“Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbour as you love yourself; I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:18).
Our series on the above subject, ‘God is love’, has been intriguing, fascinating and revealing. The previous editions have uncovered a wide range of God’s dealing with His people in a loving relationship, thus exposing the quality of love He expects the church and indeed humankind to express towards one another. The essence is to justify God’s nature of love and how we can share in His nature. The emphasis to love one’s neighbour has come on the heels of the above idea.
The command to love your neighbour as you love yourself expressed in our Biblical text is contained in the sets of Levitical Code signifying its legal value, yet underscores its spiritual importance. In fact, it is a law of holiness, implying that love as a sacred obligation is as well an act of holiness. To love in this context is therefore an act of holiness while its constant practice becomes an attitude and life of holiness. This is really incredible for anyone to do. “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” is to be understood as a real command, based on the natural bond of common membership in the elect nation.
The New Testament explains the term ‘love’ in Rabbinic teaching before Jesus qualifies love for one’s neighbour as the summary of the law. Here loving one’s neighbour even in a selfless manner cast shadow as per the meaning of “as yourself” and the nature of self-love which the saying sanctions.
However, the saying will not bear the weight of any far-reaching inference. Rather, it simply describes love as intense and compulsive as that of Jonathan who loved David as ‘his own soul’ (1Samuel 20:17) – so much that the fortunes of the beloved are as important to the lover as his own. Real love in its widest expression is just nothing but the latter idea. The question is, how does this come to play in our day to day life? It should, however, be clear that to love one’s neighbour as thus commanded does not mean to succour him in distress, any more than to love God Himself with the compliance to His commandments.
The question that faces us now is: In what kind of behaviour must the love of God or neighbour be exhibited and its genuineness verified? (1) In Jesus’ teaching, the pattern of expression of true love is found in the unreserved expression of God’s indiscriminate goodness to all creation. (2) By unreserved forgiveness of our neighbour’s fault; not counting the fault of others, because love covers a multitude of sins. (3) By readily responding to every call of need by the neighbour. The second point above which speaks about forgiveness is a call of the believer to replicate the nature of God by loving without qualification and any strings attached.
In fact, the true understanding of love and its application can be found in no way than the aggregation of its value robustly written in the first letter of Paul to the Corinthian Church (chapter 13). It is a superior way that overrides any other form of attitude in loving relationship.
Love for one’s neighbour must exceed any form of spirituality, must go beyond mere good deeds or donation of material goods, or sacrificial giving of one’s body to the other person for sex or for immolation. When all of the above actions are not driven by love, then love is a distance away from our hearts.
Accordingly, love for one’s neighbour must be characterised by kindness, absence of envy, not boastful, not conceited, does not act improperly, not provoked, does not keep a record of wrongs, finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Cor. 13:3-7). This is indeed perfect love epitomised in Christ Jesus.
As we look forward to the birth of Christ in this season, who Himself was born in love, lived in love, driven to the cross by love, and died in love; we must eschew all envy, hatred, boastfulness, selfishness and hardness of heart and all manner of wickedness to embrace love. Life is more meaningful when love rules its existence. Merry Christmas in advance.