Who Is My Neighbor?

We love when people cut to the chase and just give us the bottom-line statement of what they are saying or looking for. A person asked Jesus just that, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus said: to love God with everything we have and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus made it far more simple… and far more demanding… because we generally know when we are not loving our neighbor as ourselves! How do we keep from making this a trite statement to put on a t-shirt or magnet, but never apply it to our own lives and ecosystems? What difference would it make to simply “love God, love your neighbor”? In a word: everything.