Who Is My Neighbor?

For if you love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them.

And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same.

Luke 6:32-33 KJV

On one occasion while Jesus was teaching, an expert in the law asked him what he must do to inherit eternal life (see Luke 10:25-37). Jesus asked the man what the law said, to which the lawyer answered that one must love God with all of one's soul, strength, and mind and to love one's neighbor as himself. Jesus' reply probably surprised this man. He said, "Do this and you will live." 

Perhaps this individual loved his family and friends. He probably loved his fellow teachers of the law, so hoping to justify himself, he asked, "Who is my neighbor?"

What follows is commonly known as the parable of the good Samaritan. Jesus shows us that our neighbor can be anyone whom we run across with a need. Our love and care for others must cross ethnic and social lines. Love knows no distinctions between the rich or the poor. In fact we are to even love our enemies.

In a surprising twist we see the two religious men pass by the man who was beaten and left for dead. We might have expected them to have some compassion. The biggest surprise however was the Samaritan who did stop to help. The Samaritans were hated by the Jews, who looked down on them as a mixed race of people. This man stopped to render aid to someone who very likely might have despised him. 

The priest and levite who passed by were no better than the sinners who only loved those who would love them back. It's likely that the teacher of the law that Jesus was speaking with was no better. How about us? How about you? It is easy to love friends and family, but what about that homeless man on the corner, or that woman with a "reputation"? Your neighbor may be Muslim, or Hindu. Maybe the person who needs your help the most right now is an atheist. God calls us to show them love just the same.

Jesus finished this parable by asking the man who was the neighbor to the one who fell among thieves. The lawyer answered, "The one who showed mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."  That is the call for us as well.