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love your neighbor

Mark 12:31
"And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."

Jesus first names the greatest commandment:
“Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”

Today’s verse quotes Leviticus 19:18 and is bound to that first command. Jesus says no commandment is greater than these two.

The love in view is not mere feeling but agape; active, self-giving commitment (charity). “As thyself” assumes a natural care for one’s own life and turns it outward: empathy, compassion, and selflessness toward every neighbor, without regard to nation or status.

Together the two commands interpret the Law and the Prophets. Real faith shows itself in costly action toward others. Love for God and love for people are not separate paths; one flows into the other. Ritual without that love is not the point.

We like hearing this. Then fear follows: we cannot keep so high a standard. We prefer a ladder we can climb; rung by rung toward God, or at least above other sinners. Is that what Jesus is teaching?
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