Love Your Neighbour (And Your Enemies)Sample

I have a habit of turning God’s commands into a menu. Instead of responding to all that God has said, I pick my favourites. 

The Ten Commandments is the classic statement of God’s will for his people in the Old Testament. And this list of commands has two discernible sections. The first section, commands 1-4, focus on rightly loving God. The second section, commands 4-10, focus on rightly loving people. 

And yes, you did read that right. I include commandment 4, on the Sabbath, as reflecting both love towards God and love towards people. The Sabbath is a time for resting in the presence of our Creator and Redeemer. But, it is also a time for blessing everyone, from the high to the low, with rest. 

The Sabbath command shows that love of God inevitably flows into love for others. Holiness of life is expressed vertically and horizontally. It’s why you have “Love your neighbour as yourself” pop up in the middle of Leviticus, nested within a surrounding context of highly specific commands about keeping pure for God. 

Love of neighbour is part of the essential fabric of Old Testament Law. Loving neighbour didn’t start with Jesus – no, Jesus fulfills what the Law was always pointing towards.

Reflection Questions

1. The Sabbath command calls us to love God and neighbour through the same command. Are there any examples in our day of ways we might forget about love of neighbour in our practice of love towards God? It could be things in church, in everyday life, or in our use of money.