What Manner of Love is Love
designtkLUKE 10, 25-37
The story of the Good Samaritan is one of the greatest stories told by one of the greatest teachers the world will ever know. The story is basically about our Neighbors and how we are supposed to treat them. We were told to LOVE our Neighbors as ourselves.
It should be noted that the word love has come to live with us daily, and little attention is being paid to who we are supposed to love.
The story gave us an example of who we are supposed to love, and it made it clear without ambiguity.
It says LOVE they neighbours as thy self.
Love is a strong word, and it means a lot. The power of love is not in loving those who love us back, those we want to marry, or our parents or close friends. What is love if we only love those we like and despise those we do not like?
Let’s put it another way, we are not supposed to feel like loving someone before we can love. I understand that sometimes people get on our nerves, and sometimes we get angry and feel like punching them in the face. It’s okay to get angry when people hurt us, there is no problem with that, but it’s not okay for us to keep getting angry at what they did to us. No matter what they may have done, if the story of the Good Samaritan is anything, we should love them.
What is so strong about the Good Samaritan love? Well back in the day, the Samaritans and the Jews are not supposed to see eye to eye and talk more about taking or eating together. There is this internal rift between them that they regard each other as “Outcast.” What the Samaritans are to the Jews back in the day is what Christians are to Muslims, Black to White, Slaves and Masters, Rich and Poor, Bound and Free, ETC, in today’s world.
In the end, the Samaritan helped the Jew when the Jew needed help. The Samaritan Loved the Jew even when everything suggested that he should not.
So keep in mind that when Jesus tells us to love, he is not saying we should be comfortable to love or love because the person is nice or that person will be nice to us. He says we should love everyone, especially those we think do not deserve to be loved.
I ask this question again: What Manner of Love is Love that she can only Love those that Love us back?