By Mark Wilmoth

Two hundred years ago, Walter Scott was given the responsibility of preaching the gospel on the western frontier, which at that time was…eastern Ohio. Scott wanted a simple way to present God’s plan of salvation and have folks remember it. He came up with the five-finger plan of salvation. Scott would go to a school and ask the students if they knew what to do to be saved, and then he would tell them to hold up a hand. Using the fingers on one hand, Scott explained that to be saved, one must (1) hear the gospel, (2) believe the gospel, (3) repent of one’s sins and (4) be baptized to wash those sins away so that one can (5) receive the Holy Spirit. After a few repetitions, the students had it down pat. Scott told them, “Now, go home and tell your parents that a man will be speaking on that subject at the schoolhouse tonight.” Scott’s mnemonic tool worked and thousands became followers of Christ because they understood that simple message.

What Walter Scott did for the plan of salvation, Jesus did for all of Christianity, but he only needed two fingers. Asked about the most important commandment, “Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV).

In Luke 10, a lawyer tried to pin Jesus down: “Who is my neighbor?”

As a lawyer, he should already have known the answer. All he had to do was look at the section of the Law that Jesus summarized – Leviticus 19:13-18. It reads, “Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight. Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD. Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD. Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” With that text as background, it’s pretty hard to escape the conclusion that one’s neighbors are pretty much everybody!

To help the lawyer understand the point, Jesus told him a story about some religious leaders who ignored the need of an injured man, but a hated Samaritan helped. “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers,” Jesus asked the lawyer (Luke 10:36). When the lawyer grudgingly answered that it was the one who helped, Jesus responded, “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus’ instruction takes care of the “who.” My neighbor is my crabby boss and the lady who called the cops because someone parked in her driveway during my party. My neighbor is the girl who dumped me in high school, the friend who gossiped about my secret and the homeless person who got himself into his mess through alcoholism. Erika Kirk’s neighbor was the man who shot her husband and Tim Allen’s neighbor was the drunk driver who killed his Dad.

So how can we love those kinds of people, people who hurt us deeply and steal the joy from our lives? Actually, you already have lots of practice loving someone who’s often very unlovable, frequently a grouch, is selfish, says ugly things and is occasionally spiteful. You’ve loved someone who has sometimes even hurt others intentionally. That would be you.

That’s why the command is worded as it is: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” When you do wrong, you excuse it, minimize it or work around it. Your body is still fed, you don’t sleep on a bed of nails and you’re still speaking to the man in the mirror. Somehow you find a way to cut yourself some slack.

So, make an excuse for others, cut them some slack, help them even if they don’t deserve it. Love them “as yourself.” It’s that simple.

Mark Wilmoth is with Pinehurst Christian Church in Marietta and can be reached at Minister@PinehurstChristianChurch.org