Who is My Neighbor?

So this lawyer goes up to Jesus to test Him and asks in Luke 10:25-37, “What am I to do to inherit everlasting life? Didn’t a rich young ruler just ask that? So why was this lawyer covering old ground? In the King James it says he did this to “tempt” Jesus. That word is nomikos in the Greek and means to test thoroughly. But it also means to scrutinize, entice and discipline. Was the lawyer seeking to discipline Jesus by showing Him up, by finding some flaw in His answer? Who’s to say, but lawyers do have a way of complicating things and I suspect this one was no different.

Jesus patiently asks His own question by saying, what does the law say? To which the lawyer answers, we must love God with all our heart, soul and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus gives him an A, “You have answered correctly.”

Ah, now the lawyer had Him. “And who is my neighbor?” In response, Jesus tells him the story of the good Samaritan, the one who didn’t pass by, like the priest and Levite had, that poor robbed and beaten man laying alongside the road. Instead, the Samaritan tended the man’s wounds, carried him off to a hotel and promised the manager he’d pay the hotel and food bill during this man’s recuperation when he swung by on his return trip.

It’s interesting that a Samaritan is the hero in this story and not the priest or Levite, both highly esteemed in Jewish culture. And Samaritans were not even considered Jews at all, but were actually despised for their mix-breed lineage as well as held in contempt for their slip-shod religious practices. After all, they didn’t worship in Jerusalem like true Jews.

So what are we to make of this? For one thing, we must understand how seriously Jesus takes the manner in which we treat others. And because it’s important to Him it must be important to us. And all our religious façade doesn’t cut it or serve as a replacement. King James says the lawyer sought the definition of “neighbor” because he wanted to “justify” himself. The Amplified says it was because “he was determined to acquit himself of reproach.” In other words the lawyer knew he hadn’t been living up to the implied standard of the law and so was trying to wiggle out of it on a technicality.

Ouch! I can relate because I have trouble with this one. Time always seems to be the enemy and I’m often conflicted about where to spend my precious hours. Some are easy answers. Of course God comes first which means time spent with Him comes first. Then come family and friends. Next, the job God has given me to do. That doesn’t seem to leave much time for my “neighbors,” not quality time, anyway. A few “hellos” and “how are yous” are, for the most part, about all I seem to manage. But now Jesus is saying I am to love my neighbor as myself! Of course family and friends are all part of that “neighborhood” but they are not all of it and I tend to forget that. Knowing Jesus is a fair and good and just God, I can trust Him not to put more on my plate than I can chew. So I don’t think He means for me to go running around like a chicken without a head trying to fill every need on planet earth. But I do think He means for me to care, really care, about the people He has placed in my life, and that could mean that lonely elderly woman down the street as well as some poor wounded person along the side of the road should I encounter one. The trick is to be open to these opportunities and rely on God’s grace to lead us through them and not care about the time at all.

It’s something I’m still working on.

Until next time,

Sylvia