Neighbor

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! you always turn everything around.

A scholar of the law, wishing to justify his own behavior once asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor"? He probably wanted to confirm his own righteous practice of helping those that were close to him and thus fulfil the law of loving "your neighbor as yourself". After all, that is the most that can truly be expected of us really. We can't be responsible for those we don't know when it is hard enough to care for those we do know.

So in answer to the man's question Jesus tells one of the most famous stories in all of Scripture which most of us know as The Parable of the Good Samaritan. You remember, a Jewish traveler was robbed and beaten and left for dead on the side of the road and two religious types ignored and avoided him while they went on their merry way. But then a Samaritan, whom all Jews despised as half-breeds, also saw the man and decided to help him. He bound up his wounds, set them up in a nice hotel and promised to check back later. No doubt he was true to his word.

But then Jesus asks the man an unexpected question. "Which of the three, in your opinion, was the neighbor to the robbers' victim"? Instead of identifying our neighbor as anyone in need Jesus implies that the neighbor is anyone who helps. Therefore the more fundamental issue is not, who is my neighbor, but rather who can I be a neighbor to. When we are being neighbors then we are loving our neighbors as our selves and if we have half the heart of the Good Samaritan, we'll be neighbors to those that despise us.