Loving Those Not Like You – The Second Great Commandment

Loving Those Not Like You

Matthew 22:37-39

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

John 4:9

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?

Love requires that we reach out even to those who are not like us.

The woman of Samaria was astonished at Jesus for two reasons. First, she was a woman and He evidently was a rabbi; and second, she was a Samaritan and He was a Jew. She was about as unlike Him as any person could be, and yet He initiated a conversation with her. His purpose was not merely to enlist her in His aid. Rather, His desire was to quench the thirst of her soul with the spiritual water only He could give. The Law of God consistently reminds the people of God to be kind to strangers, remembering that they, too, were at one time estranged from God and even His enemies. Yet in love He sought us, in love He bought us, and in love He wrought in us the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. This is the model of love we must show for every stranger. From the people we bump into on the street to the venders and store clerks who serve us and the recently arrived immigrants who service our homes or cart us about in taxis, we are called to love those who are not like us, who are far from us and strange to us. Such love may take simple forms – a nod and a smile, or a friendly greeting – or it may require that we go the extra mile for someone we do not even know – donating blood or praying for the victims to which a rushing ambulance seeks to bring aid. Neighbor-love requires that we love those we do not even know.

What opportunities for practicing this kind of neighbor-love will you have in the week ahead?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.