Yeshua Taught Us How To Love
Much of Yeshua’s ministry was focused on these two commandments:
“Teacher, which commandment in the Torah is the greatest?” 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.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Take, for example, Yeshua’s commandments to forgive and not to hate others. Are these really new commandments, or are they teaching us how to keep the above commandments from Torah? (See The Law Remains.)
Loving our Neighbor
“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
These are all examples of unloving attitudes. Anger with a brother or sister violates the sixth commandment (not to murder). Moreover, it violates the commandment to love our neighbor.
We also see that love seeks reconciliation, so that our brethren do not harbor angry, unforgiving thoughts in their hearts and thus stray from the Way.
All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them.
But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
Forgiveness is an act of love and mercy.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven...
There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?
When we judge too quickly, we become someone’s accuser. I wonder, isn’t it better to give someone the benefit of the doubt, for as long as possible?
“If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector.
This sounds to me like the proper and loving way to deal with our brethren trapped in sin.
Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
When we really care about how our sins have hurt others, we want to make it right. This is also Yeshua magnifying the Torah commandment of restitution:
When someone steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, the thief shall pay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
Loving God
So, for the sake of your tradition, you nullify the word of God. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
We must obey God not on human terms, but on His terms, which He clearly laid out for us. (See The Law Remains.)
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Trusting obedience is how we love God (not deeming some commandments as “lesser” to justify ignoring them).
If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
Is the fear of God a sign that we love Him?
The fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom...
Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
This is a sobering warning to those who are ashamed of God and His Son. If we really loved Them, would we not confess Them?
No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
To love God, you must be devoted to Him “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”.
Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Trust Him, and seek His Kingdom above all else. That is how we love Him.
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’
At the end of the day, by loving our neighbor we also love our Creator.
So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them...
Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
Summary
Here’s my best attempt at a summary of Yeshua’s teachings on love:
- To love our neighbors, we must not hate them, not judge them, forgive them, make amends, and serve them.
- To love God, we must trust Him, obey Him, fear Him, confess Him, seek Him, and love our neighbor.
In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.