Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. – Hebrews 13:1

Today's Scripture Reading (July 3, 2024): Hebrews 13

I have been a science fiction fan since I was in my teens. My love affair with Science Fiction began with the classic Frank Herbert novel, Dune, and then I started to read many of what are now considered classics. One of these Classic works is a book by Robert Heinlein entitled "A Stranger in a Strange Land." In the book, Heinlein offers this definition of love. "Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own" (Robert Heinlein). It is not a bad definition of love. Love is a condition where the happiness of the person you say you love is critical to your own. Think about it. Are you happy when someone you love is sad? I know that I'm not.

So, the author of Hebrews writes to keep on loving one another (Hebrews 13:1). If you love someone, you must be willing to have a relationship with them where their not being okay costs you something because that is love. Sometimes, we avoid love because we want to avoid the cost, but that is not okay.

Jesus summed up this concept of love with his tale of the Good Samaritan. Here is the context of the story. 

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

                                                                        Luke 10:25-29

And then Jesus told a story. In it, a good and honest Jew was beaten and robbed on the road to Jericho. It was a rough road, and these incidents were common along that path. The man is thrown into a ditch, and this good Jew was rejected twice, once by a Priest and once by a Levite who passed by, saw him, and did nothing.

But then a Samaritan passed by. The Samaritan was an enemy of the Jews. There was an age-old conflict between the Jews and Samaritans. They didn't believe the same things. But, the Samaritan stops; he binds up the wounds of this Jew, takes him to a house, and pays for his stay there while he heals. The welfare of the Jew was essential to him. At the end of the story, Jesus sums it up this way.

³⁶ "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" [Jesus could have asked, who loved the man?]

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

                                                                        Luke 10:36-37

Jesus doesn't make this an option; it is central to our identity. We are the ones who go and love.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jude 1