The Neighbor Question

The Neighbor Question

Luke 10:25-37

            The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of those stories that is so familiar we can easily miss important details.  A recent reading, prompted by a quote I had just read, helped me see something I had previously overlooked.

            We know the story, but I’ll hit the highlights to refresh our memories.

            Jesus is teaching, and a lawyer tries to get the best of him.  The lawyer asks, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  

Scholars of the law frequently asked other scholars questions like this.  These questions would begin debates leading to a richer, fuller understanding of the law. 

This was not the lawyer’s intent.  Luke says, the lawyer “stood up to put [Jesus] to the test.”  From early in Jesus ministry, the religious leaders tried to trip him up, show him up, and shut him up.  They believed they were clever enough to come up with a question that would stump him, make him look bad, and turn the people away from him.

            Jesus asked a question in return: “What is written in the law?  How do you read it?”

            This is an open invitation to rabbinical debate.  Jesus is asking the lawyer not only what the law says, but how it should be interpreted.

            The lawyer quotes from the sh’ma: “You shall love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

            Jesus congratulates him on giving a good answer—actually, the best possible answer, and tells the lawyer, “Do this and you will live.”

            The lawyer isn’t going to give up easily, so he asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?
            Jesus responds with a parable.  A man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho is set upon by bandits, beaten, robbed, and left for dead.  We’re not told, but we know the man was a Jew.  First a priest, then a Levite, two religious leaders and the wounded man’s countrymen, pass by, avoiding him.  Then a Samaritan—one of the Jews’ arch-enemies—passes by.  Instead of ignoring the wounded man, the Samaritan stops and cares for him, offering first aid, then conveying him to a place where he can receive more complete care—at the Samaritan’s expense.

            Jesus concluded the parable by asking, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”  The lawyer answered, “The one who showed him mercy.”  Jesus answer?  “You go and do likewise.”

            Here’s what I’ve always missed.  I saw it in words from Commissioner Lalkiamlova.  “The question is not who’s my neighbor, but whose neighbor am I.”

            The lawyer asks, “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus presents the parable then asks, “Who proved to be the neighbor?”  Jesus turned the question around.  Through the story Jesus taught that everyone is our neighbor.  But the question he asked was, “Whose neighbor are you?” 

In our lives we will be surrounded by neighbors—everyone we meet.  The question is which ones will we choose to serve?  If we are to lead a life of Christian service, the answer is, “All of them!” 

We cannot refuse to help anyone in need.  There are no exceptions.  Everyone is to be an object of our loving service.  God has loved us and healed our wounds, and we must spend our lives loving and serving others in God’s name.