<\/p>\n
Last week I gave you the number one rule for a truly successful life: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/em>Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rule number two: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Love your neighbor as yourself.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an old one. I bet you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard it already \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but do you know what it really means?<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Love your neighbor as yourself.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> was put on the books (The<\/em> Book, actually) about 3,400 years ago. God gave it to Moses to give to the Israelites when He was making His covenant with them at Mount Sinai (Leviticus 19:18). It came to be known as \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccommandment #2\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>, right behind \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccommandment #1\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> (you guessed it – \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em>).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Over time, the Pharisees (they were the super legalistic sect of Jews who <\/em>managed<\/span> the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcrighteous behavior\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of the common folk) \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcimproved\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 on God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s command, <\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Love your neighbor as yourself,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> by adding \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and hate your enemy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n It only makes sense, I guess; there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to be a flip side. If God wants us to love our neighbor, then we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to assume that he wants us to hate our enemy. At least that was best of Pharisee reasoning, and over the ensuing 1,400 years \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclove your neighbor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> morphed into, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclove your neighbor and hate your enemy.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> Which opened up another can of worms \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcjust who, exactly, is my neighbor?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> If applied with enough pharisaical precision, one could narrow down neighbors to a very short list, which, of course, expanded the possibilities of those whom one could rightly consider enemies. This \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcimprovement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> made the list of neighbors whom one was required to love much more manageable and opened vast territory for those whom one could rightly hate. The \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcimproved\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> law fit quite nicely the goal of maintaining a well managed, closely knit community protected from outside influences, so naturally, those doing the managing – the Pharisees – were all for keeping it.<\/p>\n By the time Jesus came along the Pharisees and their \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcimproved\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> laws were well in control of the Jewish community. For those in charge of the status quo, Jesus was a difficult issue. On one hand, he was obviously a miracle worker and displayed an uncanny wisdom in his teaching; the crowds loved him. On the other hand, he showed a particularly public disdain for the authority and teaching of the Pharisees. As the popularity of his teaching grew, the influence of the Pharisees over the Jewish community diminished. The man was, no doubt, a trouble maker and needed to be exposed as such.<\/p>\n One expert in the law asked, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus answered, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What is written in the Law? How do you understand the question you just asked me?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n The expert answered, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> and,<\/em> \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLove your neighbor as yourself.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus was impressed. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n The conversation should have ended there, but the lawyer just couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help himself. Looking for a loophole he asked Jesus, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and who is my neighbor?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when Jesus told him a story about neighbors:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcA man <\/em>(we assume a Jewish man) was going from Jerusalem down to Jericho and on the way he was assailed by robbers, beaten, stripped and left for dead. When a Jewish priest came by and saw the situation he passed by on the other side of the road, apparently not possessing the time or the compassion to come to the aid of one of his own. A Levite (these guys were set aside by God to serve the spiritual needs of the Jewish people; their nickname was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gift to Israel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) crossed the road to avoid his beaten brother, doing as the priest had done. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGod\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gift to Israel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 must not have been in a giving mood that day.<\/em><\/p>\n Then a Samaritan came by. Jews hated Samaritans. They considered Samaritans to be a half-breed, cultish mishmash of human leftovers; a miserable result of the last thousand year history of civil war and foreign conquest. The Samaritans, as you can imagine, weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t very fond of the Jews either. So it was quite a surprise when a Samaritan happened by, saw the broken and naked Jew lying in the ditch, took pity on him, dressed his wounds, placed him on his mount and brought his to a place where he would be taken care of. The Samaritan paid for the man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s room and board and promised to cover any unpaid bills when he returned.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> Jesus asked the lawyer, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153do you think was this man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neighbor?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 um \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the one who had mercy on him, I guess.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> The lawyer answered (he was stuck – what else could he say?).<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Go and do likewise.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> Jesus replied.<\/p>\n With this story, Jesus blew the doors off the Pharisees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 concept of just who one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neighbor might be. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about just the neighborhood anymore; it was bigger than that. Even people who they thought it was perfectly permissible to hate up to this point could possibly be considered their neighbors. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have to tear up their current \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcneighbor\/enemy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> lists and start again from scratch. This did not sit well with tradition.<\/p>\n But Jesus wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t finished with them \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n Imagine the consternation of the Pharisees when Jesus completely<\/span><\/em> reversed the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcneighbor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> law by telling the crowds who came to listen to his teaching: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You have heard that it was said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLove your neighbor and hate your enemy.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> (Matthew 5:43-44)<\/p>\n Not only was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153love your enemies\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> contrary to what had been handed down to the people as \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclaw\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> by the Pharisees over the years, it flew in the face of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccommunity management.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> Loving one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s enemies would create absolute chaos! Where would the boundary lines be drawn? From whence would the Pharisees draw their authority and influence in the community if those in their spiritual charge all of a sudden started loving theirs enemies!?<\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 name was scratched off the Pharisees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 short list of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcneighbors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> and added to their long list of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcenemies\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n So, why did Jesus need to redefine their (our) concept of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcneighbor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> and teach them (us) to love their (our) enemies?<\/p>\n <\/span>The difference between a love that covers just those closest to us (selfish) <\/span>and those who love us (reactive) and a love that encompasses every person (whether or not we know them, whether or not they treat us well) lies in whose definition of love we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re using. Jesus wants our love for others to be defined solely under the terms of His love for others. He wants our love for our neighbor to reflect His love for our neighbor. Loving our neighbor is no longer about us \u00e2\u20ac\u201c no longer dependent on whom we prefer or how we are treated. The sole reason for loving our neighbor is that He loves our neighbor. His definition of, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153who is my neighbor,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> becomes our definition.<\/p>\n From God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective, holding our world, as it were, in the palm of His hand, it is easy to see who my neighbor is. Loving my neighbor as myself is really seeing my neighbor through God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes and loving my neighbor as God loves me. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a love defined by a respect that comes from the fact my neighbor is loved by the Creator of the universe, and a mercy that comes from the mercy that He has demonstrated in loving me.<\/p>\n This love, this definition of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcneighbor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> becomes our identity. It is how the rest of the world knows who we are and to Whom we belong.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> (John 13:34-35)<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n But what does, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Love your neighbor as yourself.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> have to with success? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I promised you right? Twelve weeks discovering twelve rules for a truly successful life?<\/p>\n I figured you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d ask that question. The answer? Everything.<\/span><\/em> Let me explain \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 next week.<\/p>\n Until then, go explore your neighborhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week I gave you the number one rule for a truly successful life: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rule number two: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Love your neighbor as yourself.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an old one. I bet you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard it already \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1,15],"tags":[847,846,848,849,863],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":560,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions\/560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}