Summary: Loving your neighbor doesn’t simply mean your literal next door neighbors, and it certainly doesn’t mean only your neighbors of similar ages. Jesus showed honor and respect, and showered love and blessing, on people of all ages. As an infant, Jesus loved His young mother, the virgin Mary...and I very much believe Jesus loved the old widow Anna, who danced and rejoiced when she found Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus with Simeon in the Temple. Shortly before He came of age for the ancient precursor of the bar mitzvah, the lad Jesus loved to spend days with His cousins racing around Jerusalem...and sitting still for hours and days listening to and talking with aged scribes and priests in the Temple. When Jesus reached the age to be recognized as a prophet, His public ministry included talking about, talking with, hugging, laying hands on, and blessing children and infants everywhere He went. Jesus declared, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Yes, Jesus loves children, and we do too, don’t we? So let’s reach out to them. They’re all over our world. This is Luis Palau.
