Seeing People Through God’s Eyes
The command to love your neighbor as yourself comes from Leviticus 19:18. Jewish religious scholars in Jesus’ day had a long list of criteria to determine if someone was your neighbor. If someone didn’t measure up as your neighbor, then you were not biblically obligated to love them.
Jesus turned this whole charade on its head in his parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). In this famous story a man, beaten, robbed and left for dead was ignored and avoided by his fellow Jews. He was instead helped by a despised Samaritan, whom the Jews viewed as traitors, heretics, and half-breeds. Then Jesus asked the question, “Who was a neighbor to this man?” His point was obvious- everyone is my neighbor.
Like the religious scholars in Jesus day we sometimes make spiritual judgments about who is worthy of God’s love. In James 2:1-13 we are warned not to make such judgments based on outward appearances and circumstances, especially wealth and money. God does not measure the value and wealth of a person the way the world does. We shouldn’t either.