Love Thy Neighbor As Thy Self

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” 
Matthew 22: 34-40,  Luke 10:25-29

We read in Matthew 22 verse 34 -40

34But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 


In Luke 10: 25-29 we read something similar with a justification question at the end of it.

25And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 

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When the lawyer asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”, our Lord answered with a story.

A man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho when he fell among thieves. They stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and left him half dead by the roadside.


A priest came along and saw the man—but passed by on the other side.
Then a Levite came, looked at him—and he too passed by.
But then a Samaritan came that way. When he saw the wounded man, he had compassion. He bound up his wounds, poured oil and wine into them, set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he even paid the innkeeper and promised to repay any additional cost.

Then Jesus asked the lawyer,
“Which of these three was neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?”

And the answer was clear:  “He that showed mercy on him.”

Now this story would have shocked the people who first heard it.
Because the Jews and the Samaritans despised one another. 

They avoided each other and had no dealings together.
We even hear this from the mouth of a Samaritan herself. 

When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, she said:
“How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? 

For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”

Yet Jesus spoke with her, showed her mercy, and revealed her life so clearly that she ran back to the city and testified:
“Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did.”

So in Christ’s story, the man who proved to be a neighbor was not the religious leader.  It was the man everyone expected to be the enemy.

And with that, Jesus gave this command:
“Go, and do thou likewise.”



Which brings us to our first question today:

Who is my neighbor?

You know many Christians today think every sermon must repeat the same doctrines over and over again. But if you read the Gospels carefully, you will notice something surprising.  

Jesus often preached about how we treat other people.

Yes, He spoke about salvation.
Yes, He revealed the grace of God.

But again and again He addressed the moral life—how people live toward one another.  

And one of the clearest commands He gave is this:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Today we will consider three simple questions and one observation:

1.Who i