It’s easy to say these things about “needing to know a second language” when it comes to mission work yet it is still hard to make that real and tangible. For one, most of you won’t be missionaries actively spreading the gospel in other countries, or even translators for that work. Maybe some of you reading this will follow that path. That would be fantastic. However, that isn’t the route most of you will take. Therefore, it can be difficult to see the practical application if the basis for it were merely for the cause of the mission field.

There is, however, a much closer-to-home reason for studying a second language, and it applies to every single one of us. When Jesus summarized the commandments of God in Matthew 22, He said:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (vs. 37-39).

We will return to the commandment to love God in a little bit. First I want to focus on the second great commandment: “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

The first thing that we need to get straight is who God intends our neighbor to be. We read a lawyer posing this exact question to Jesus in Luke 10. Jesus has just finished giving the lawyer the summary of the law and the lawyer, like us, was curious about who his neighbor was. Is it only the people who live on either side of me and across the street? If I get along with all of them and don’t get in any quarrels with them, am I keeping this commandment? Or...if all of them speak English, is there any reason I should know another language?

Jesus’ answer to the lawyer may at first seem to be rather cryptic. He lays out the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan. As you may recall, the story details a certain man who left from Jerusalem to travel to Jericho. Along the way, thieves attacked him, severely injured him, and robbed him, leaving him naked and dying. It so happened that along this same road shortly thereafter two different men walked by and saw him, lying wounded in the street, desperately in need of help: a priest and a Levite. Neither of these men stopped. They looked and continued on. A third individual journeyed by the wounded man: a Samaritan. The Samaritans were outsiders and typically Samaritans and Jews stayed away from each other due to a deep animosity between them (see also the account of the Samaritan woman in John 4). Yet, when presented with an opportunity to help the injured man on the road, the Samaritan “had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him” (vs. 33-34). He had love towards the injured man and took care of him, going out of his way to show mercy unto him.

Jesus concludes the parable by asking the lawyer, “Which now of these three [the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan], thinkest thou, was the neighbour unto him that fell among thieves?” The lawyer answers truthfully, “He that shewed mercy on him.” Jesus then reveals the whole purpose of the parable when He states, “Go, and do thou likewise” (vs. 36-37). Jesus tells us to be like the Good Samaritan. Our neighbors are not just those who live nearby or are like us. The neighbor is anyone that God puts into our path. We are called to be like the Good Samaritan, to be kind, and to show mercy, witnessing of Christ.

So...that Hispanic man or woman you run into who doesn’t speak much or any English ... neighbor. The Japanese men or women with whom your company does business...neighbors. The people of Ghana met during a college semester studying-abroad...neighbors. The couple who moves into the house two doors down who speak only German...neighbors. Anyone God puts in your path, regardless of race, cultural background, language, etc. They are your neighbor. And God calls us to love them as ourselves.

How do you feel when someone speaks a language you don’t know and expects you to understand? Maybe you’ve not had the experience. However, you can imagine that not knowing a language – yet still being expected to – would be difficult, especially if there is no compassion. Compassion and understanding can go a long way when trying to cross the language barrier. It isn’t reasonable to expect to learn every language of every person you should ever meet. That would be ludicrous. On the other hand, we can shape how we act towards those people. Do we give them the cold shoulder because they don’t speak English? Do we spout out “English-only” jokes? Do we try to distance ourselves from them and not interact with them because they make us uncomfortable? Interacting doesn’t mean fluent conversation. Every time we push ourselves away from those who speak differently than we do, we are not showing love and compassion to our neighbor. Much can be perceived simply from attitude.

This compassion isn’t always easy. It can be frustrating and disheartening when we try to engage with those neighbors God puts in our lives who don’t speak our language. Things that are frustrating we often try to avoid. That’s human nature. That’s what the priest and the Levite did in the parable. They avoided a frustrating situation. They probably had somewhere they needed to be and it would really inconvenience them to stop and help the injured man. Guess what...the Samaritan probably also had somewhere to go and plans already laid. One can imagine the Samaritan’s frustration at having to find an inn that would take the injured man while trusting a Samaritan’s word … yet, despite those frustrations, the Samaritan had compassion.

This compassion for others, especially those different than us, can be built up through practice, prayer, and walking in Jesus’ footsteps. Jesus endured the things we endure and that’s why we know He has compassion for us. Hebrews 4:14-16 says:

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

The reason we know Jesus understands our plights is because He has walked the same paths before and now walks them with us.

So too with learning a second language. We may struggle with it. It may come hard for us. The verb conjugations blend together, the exceptions to rules spin around in our brains, and grammar rules trip over themselves and become all confused. However, through this we better understand the difficulty of language learning. It is real to us once we’ve journeyed on that road, and it allows for us to feel empathy and compassion for those who don’t speak our language. It is very easy for us to say things like, “They should just learn English,” but the saying of that phrase and the doing of it are two entirely different things. Learning English isn’t easy. It is extremely difficult. As much, or possibly more so, than for us to learn a different language.

We then can appreciate when someone has worked hard and speaks with broken or heavily-accented English. Don’t look down on them. Show them compassion as Jesus shows compassion. Realize the work they’ve put in. Understand how hard they must’ve worked to make it that far. And you? Maybe you are that same way with your second language. Not entirely fluent, heavily-accented, but you’re trying. Often, for the outsider who doesn’t speak English, even this amount of effort to communicate and establish a similar playing field is a wonderful gift to them. Connections can be made, possibly even friendships forged. And once that happens, who knows the Lord’s purpose in putting that individual on your path as your neighbor. You might learn a lot from them. Or perhaps, if that neighbor wasn’t previously a believer, God will even use it for His work of salvation someday. God puts people on our path for a reason, and He freely uses us as tools and instruments to do His will.

In Hebrews 13, we read, “Let brotherly love continue [the love for our neighbor], be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (vs. 1-2). This is a reference to when Abraham entertained three angels without knowing it in Genesis 18. When Abraham saw the three strangers, we read that he ran from his tent to meet them and insisted they stay and eat with him. He served them a “calf tender and good,” one of his best. He didn’t know these three men, but they were strangers under his roof. He showed eager compassion on them. He didn’t go about it grudgingly but welcomed them with open arms. This is how we ought to treat the “strangers” we meet, eager and with zeal to show them Christ’s love unto us by reflecting it in our lives.

Then we must remember that there is a deeper reason why we do all this, deeper than our love for our neighbor because our love for our neighbor is rooted in another love: our love for God. In Matthew 25, we read of Jesus describing the Day of Judgment when He shall return. Christ says that He as King will say unto His people:

Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I [Jesus Christ] was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. (vs. 34-36)

Notice among all those things, Christ lists “I was a stranger.” He was that different person. The one we often want to shove away and distance ourselves from. After the King says this, the righteous will answer with:

Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? (vs. 37-39)

The King’s answer should warm all our hearts with its beauty. For truly, it is evidence of the root of our love for others. When we love others, the stranger included, we are loving Christ. That ought to be our motivation. Let’s read the answer of the King Jesus Christ to His righteous: “Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (vs. 40). How beautiful a truth is that! That ought to give us shivers. Christ is served when we serve each other. He cares deeply about each and every one of His people.

But there is a chilling reality presented here as well, and it comes as a warning:

Then shall he [the King] also say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not (vs. 41-43).

The wicked will protest this, to which the King will pronounce with resounding finality, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (vs. 45-46). The treatment of others is important to Jesus. True brotherly love stems from love for Christ. Without that love for Christ, there is no true brotherly love.

We realize that our salvation is not dependent on our works. That is not the point. The message needs to be understood in the context of all the Scriptures. We know that salvation is only found in the true message of the Gospel. It’s always through and because of Jesus. That new life given to us by Jesus, realized through the working of the Holy Spirit within us, will and must bear fruit. It is impossible that we be saved and have Christ in us and we not bear fruit. Let this be an encouragement to us. Let us love and be kind for Christ has loved and made us His own. Through His work on the cross, He absolved the barrier that kept us strangers to Him and made us His friends, made us His family. Let us, out of our love for Him, reflect that love and compassion to everyone we meet and to whatever neighbor the Lord drops oh-so-purposefully into our paths.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

After reading, please answer the Google Classroom Question with well-thought responses to 3 of the 5 questions below, being specific to what was read in Chapter 4. Please label your responses to match the question # below (#1, #2, #3, etc.).

1. In what ways have you dealt with “the stranger” in your life? In what way did you react?

2. Practically speaking, how can you make “loving your neighbor” a central part of your life?

3. Explain in your own words the connection between loving your neighbor and loving your God.

4. In what ways could you see learning a second language as beneficial in your life?

5. In what ways can we learn from our neighbor, especially one who is very different from us?