When Jesus said “love your neighbor as yourself” he was talking about treating unequal people as equals. This was a command to love people who are not like you. We get caught up on the word neighbor, and so did his audience. Someone asked “Who is my neighbor?” and Jesus answered with a story. The story of a Samaritan helping a man in need. This was offensive because he was talking to a Jewish crowd who did not like Samaritan people. (Luke 10:30-37)
He was being asked about the greatest commandment, and he said this is one of the rules that sums up the entire law of God. He was probably quoting from the Jewish Scriptures in Leviticus (19:33,34) where the command is stated like this, “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself”.
There are plenty of reasons to not love someone: ancestry, tribe, race, politics, nationality or religion. Following Jesus means looking beyond the reasons and seeing a neighbor… an equal.
