And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? The greeting restriction — greeting only the in-group — is the everyday small-scale version of love restricted to the in-group. Even the Gentiles greet their own community. The what more are you doing than others? question is the Sermon's consistent challenge to religion that merely matches the best available alternatives: the disciples are called to exceed, not merely to match. The greeting that extends to strangers and enemies is the daily enactment of the love that extends to enemies.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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