Love Your Neighbor
Romans 13:8-14
Some of the simplest passages come with the most profound concepts. These passages often take the most basic of ideas and state them in unusual ways. But, the purest of truths are some of these simple words. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not cheat on your spouse. These are all simple concepts adopted by both Christians and non-Christians. Yes, the summary of these commands is not as simple to follow. Love your neighbor as yourself. Today, I’d like to take a look at one of the greatest, and one of the simplest commands Jesus gave us and see how such a simple, yet profound concept can affect everything we do and impact those around us.
Love is a difficult thing for sinful man to grasp. The Apostle John tried to explain God’s love for us in his letters. He knew Jesus spiritually, but also personally, and was there to experience first hand the love of our savior. He tried to communicate this to others in his letters. In 1st John, chapter 4 he wrote, “If we love one another, God abides in us.” (1 John 4:12) But, “if someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20). This is a small version of the love that God has for us. It is clear direction that we are to love all of our fellow men, not just our family, friends but our co-workers, our boss and even strangers on the street. God sacrificed so much for us. This is a small price to pay as a tribute of thanks.
The infinite love of God for man is difficult to comprehend. In our sinful flesh we are apt to be vengeful and hold grudges. We are apt to hurt those closest to us as well as strangers. Regardless of how good we are today, we are still sinful men and women. But, love can be expressed even to those we do not know. Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice for the mistakes of others. We can experience the joy of love because we know the story and the impact of His coming. But, it may be more important for us to demonstrate the love of Jesus and be examples for others to see and experience that love.
Self-sacrifice for others
Love is self-sacrifice for others. In the magazine The Christian Leader, Don Ratzlaff retells a story from Ernest Gordon’s Miracle on the River Kwai, a story based on World War II events. The Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad, had degenerated to barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened:
A shovel was missing. The Japanese officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot… It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first checkpoint.
The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others! The incident had a profound effect… The men began to treat each other like brothers.
When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors, like human skeletons, lined up in front of their captors… instead of attacking their captors, they protected them and insisted: “no more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness.”
The sacrifice of this one man changed the hearts of those around him. He knew that he was innocent. Yet, he chose to take the blame just the same. He faced the punishment to save the others. God willing, we will never be faced with a situation as grim as this one. But we can still impact those around us by our actions. As a popular hymn goes, we can show we are Christians by our Love.
Let me share another story of how love can change those around you.
Monk Story
There was an old monastery that had fallen upon hard times. It was once a great order, but as a result of waves of persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the rise of secularism in the nineteenth century, all its branch houses were lost and it had become decimated to the extent that there were only five monks left in the decaying house: the abbot and four others. All were over seventy years old. Clearly it was a dying order ant things looked grim.
In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a fellow priest from a nearby town occasionally used for prayer. As the abbot agonized over the imminent death of his order, it occurred to the abbot on one of those occasions to visit the priest and ask him if by some possible chance he could offer any advice that might save the monastery.
The priest welcomed the abbot at his hut. But when the abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the priest could only commiserate with him. “I know how it is,” he exclaimed. “The spirit has gone out of the people. It’s the same in my town. Almost no-one comes to the church anymore.” So the old abbot and the old priest wept together. They talked for a short while and then the time came when the abbot had to leave. They embraced each other. “It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years,” the abbot said, “but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me save my dying order?”
“No, I am sorry,” the priest responded. I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that the Savior is one of you.”
When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, “Well, what did the priest say?”
He couldn’t help,” the abbot answered. “We just wept and read the Bible together. The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving – It was something cryptic – was that the Savior is one of us. I don’t know what he meant.”
In the days and weeks and months that followed, the old monks pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the priest’s words. The Savior is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks here at the monastery? If that’s the case, which one? Do you suppose he meant the Father Abbot? He has been our leader for more that a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Eldred! Eldred gets so grumpy at times. But, come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people’s sides, when you look back on it Eldred is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the priest did mean Brother Eldred. But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for somehow always being there when you need him. He just magically appears by your side. Maybe Phillip is the Savior. Of course the priest didn’t mean me. He couldn’t possibly have meant me. I’m just so ordinary. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Messiah? O God, not me. I couldn’t be that much for You, could I?
As they each contemplated in this manner, the old monks began to treat one another with extraordinary love and respect on the off chance that one among them might be Savior. And on the chance that each monk himself might be the Savior, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary love and respect.
Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened that people still occasionally came to visit the monastery to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander among some of its paths, or even now and then to go into the dilapidated buildings to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed this aura of extraordinary love and respect that now began to surround the five monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it.
Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery to picnic, to play, to pray. Its beauty drew them in. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.
Then it happened that some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them, then another, and another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the priest’s gift, a vibrant centre of light and spirituality in the realm.
The church can be an amazing place when it is working as it’s supposed to – when we are treating one another as if each person were Christ himself. When we are following the command Jesus left – “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love should not be a foreign concept to us. Through the caring for one another, we can spread the love of Christ and create a nurturing climate. Through these two stories, we can see that the expression of love can change those around you. Our actions often speak louder than words. Whether we realize it or not, the world is paying attention. As Christians, we should express Love by caring for one another, listening to what people actually have to say and by taking time out of our busy lives and trying to make a difference. The life that we lead here on earth is a temporary existence which compared to the eternal salvation of heaven.
God loved us so much that he gave his only begotten son to die for us. He showed his love for us by sending his son to atone for our sins. During his life on earth, Jesus was the example of love. He showed compassion and mercy for those who needed it and offered forgiveness to the repentant. He also explained the standard of love we are to share with others “love your neighbor as yourself.” We may not always find it easy to follow His command. But, we should make every attempt to treat even total strangers with a spirit of love and compassion in everything we do. God didn’t ignore us when we stumbled in sin. He offered his hand to help us back to our feet.
Just as the man in the shovel story sacrificed himself for total strangers, we should also be willing to lend a hand when a stranger needs assistance. Just as the Monks change in attitude changed the mood of those around them, we also should be an example of love and compassion that has the chance of changing the mood within our own communities. God’s love doesn’t end at the church door. It extends to the whole world. In the same way, our love should not stop at our families, but stretch to all people.
