R. Steven Notley

In a previous article we examined Jesus' Jewish commandment to love. We discovered that the foundation of his ethical instruction was based upon contemporary Jewish teaching and its understanding of the biblical command to "love your neighbor (who is) like yourself" (Lev. 19:18; Lk. 10:27). The new and developing Jewish sensitivity to the universal frailty of the human condition is heard in the apocryphal work of Ben Sira, "Should a person refuse mercy to a man like himself, yet seek pardon for his own sins?" (28:4).

The same sentiment is heard in Jesus' model prayer that he gave to his disciples: "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" (Mt. 6:12). We are expected to extend unmerited mercy and forgiveness to those who have offended us, because we ourselves stand in similar need of the unmerited mercy of God.

In the same vein on another occasion Jesus cautioned his followers, "The measure you give will be the measure you get" (Mt. 7:2). All of these sayings resemble the famous words of the first-century Jewish sage Hillel: "Judge not your neighbor lest you find yourself in his place!" (Mishnah, Avot 2:3).

While Jesus built on contemporary notions, we should not ignore his bold, ingenious contribution to the voices of his day. His breathtaking conclusion that the example of divine mercy demanded that we love even those who hate us is unparalleled—even among the writers of the New Testament. In this study, we want to build upon this new understanding and give fresh atte