³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments

Mathew 22:37-40

Who Is Our Neighbor?

It says a lot if the second greatest commandment after loving the Lord your God is loving your neighbor as yourself. But who even classifies as our neighbor? The book of Mathew tells us that we have heard it to love our neighbor and hate our enemy, but instead, we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

Matthew 5:43-47

This means that our “neighbor” doesn’t literally mean just our neighbor or people that we get along with, but instead, it means everyone. People that we love, people that we don’t even know, and our enemies as well.

What You Do To Others, You Do To God

Love God.

Love People.

Loving people is an extension of loving God. Everyone has been created in God’s image and should be treated likewise.

In Matthew chapter 25:31-40 it says that when the Son of Man comes in all his glory, he will seperate the sheep from the goats. The sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Matthew 25:31-33

It then goes on to say:

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

Matthew 25:34-38

Here, the righteous are confused asking the Lord when they ever fed him or gave him a drink, or even took care of him at all. But then the Lord goes on to say:

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Matthew 25: 40-46

This means that whatever we do for people, we do for the Lord. But in turn, whatever we don’t do for other people, we do not do for Him either. Our actions towards other people directly reflect the love that we have for the Lord Jesus Christ.

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