12/08/2023 – Who is my neighbor?
Are your neighbors the families that live on your street? Perhaps your neighbors are those within your zip code or your area code or even your school district? The fact is that we would be hard press to find something that would constitute boundaries, that says, “everyone inside here is consider my neighbor”. That just does not exist. Jesus was tested by a law expert (a lawyer) with the very same question, “Who is my neighbor?”
Luke 10:25-29
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
The lawyer’s questions is disingenuous, his intention was to test Jesus and justify himself. But Jesus responded with the “parable of the Good Samaritan”. I imagine the lawyer, after hearing the parable, his self-justification shattering like glass. You see Jews and Samaritans did not get along, they held deep rooted distain for each other, a dislike going back many generations. But now Jesus, after telling the parable, asks the lawyer, “who acted like a neighbor, to the injured man? Was it the priest, was it the Levite, or the Samaritan? The lesson basically teaches that everyone is your neighbor, not just the priests or the Levites you know so well, but those you may have distain for, they are also your neighbors. Everyone is your neighbor.
Today meditate on this verse:
Galatians 5:14 “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”