Part 5 of 6 of the theme 'Nonviolence' by Gijs van den Brink
When Jesus summarizes the entire Law and Prophets he says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. That is the greatest and first commandment. The second is equal to it: love your neighbor as yourself." (Mat. 22:37-39)
Loving your neighbor as yourself. This statement of Jesus is often misunderstood. Today you hear everywhere: you can only love another if you can first love yourself. This is proclaimed by Christian psychologists and psychotherapists. And the theme is dominant in edifying readings. The theme in itself is important, but it is completely outside the truth if we fill in the second commandment with this as if Jesus were speaking here about self-love and self-acceptance. The Gospel does not speak of self-acceptance, but of repentance. Nor does it speak of reconciliation with oneself, but reconciliation with God and neighbor.
In the Bible, "yourself" is not meant to be as strictly individualistic as it is in our modern age. This is well seen in the calling of Abraham. God says in Gen. 12:2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. Who is "you" talking about here? About Abraham, but not about him alone, also about his wife Sarah and cousin Lot and all the relatives who went away with him from Haran to Canaan. This is the cultural background of the concept of 'thyself' in the OT. The "yourself" is about your relatives, and especially your immediate family members.
The commandment to love your neighbor "as yourself" means in Lev.19:18, 34 that you must give help and compassion that you give to your own family members, also to all fellow citizens. Even to strangers. Clearly, this reading is miles away from the self-acceptance we hear all the time today.
Even in the days of Jesus, this message was apparently watered down. He repeats the commandment of charity from Lev. 19 and says that this commandment is as important as the first commandment, to love God. These two commandments had not been linked by Moses. In doing so, Jesus articulates the commandment of charity more radically than Moses.
Author: Gijs van den Brink
From: Study Bible Magazine
This is part 5 of 6 concise blog on the theme of "Nonviolence" from Study Bible Magazine, Some of which we will be posting online in the near future. We hope this will help you understand the Bible better!
