Matthew 5:47
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.