Who is my neighbor?

  What is the greatest commandment? Jesus was asked that by Jewish teachers. He himself broached the subject in the sermon on the Mount [Matthew 7:12] and the Gospels each begin a discussion of the subject with that question; what is the greatest commandment? [Matthew 22, Mark 12, Luke 10]
   James uses the same word, greatest or superior, here translated royal, but skips to what Jesus refers to as the "second", which is to love your neighbor. [Aside: that's probably as good an indication as any that James is not written about our relationship to God, but our relationships.]
   Everything in the minute detail of the Law and the Torah strives to accomplish this one superior law; love your neighbor as yourself. Seems straightforward enough. But it turns out in the 21st Century we still have the same problem the expert in the law had in Luke 10. Who is my neighbor? Luke says this expert asked the question to justify himself. Probably we do too.
   If you have time, look at Jesus answer to "who is my neighbor?" in Luke 10.
   James uses an interesting word "play" involving the word law. In verse 8, he mentions the royal law, in verse 10 the whole law, and in verse 12 the law that gives freedom. Those are three different things, I think. The law that gives freedom appears to contain mercy, although the positioning of judgement and mercy in the text seems to contradict itself. I hope we will have time to discuss that, too.