In the parable of the Good Samaritan a sassy lawyer approaches Jesus and asks how to get to heaven. Jesus asks him what the law says. The law says that one must love the Lord with every fiber of his being and love his neighbor just as much as he loves himself. Jesus tells him that he is right and if he does so he will live.
Matthew Henry comments: "No one will ever love God and his neighbor with any measure of pure, spiritual love, who is not made a partaker of converting grace. But the proud heart of man strives hard against these convictions."
It is only through saving grace that we can love God and love others as we should.
The sassy lawyer, in an attempt to justify himself and how he treats others, then asks:
"Who is my neighbor?"
In response to his question Jesus tells this sassy lawyer a parable - an earthly story with a heavenly meaning - to explain to him who his neighbor is.
In this well known parable a Jewish man is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when thieves jump him. They beat him, strip him of his clothing and leave him half dead. While this man is lying there a Priest comes by. The Priest sees the man lying there and passes by on the other side of the road. Then comes a Levite. The Levite not only sees the man but the Bible says that he "came and looked on him" before passing by on the other side. Both the Priest and the Levite should have helped the man. They were servants of the Lord who should have set an example and helped out the poor man. However, they did not.
Right when it seems like no one will help the man a Samaritan comes along. Jews looked down on Samaritans because they were "unclean", they were "half-breeds" because they were half-Jew and half-Gentile. The Jews would not talk to Samaritans, they would not travel through their country, they did not want anything to do with Samaritans. But it was the Samaritan man who had compassion on this half-dead Jew. He cleaned and bandaged his wounds, set him on his beast, took him to an inn, continued to take care of him and then paid the innkeeper to continue taking care of him.
Jesus ends this parable with the question: "Which now of these three...was neighbor unto him?" Obviously the neighbor was the Samaritan man - the one who had compassion on him, who bandaged his wounds and took care of him.
So, who is my neighbor?
Anyone I come in contact with!
My neighbor is my coworker, my friends, my family, my students but also the mailman, the cashier at the store, the community workers - police, EMS, firefighters, military - the person driving their car past my house, the person pumping gas at the next pump at the gas station, the homeless man or woman sleeping in a tent in the parking lot somewhere, the telemarketer calling about my car's extended warranty for the billionth time...get the picture?! My neighbor is every single human being I come in contact with no matter their age, race, size or social status.
Since everyone is my neighbor then I am to love everyone as I love myself. That means I need to be kind, I need to be patient, I need not to be selfish or rude, I must treat them as I would want to be treated.
How many times have I been out and about grocery shopping and I did not once think about those around me? It is so easy to go into Walmart with my list of groceries, quickly get everything, get annoyed when I cannot find my specific brand of peanut butter, go through self checkout and leave without giving one thought to those around me. How selfish! How difficult is it and how much effort does it take to show a little compassion and smile at someone I am passing by in the aisle? To ask the greeter how their day is going? To give a tract to the cashier or the worker who is watching the self checkouts?
Start showing a little bit of love to those around you. Be a good neighbor, be a good Samaritan to those around you!
~ 💓 Ruby James Mikula
