Reprove thy neighbor (Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18; Matthew 5:38-48)
It's not immediately clear what this command means.
To receive these posts by e-mail each Monday, sign up.
For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.
It's a puzzling juxtaposition: "You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself." I'm pretty sure I've broken the first half of this commandment about a zillion times in recent months. Especially if we define kin broadly speaking to include all fellow humans (which seems a reasonable interpretation in this era when global connectedness has largely eclipsed the power and necessity of small, local kinship groups).
