Loving Those You’ll Never Know

“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings [or, gospel] of great joy, which shall be to all people.” (Luke 2:10)

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace towards men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:14)

“You shall love your neighbor as your self.” (Mark 12:31, 33; Luke 10:27-36; Matt 5:43; 19:19; 22:39; John 15:12, 17; Lev 19:18; Rom 13:8-10; 15:2; Gal 5:14; Eph 4:25; Jam 2:8; 1 Pet 2:17; 1 John 2:10; 3:10-18; 4:7-21)

“‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’” (Matt 25:35-45)

In the pursuit of more Christ-like and peaceful life here on earth, I have been continuing to think about the 2nd Greatest Commandment, “Love your neighbor as your self,” and how one can greater achieve this command in everyday life.

We love ourselves (for, because God loves us, we should also love us).

We love our family and our friends (for, because God loves our family and friends, we should also love our family and friends [Matt 12:46-50; 19:19]).

We love our acquaintances and those in need (Luke 10:27-36).

We even love our enemies (for, because God loves our enemies, we should love our enemies [Luke 6:27-35; Matt 5:43-47; Jonah 2-4]).

But what about those people who we never meet, those people who never meet us, those who we never encounter in our lives but do see form afar? How do we love them?

This is not really an unimportant question or one that does not deserve our attention.

1) God loves those who we don’t know, thus we should also love them (John 3:16; 1 John).

2) We never know when we might meet them (Luke 19:1-10; 16:19-31; John 1:45-50; 4:7-29).

3) Such love allows us to more easily love those we do encounter (1 John 2:9-11; 3:10-18; 4:7-21).

4) Such love enables us to be better Christians (1 John 2:9-11; 3:10-18; 4:7-21).

How do we do this? Let us first create a scenario in which one would come upon numerous individuals of whom one would see for the first time, never meet, and probably never see again. Such situations can be school, work, malls and stores, film theatres, restaurants, and driving around from one place to the next (yes, even here). Since we are now in the Holiday season when both Christian and secular culture exudes the brotherhood of man and the mercy of God, and both Christian and secular culture laments how the capitalist system negates the reason for the season among both the selfish buyers and competitive sellers of the shopping experience, perhaps we could all take this time of the year to practice loving those who we do not know.

1) The “Image of God.” Whenever your eyes fall upon someone that you do not know, focus your attention upon the “image of God’ in that person and how much God loves them as much as he loves you (Gen 1:27; John 3:16).

2) God. Think about how much God loves you and realize that God wants you to love that other person as much as He loves you.

3) The Brethren. If you are struggling to love someone who you do not know or who looks grotesque to your sense of taste, try thinking of someone who you do currently love whom may or may not resemble that person, trying to love that person with the same sort of love you give to your friends and family. An old man or woman could be your grand parents. A man or woman could be your parents, uncles and aunts. Children could be your children or your cousins (Matt 12:46-50; 19:19).

4) Your Self. If you are further struggling to love someone who you do not know or who looks grotesque to your sense of taste, try thinking of them as being your self. We recall the second greatest commandment as “you shall love your neighbor as your self.” (Matt 22:39). Such a commandment clearly implies that Man is to love Man as his self and that He is to love his self. Such self love should not be considered as selfishness or pride or even that one is to love one’s self more than others. Rather this commandment contradicts any idea of self-loathing or that others are of more value than our selves. Such a commandment proclaims universal equality in worth and thus universal love (any idea of Buddhist self-denial is completely absent in this ethic). Therefore, we get the extension of this command on how we should ethically treat others: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12; cf. Luke 6:31). This “golden rule” implies not only love of those we know or encounter but also love of those we do not know and will never encounter because they are of the same importance as ourselves and those we know.

5) Christ. If you are further struggling to love someone who you do not know or who looks grotesque to your sense of taste, try thinking of that person as Christ. Remember that Man is created in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Because Man is created in the image of God, he or she has value, worth and should be loved. This is why the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves while the greatest commandment is to love God (Matt 22:37-40). We should love others as our selves because others and ourselves are made in the image of God and have that same value and worth. We note that the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:1-17) first begin with Man’s love of God (20:1-11) and then proceed to Man’s love of Man (20:12-7). This is a noticeable reason why Jesus says that on the greatest and second greatest commandment depends the whole of the Law and the prophets (Matt 22:40). Therefore, because Man is made in the image of God, and God loves Man, when we as men love other men, we are not only loving Man made in the image of God, but we are also loving God (Matt 25:35-45).

Therefore, ask God to make you more loving towards those you do not know (Matt 7:7; 25:35-45; 1 John 4:7).

Read the Gospel narratives and see how Jesus loved those he had just met (Mark 1:41; 5:19; 6:34; 10:21; Matt 9:36; 14:14; 20:34; 25:35-45; Luke 7:13; 10:33; 15:20; 19:1-10; John 1:45-50; 4:7-29) and practice doing likewise(1 Pet 3:8; 1 John 3:17; Jude 1:21-22).

God wants us to love and those who ask for help in following the commands of God will not be turned away.

In this holiday season, let us practice the Christian faith so that we may perfect it all the rest of the year and the rest of our lives. Remember the Great Commission:

“The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18; cf. Isa 61:1-2; Lev 25:10)