it difficult to do "just because" and thus need outside encouragement, reason, understanding.
So, maybe my question, more point blankly is: Where is the power of the Holy Spirit in all of this? If Christians by and large love no differently then non-Christians, and both need an intellectual convincing to do something other then act selfishly, what is really happening in the 'spiritual' realm?
To plagiarize Francis Chan: The Holy Spirit is our "Forgotten God". We Americans often think that we can do everything intellectually (I am especially guilty of this), but as you pointed out it is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to love others. It is the Holy Spirit that infuses us with the awareness of the awesomeness of God; it is the Holy Spirit that comforts us and guides us and loves us first so that we might love Him and his creation (that would be the "other people" part). Sadly, many American Christians have "forgotten God". God has given us the ability to forget Him, and many have. The ones that remember invite the Holy Spirit in, follow His guidance, and glorify God through their life and the love of others.
So what's really happening in the spiritual realm? God is waiting. Waiting for Christians to stop trying to "be good" and to start loving " '…the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' " (Matthew 22:37) We're really bad at the first commandment, especially because we American Christians tend to try to love in the reverse order: with our mind, and then with our soul, and then with our heart. And we never get past the first one because we don't trust God to be GOD and do it better than we could do it. The result? Christians that look just like non-Christians.
God is Love. Love is Patient. And so, God is patiently waiting for us to remember that there is a spiritual realm, that there is a Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit is not us, so in order to know the Holy Spirit we have to have a relationship with Him. Then we'll start to look like Christians.
Okay, so that makes plenty of sense, "The result? Christians that look just like non-Christians."
So, what's the point? Or maybe even more stark: Who are the real Christians? I mean is it the ones who have intellectually acknowledged some sort of list of beliefs? Or is it those whose are actually loving their neighbors ("whatever you've done unto the least of these…")?
Okay, so that makes plenty of sense, "The result? Christians that look just like non-Christians."
So, what's the point? Or maybe even more stark: Who are the real Christians? I mean is it the ones who have intellectually acknowledged some sort of list of beliefs? Or is it those whose are actually loving their neighbors ("whatever you've done unto the least of these…")?
To plagiarize Francis Chan: The Holy Spirit is our "Forgotten God". We Americans often think that we can do everything intellectually (I am especially guilty of this), but as you pointed out it is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to love others. It is the Holy Spirit that infuses us with the awareness of the awesomeness of God; it is the Holy Spirit that comforts us and guides us and loves us first so that we might love Him and his creation (that would be the "other people" part). Sadly, many American Christians have "forgotten God". God has given us the ability to forget Him, and many have. The ones that remember invite the Holy Spirit in, follow His guidance, and glorify God through their life and the love of others.
So what's really happening in the spiritual realm? God is waiting. Waiting for Christians to stop trying to "be good" and to start loving " '…the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' " (Matthew 22:37) We're really bad at the first commandment, especially because we American Christians tend to try to love in the reverse order: with our mind, and then with our soul, and then with our heart. And we never get past the first one because we don't trust God to be GOD and do it better than we could do it. The result? Christians that look just like non-Christians.
God is Love. Love is Patient. And so, God is patiently waiting for us to remember that there is a spiritual realm, that there is a Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit is not us, so in order to know the Holy Spirit we have to have a relationship with Him. Then we'll start to look like Christians.
Thanks, can't take credit for it, I know I've heard it elsewhere.
I like the parent analogy a whole lot. It is pretty sad when Christ Followers who claim to be about love hardly do a thing to help others compared to how much the "heathens" do to help others.
Great conversation – I think it is impossible to love what we don't know, and our culture is bent on self-indulgence and isolation from anything not-like-me… so we never, meet, never learn, never love…. unless it is more of me..
Word. Love doesn't happen at arms length.
Word. Love doesn't happen at arms length.
Your analogy reminds me of a lesson I taught in a teen Sunday school class. All of a sudden one of the teens said, "Wait a minute. That means you have to love some other random person's kids like you love your own. That's crazy!"
It is kind of crazy, isn't it?
INDIE! Good to see you here 🙂 Now I remember why I like blogging and the conversations that follow.
Here's to use crazy people 😉 (or attempting to be crazy)
INDIE! Good to see you here 🙂 Now I remember why I like blogging and the conversations that follow.
Here's to use crazy people 😉 (or attempting to be crazy)
I love this verse too Ariah and I like your commentary. But something that we've been learning in our little community (www.valleymosaic.net) is that the verse does say "love others as you love yourself." If you don't know how to love yourself properly, can we really love others properly? A close friend of mine has been learning this personally–he's recently entered a twelve step program and is now learning how to love himself. It's a delicate road and long journey and something we all need is grace.
love,
Jesse
My recent post Flash Crash, 401ks and Friendships
I love this verse too Ariah and I like your commentary. But something that we've been learning in our little community (www.valleymosaic.net) is that the verse does say "love others as you love yourself." If you don't know how to love yourself properly, can we really love others properly? A close friend of mine has been learning this personally–he's recently entered a twelve step program and is now learning how to love himself. It's a delicate road and long journey and something we all need is grace.
love,
Jesse
My recent post Flash Crash, 401ks and Friendships
I love this verse too Ariah and I like your commentary. But something that we've been learning in our little community (www.valleymosaic.net) is that the verse does say "love others as you love yourself." If you don't know how to love yourself properly, can we really love others properly? A close friend of mine has been learning this personally–he's recently entered a twelve step program and is now learning how to love himself. It's a delicate road and long journey and something we all need is grace.
love,
Jesse
My recent post Flash Crash, 401ks and Friendships
Jesse, Thanks for jumping in. I definitely agree there are ways we need to work on the "love yourself" part for sure. But, I'd say in a lot of ways, most of us are already doing an over the top job in that category, particularly when it comes to our finances (which is more specifically what I'm harping on in the above post).
Always appreciate your thoughts.