Who Is My Neighbor?
Dr. Barry D. Lovett
25 Then an expert on the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to get life forever?” 26 Jesus said, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 The man answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.” g Also, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” h 28 Jesus said to him, “Your answer is right. Do this and you will live.” 29 But the man, wanting to show the importance of his question, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus answered, “As a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, some robbers attacked him. They tore off his clothes, beat him, and left him lying there, almost dead. 31 It happened that a Jewish priest was going down that road. When he saw the man, he walked by on the other side. 32 Next, a Levite i came there, and after he went over and looked at the man, he walked by on the other side of the road. 33 Then a Samaritan j traveling down the road came to where the hurt man was. When he saw the man, he felt very sorry for him. 34 The Samaritan went to him, poured olive oil and wine k on his wounds, and bandaged them. Then he put the hurt man on his own donkey and took him to an inn where he cared for him. 35 The next day, the Samaritan brought out two coins, l gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of this man. If you spend more money on him, I will pay it back to you when I come again.’ ” 35 The next day, the Samaritan brought out two coins, l gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of this man. If you spend more money on him, I will pay it back to you when I come again.’ ” 36 Then Jesus said, “Which one of these three men do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by the robbers?” 37 The expert on the law answered, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Then go and do what he did.” Luke 10:25-37 (NCV)
Like the Lawyer in our text, we sometimes think that If we talk about it long enough, maybe we can fit the Scripture to our lives, rather than fit our lives to the scripture.
In the Parable of the Good Samaritan there are three main characters…a Priest, a Levite and a Samaritan. The first two would have been considered the most likely to be good neighbors.
Tradition has it that before Priests and Levites left their home in the morning, they quoted those two great verses of Scripture. “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul and strength and mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
The priest, a religious type (pastor) passed by on the other side.
The second man down the road was a Levite. He was an organized type, he too passed by on the other side.
“There is a kind of arithmetic spawned in the counting rooms of Hell that is always interested in Christians reaching the masses but somehow never gets down to an individual man or an individual woman. This kind of arithmetic always talks about winning the world for Christ but doesn’t think much about winning a neighbor for Christ. It’s a kind of arithmetic that makes it valiant and glorious to cross an ocean to reach someone for Christ but not very noble to cross the street to reach someone for Christ” -Hadden Robinson
The third man down the road was a Samaritan was the most unlikely person to be a good neighbor. Whenever a Jew talked about a Samaritan, he called him a dog.
But the Samaritan saw the wounded man and was filled with pity and helped the man.
This story answers the question, “Who is my neighbor?” The answer is simply this…Your neighbor is anyone WHOSE NEED you see and WHOSE NEED you’re in a position to meet.
Your neighbor may be someone who is unknown, unfriendly, unlovely, ungrateful.
On the surface all three of these men saw the same thing, a stranger who had been mugged. But they really didn’t see the same thing. Only the Samaritan saw his neighbor.
What I am determines what I see.
“If a man says he loves God and loves not his brother, he’s a liar, because if you haven’t loved your brother whom you have seen how can you love God whom you’ve not seen?” I John 4:20
Christian love is not objective. Christian love is subjective. It does not reside in the personality being loved. It resides in the person doing the loving.
The same love that enables me to love my father in heaven enables me to love my neighbor on earth. What you are determines what you see and what you see will determine what YOU DO.
Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been?
I’ve been to London to see the queen.
Pussycat, Pussycat, what saw you there?
I saw a wee mouse under her chair.
Why did that cat only see a mouse? When you’ve got the heart of a pussycat, mice are infinitely more important than Queens.
Do you love your neighbor? That’s the wrong question. Blindness to our neighbor’s need is an indications of what kind of heart we have. It’s a heart problem, a lack of love for our neighbor has more to do with a lack of love for God than for our neighbor.
If you love God you’ll love your neighbor and who is your neighbor?... Anyone whose need I see and whose need God has put me in a position to meet. It’s as simple as that and it’s as difficult as that.
g “Love . . . mind.” Quotation from Deuteronomy 6:5.
h “Love . . . yourself.” Quotation from Leviticus 19:18.
i Levite Levites were members of the tribe of Levi who helped the Jewish priests with their work in the Temple. Read 1 Chronicles 23:24-32.
j Samaritan Samaritans were people from Samaria. These people were part Jewish, but the Jews did not accept them as true Jews. Samaritans and Jews disliked each other.
k olive oil and wine Oil and wine were used like medicine to soften and clean wounds.
l coins Roman denarii. One coin was the average pay for one day’s work.
l coins Roman denarii. One coin was the average pay for one day’s work.