Who is my neighbour?
The Old Testament gives extraordinary teaching about ‘who is my neighbour’ (not just my family, clan, tribe) and what it means to love our neighbour, throughout its pages. Ultimately the Old Testament ties together love for God with practical living and love toward other human beings, most perfectly taught and demonstrated in the life of Jesus.
The ten commandments can be summed up (as Jesus sums up the Law) in ‘Love God, and ‘Love your neighbour’. Human beings thrive when they know God, shun idols and embrace worship (and rest from the pursuit of material/spiritual idols) at the core of their lives.
For many people the Old Testament is literally a closed book. Yet for Jesus himself, and the early Church, it was their scripture. Jesus quotes the Old Testament often, as do Paul and the other New testament writers. Yet for may of us today there seems to be a disconnect between ‘the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ and the requirements of God as he appears in the Old Testament. How should we read this book?
