Neighbor

Luke 10:25-37 (Message)

The Good Samaritan

25Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. "Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?"

26He answered, "What's written in God's Law? How do you interpret it?"

27He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself."

28"Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."

29Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define 'neighbor'?"

30-32Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

33-35"A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I'll pay you on my way back.'

36"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?"

37"The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, "Go and do the same."

"How do you define neighbor?"

Well, for me it's the folks who live at 3780 and 3800 Georgia Drive, Douglasville, Georgia, 30135.

We each own our little square thirds of an acre in the Ashworth subdivision and that's where the daily drama of our family lives play out.

Neighbors.

I've had good ones and bad ones. I bet you have too.

The best of the folks who occupied space next door were "neighbors," not just because of where their house was located in proximity to mine.

The best ones were our friends.

They chose to love us, above and beyond the call of duty. In fact, some of our old Augusta neighbors still read this blog (Hi Shane and Shannon), even though they too have since moved on to other locations.

The man who questioned Jesus in the story above wanted to limit his definition.

He thought he knew who was in and who was out. Samaritans, certainly, were among the "out" folks.

Jews like this man considered them dirty, other, foreign and generally hostile. Even though they lived next door to the people of Israel, the relationship wasn't a good one.

Jesus' story blows up those kinds of foregone conclusions.

Your neighbor can be anybody, regardless of who they are or where they're from.

"Neighbor" is a condition of the heart. "Love God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and heart." "And love your neighbor as yourself."

It's easy to love the neighbors who love us.

It's easy once we know people and trust them. It's easy when they look like us and share our worldview.

But God has created neighbor-folks who have hearts for service and love...and put them everywhere...even where we'd least expect.

What kind of neighbor do we make? A heart full of grace and determined to serve is the most neighborly...and God-filled of them all.

Prayer: May we hear the words of your parable, and bring them to life in our own lives. Help us to be the neighbor to others that we should be.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.

Tomorrow's Scripture: Matthew 25:37-40