“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Luke 10:36.
I am an introvert (I know that I have mentioned that in other blogs but it bears repeating). Our home is so secluded that we cannot even see our neighbors. I happen to like it that way. Lol.
I had purchased our home prior to meeting my husband. On one of his first visits to the house, he asked, “Who are your neighbors?” My reply was, “I don’t know and I don’t plan on playing Mr. ‘Hi, I’m new to the neighborhood.'”
Then one day, my husband returned from the local convenience store and exclaimed, “I met one of your neighbors!” I said, “Who is my neighbor?” There were no houses on the opposite side of the road, so in my mind, I had only two neighbors: the one on the left and the one on the right. My husband replied that this person lived much further down the road, multiple houses away. I thought, “That’s not my neighbor. Neighbors are people who live next-door to you.”
I had a lot to learn. Based on what Jesus tells us in the scripture, our neighbor is anyone that crosses our path. He teaches us in such a way that we should never ask, “Who is my neighbor?”.
In Luke 10:25-37, we find Jesus teaching a lawyer in the synagogue who our “neighbor” really is. 25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
This man felt that his knowledge and “keeping” of the law were so exceptional that they couldn’t be brought into question. His arrogance caused him to test Jesus on what was written in the law. Jesus confirmed that the man was correct in his interpretation of the first part of his answer.
But when it came to the second part of the law (“You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.”), we see that the man felt that he needed to justify himself. He knew he was not heeding God’s command. But he wanted to be able to say, “Oh, I do that” or “That is not my neighbor” so that his behavior would be justified. As a result, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus then tells him the parable of the good Samaritan. This, in and of it self, is irony as this lawyer (clearly Jewish, as he is in the temple with the Pharisees and Sadducees) would have declared this an oxymoron. The Samaritans were such enemies of the Jews that these men would have found it difficult to believe that there was any such thing as a “good” Samaritan.
Nonetheless, Jesus told the “Good Samaritan” parable. He described a man who was walking along the road. Robbers beat him, stripped him of his clothing, and left him for dead. Then a priest passed by, walking on the other side of the road instead of helping him. We can assume that he crosses the road to prevent himself from becoming unclean, based on the law.
Then a Levite also came upon the man. But he too passed by on the other side. Again, we would assume that this was to keep himself from becoming unclean. Both of these men were very religious and knew the law. Yet, they left this helpless man to die.
Finally, we see the Samaritan come upon the man. His compassion is extraordinary as he approaches the man and gives him, what we would call, first aid. He cleansed and bandaged the man’s wounds. Then he put the man on his animal and the Samaritan walked. He didn’t drop the man at the gate of a friend or family members house. Instead, the Samaritan brought him to an inn and took care of him. The following morning, he payed the innkeeper to allow the man to stay and be taken care of. As if that were not enough, the Samaritan explains to the innkeeper that if the money spent caring for the man is more than what he had already given him, it would be repaid upon his return.
How much mercy and compassion did the Samaritan show to this complete stranger?! A man whom this lawyer would have considered beneath him and incapable of good was far more compassionate and merciful then both the other two men — the two men who, like him, knew and “followed” the law.
Jesus explains to this lawyer that our neighbor is anyone we come upon. Is it the person who lives next door? Yes. How about the person who lives in multiple houses away? Yes. In fact, if we were on vacation thousands of miles away from home, those that we meet are our neighbors.
God doesn’t think in terms of neighborhoods or proximity. His thinking is far different from ours. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT).
God thinks in terms of time and eternity. He has placed us here in this time to be used by Him to point people to an eternal relationship with Him.
In fact, Jesus’ final response to the man is, “Go and do likewise.” Jesus is not just telling the man that he should go and show that kind of compassion and mercy to people. He is telling us to go as well!
This is a time when there are a lot of people lying along the spiritual road. However, they have not been ravaged by robbers. These people have been struck down by anxiety, loneliness, fear, isolation, sadness, dread… and the list goes on.
The question is: Who are we going to be? A Priest or Levite, walking on the other side of the road, unable to put someone else’s needs above our own? Or the Samaritan who goes to extreme lengths to not only attend to the broken, but to do everything that we can to see to their full restoration?
There are people in your life right now who need a phone call, a text message, or a Zoom meeting. Or maybe they just need to see you pull up in their driveway, beep the horn, roll down your window and yell, “I love you!” or “Jesus loves you” or a simple “Do you need anything?”
In my spirit, I believe that you just thought of someone. Reach out to them!
Will you bother going to their aid? Or will you sit there and ask, “Who is my neighbor?”
I can tell you that, because of the working of the Holy Spirit in me, I’m incredibly thankful that we now know our neighbors the way that we do. It is a credit to the fact that my husband had a biblical view of the question, “Who is my neighbor?”
God created and called us to specific good works. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10”. We are to glorify God by using what He has given us. “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:” 1 Peter 4:9-10.
There is a big hurting world out there that needs their wounds bandaged, cleaned, and healed. Not by us but by Jesus. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3. Let’s take Him to them.
Father God, we pray that you would pour out your mercy and grace on this lost and hurting world. Use us mightily to minister to those around us Lord. We pray that you, Holy Spirit, would stir within us and lead us to those who are in need of a touch of compassion. Lead us to our neighbors Father.
Let us never ask again, “who is my neighbor?”, Lord.
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and you have been experiencing isolation, fear, anxiety, etc., I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Because of His great love for you, he is all that you need. And, if you will let Him, he will heal the wounds that all those negative feelings and emotions create.
“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence” 2 Peter 1:3.
Please pray this prayer and once you have, reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know. I’d love to be in prayer for you.
Luv Ya!
