Tuesday 30 April 2024

Psalm 122

Background
Yesterday’s passage focussed on the Christian community, the kind of gifts that make the body of Christ a living community and the way it is held together by love. That may well have seemed a tough ask for first-century Christians, especially as we know something of the differences and arguments between them. But now Paul wants to go even further. 'Loving your neighbour' turns out to have no boundaries, but instead requires us to deal with everyone in the same way.

Although Paul rarely gives us a direct quote from the teaching of Jesus, these verses do echo the words of Jesus in the gospels. See, for example, Matthew 22:34-40 (the greatest commandment) and Luke 10:25-37 (the good Samaritan). Jesus insists on the centrality of loving our neighbour and his stories tell us that all people can be our neighbours and all can have a moral claim on us.

Christians are sometime tempted to suggest that Christianity is a religion of love, while Judaism is a religion of law. That would not be fair. Both faith traditions teach the centrality of love. In the Jewish tradition, the law is given so that the people of Israel can be a ‘light to the nations’, and this purpose is fulfilled through love.

To Ponder:

• What do you find most challenging about being told to love your neighbour as yourself?
• What experience have you had of the effects of being neighbourly in transforming a situation?
  

Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Richard Clutterbuck
Richard is a supernumerary presbyter, living in Gloucestershire after a ministry that has taken him to Tonga, London, Gloucester and Belfast. He was formerly principal of the West of England Ministerial Training Course and of Edgehill Theological College.