An elderly woman became unconscious on a hot sidewalk after a terrible fall. Several people stopped to help. One called 911. Another gently placed a coat under her head. Others put towels under her arms, and still another held an umbrella over her head until paramedics arrived. The person who posted the video wrote that it was an especially heartwarming scene because those who stopped included people of different ages and ethnicities—all working together to help someone in distress.
When an expert in God’s law asked Jesus who his neighbor was (Luke 10:29)—that is, who he was obligated to show love to—Jesus told a story of a man badly beaten by robbers, lying near death by the side of the road (vv. 30-31). A priest and then a Levite approached, but both passed by on the other side. Finally, a Samaritan stopped to help. What made this so unusual was that Jews and Samaritans had a bitter history of scorn for each other. Yet it was the Samaritan who stopped and “took pity” on the man (v. 33).
After telling this parable, Jesus asked which was a neighbor to the fallen man. The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him” (v. 37). Jesus told him, and us, “Go and do likewise.”
May God help us see that everyone we meet is our neighbor, another human created by Him and deserving of our aid.
To whom do you find it difficult to be a good neighbor? How does Jesus show what it means to be a loving neighbor to others?
Dear God, please help me to love others—regardless of differences—as my neighbor.
When a law expert asked, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29), Jesus didn’t answer directly. Instead, He told a story lifting up a Samaritan as a role model (vv. 30-35), part of a population many Jewish people despised and saw as heretics. This challenged the law expert’s likely self-centered and self-righteous perspective, forcing him to confront his own prejudice. He was called not only to extend his love to all, even his enemies, but to learn from the compassion of someone he’d looked down on. When Christ asked him who’d been “a neighbor” in this story (v. 36), the law expert couldn’t even bring himself to say “Samaritan,” instead replying, “the one who . . .” (v. 37).
Instead of trying to define the limits of who to love, we’re called to question our prejudices and focus on being a good neighbor to all.
