For Our Neighbors: Be a Neighbor


In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), a man traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho is attacked by robbers.  They strip him, beat him, and leave him half dead by the road.  A priest traveling on the road comes to him.  Priests were at the apex of the Jewish religious hierarchy.  Yet he passes by on the other side.  Somehow, his religion failed to get him to do the right thing.  The man didn't make his list of neighbors!  A Levite, who was a notch below the priest in the hierarchy, did the same.

Then a Samaritan came along.  Jews and Samaritans hated each other.  They had a religious dispute. You know how they can be!  Ugly!  When the Samaritan comes along, he's moved with pity for the man.  He didn't know if the man was a Samaritan or Jew, righteous or unrighteous, rich or poor.  He just saw him as someone who needed help.  A neighbor.  The Samaritan personally gave aid to the man, took him to an inn, and paid the innkeeper for further care.

The question that prompted this story was, "Who is my neighbor?"  Jesus flips it around and asks, "Who was a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?"

The lawyer who asked the original question couldn't say, "The Samaritan."  Instead, he says, "The one who had pity on him."  

Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."  Like the Samaritan.  Not the priest or Levite.  Wow!

Jesus tells us to go and do likewise as well.  But we fall terribly short.  The kind of people who were attracted to Jesus are repulsed by us.  One of the reasons for that is they don't believe we love them.  They don't believe we're for them.

In my lifetime, I've seen a deep change among evangelicals  When I was a kid and teenager, I heard a lot of preaching about sharing the gospel with the lost because they needed Christ.  Evangelicals sought to love those who didn't know Christ and to reach out to them.  

But that's changed.  Love for the lost has changed to fear of them and a desire to battle them in the culture and in politics.

Today, we need to recover compassion for people.  We need to love all in Christ's name and let them know that we're for them though we may not agree with what they do and believe.

Jesus is already among our neighbors.  Let's join him! 


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