Main news for 7 March 2025

The second half of verse 18 is a very well-known saying. Perhaps the most quoted in the whole Old Testament. Of course, Jesus included it in His formula of the main commandment of the law. But how many people still run away from its simple and clear meaning, like the lawyer who, wishing to justify himself, asked: "And who is my neighbor?" (Lk. 10:29).

Here is a classic example. A person says or thinks: "It is written, 'as yourself.' But do I know how to love myself? That means I must first learn this!" and begins to love himself. He tries this way and that. He looks at himself from the outside: "Well, how am I loving myself? No, still not enough; I need more." And again he sets about loving himself. In this way the neighbor is never reached.

And yet the first half of the verse shows that no self-reflection is in view. Does any one of us take revenge on himself? He may get angry, for example at his own mistakes, but he surely does not bear malice. And the apostle Paul says the same thing in the Epistle to the Ephesians (5:29): "No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and warms it."