May 1, 2024 Daily Dose of Discernment

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Leviticus 19:18)

The Law of Moses was clear to the Israelites about whom not to seek revenge or bear a grudge against - their fellow citizens. They were instructed to love them but were allowed to hate their enemies who were Gentiles. This is the reason many nationalistic Jews found it difficult to accept Jesus’ teachings because they gave a new definition to the word neighbor. They couldn’t get themselves to love foreigners as themselves. This is also why they couldn’t accept the God He claimed to be His Father because that God makes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the righteous (which were they) and the unrighteous (which were non-Jews) alike.

If we believe Jesus, we should obey what He says is the Summary of the Law - to love God with our whole being and our neighbor as ourselves, without any us-and-them stratification of people whatsoever. If we do, we will prove to be sons of God.