“But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’
Jesus took up the question and said, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’
Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’
‘The one who showed mercy to him,’ he said.
Then Jesus told him, ‘Go and do the same.’” (Luke 10:29-37 CSB).
An Old Testament Law says love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19:18). An expert in the Law asked Jesus to define who exactly a neighbor is. In the culture of Jesus’ day a neighbor was often considered to be only someone of your own nationality, race, and religion. You had no obligation to give help to anyone outside of this carefully defined group.
Jesus responded with a story that has come to be called the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In the story, a man is beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the side of an old dirt road. A priest comes upon the injured man and walks on by. A Levite, which would have been a temple worker, also walks by.
It is only a Samaritan that stops to help the man. Samaritans were despised and considered unholy by the Jews of Jesus’ day. Samaritans did not think too highly of Jews either. But Jesus depicts this pariah as the hero in his story.
He then turns to the Law expert and asks him who the neighbor was in the parable. The expert is forced to admit it was the Samaritan, though he cannot bring himself to say the word “Samaritan” (Lk 10:37).
Jesus leaves the expert with a final instruction, “Go and do the same” (Lk 10:37).
Jesus was not interested in defining who, exactly, was and was not a neighbor. He was not playing the Law expert’s game. Instead, Jesus used this as an opportunity to teach a higher concept.
It’s not as important to define a neighbor as it is to be a neighbor. If someone has a need that we are able to meet that person is a neighbor. They may not look like us, speak our language, or even like us. It doesn’t matter. We are to do the neighborly thing.
In a society that is increasingly polarized, whether rightly or wrongly, we need to keep in mind what Jesus teaches in this parable.
Pastor George