Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Jesus comes right out and tells us what the two most important commandments are. Note that neither of these are in the Ten Commandments. The reason that Jesus did not answer with any of the Ten Commandments is because the Ten Commandments are all based on these two principles. The two greatest commandments are the why and the how of life. They are the reason why we are here. We are hear to love and serve God and to love and serve other people. These two principles are what I keep in the foremost of my mind and are used to evaluate my daily choices. Obviously I don't always succeed, but I strive to. The questions that I ask myself are "What is the loving thing to do?" and "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus answers the question of "Who is my nighbor with the parable of the Good Samaritan. For those of you who don't know the context of this passage, the Jews and the Samaritans hated each other.
Luke 10:25-37 - And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Sometimes we don't like our neighbor. That is when "loving your neighbor" is the most challenging, but Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan is pretty clear on how we are to handle those situations. Somegtimes the loving thing to do is not pleasent. Sometimes defending the helpless (your neighbor) means that you have to hurt someone who is hurting them. If a bad guy breaks into my house and trys to take one of the kids, I will shoot them. It's that simple. The loving thing to do is to protect the child (my neighbor). While the bad guy is my nighbor as well, to allow him to harm the child, who is innocent and defensless, is to hate the child. This is why pacifism is not a Christian principle. We ballance "turning the other cheek" with not allowing evil to be done to our neighbors. Standing there and doing nothing when you can protect your nighbor is just as unloving as being an active participant.
This is where we ballance the justice of the Old Testament's "eye for an eye" with the New Testament teaching of Jesus that said to turn the other cheek. What principle is consistent between those two seemingly opposites? There are two things that we need to take into consideration when comparing these two teacings.
Fist is that the Old Testament teaching of "eye for and an eye and a tooth for a tooth" was directed at the nation of Israel, but Jesus' teaching of "turn the other cheek" is directed at us as individuals. Here is the significance of that. In the Old Testament God was setting up the people of Israel to become the nation of Israel. He was giving them the rules and procedures that they were to use to govern the land and the people. This included their justice system.
Leviticus 24:19-21 - Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. 21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death.
As a nation or as a government, we are to ensure that justice is carried out, but this is done through the justice system. It is not carried out as vigilantes. The teachings of the Old Testament was not an invitation to everyone to take justice into their own hands. When Jesus told us to "turn the other cheek" in the New Testament he was not contradicting the Old Testament laws or taking away from the justice system that was laid out in the Old Testament. He was telling the individuals to not take justice into their own hands. He was actually teaching law and order that was in accordance to the Old Testament law. In the New Testament Jesus was teaching meekness, long suffering, forgiveness and humility to us as individuals. These are all good and Godly traits. If more people followed these teachings as individuals, and more goverments held criminals accountable, we would have a much better society.
Matthew 5:38-42 - “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
The second thing that we need to take into consideration is that Jesus' teachings are for us personally. He never says for us to allow other people to be abused or mistreated. It is one thing if I allow someone to unjustly hit me, but it is another if I stand by and allow someone to unjustly hit a defensless child. Again, loving our neighbor means that we protect them from evil if they can not protect themselves and if God has placed us in the situation to protect them. As is the case of our children.