1 John 4:8
God is LOVE
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
John 13:31-38
Love One Another
31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
36 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Luke 10:25-37
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 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.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
And one of Jesus' last commands to His Disciples was to Love one another...Of course, Jesus knows the importance of love and loving God and loving your neighbor...And in Jesus' Parable of the Good Samaritan He is asked who is the neighbor of a Jewish man that is attacked by robbers...The neighbor is not the Jewish Priest who passed by the injured man...And it is, also, not the Jewish Levite who passed by on the other side...The neighbor is a Samaritan, whom the Jewish people normally did not neighbor and visit with...There was this societal friction between the Jew and the Samaritan...Yet, it is the Samaritan that helps the injured Jewish person...And the reason that the Samaritan is the neighbor is because he had mercy on the attacked Jew...
The Greatest Commandment that Jesus teaches us is to Love God and to Love neighbor...God is LOVE, and He teaches us to love Him, and to love others...God teaches us about love...In God's LOVE, one does not live for oneself...Lovers love their beloved and their beloved ones...Lovers are not to be selfish...Because love and selfishness are not compatible...Lovers are not to be self-absorbed in themselves, but love helps others...Lovers are not to be proud...They are more to be focused on their spouses, families, and communities...Lovers are vowed by God to leave their fathers and mothers and become one...Church weddings pledge themselves till death do them part...And as a couple's love continues it gets into loving their neighbors, their communities...And in this loving neighborly community, there is a great union among all of those in love...
Love is merciful...Love has this great mercy of the Good Samaritan...