By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
We’ve all heard the parable of the Good Samaritan, where Jesus poses three scenarios. Each is trying to make the point that we are to care for those we encounter…regardless of who they are and where they live.
We also know the ending when Jesus asks the “expert in the law”: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
(And we know his reply): The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” (Following up on that) “Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:36-37
It seems like a pretty straightforward story with a very blunt message: take care of the one who needs you. But there are a couple of subtleties that get overlooked.
For instance, Jesus does not say the man who had been robbed was a Jew. It just says ”A man.” I have always assumed it was a Jewish man who had been attacked, but that may not be the case. Would it have made a difference if it were a Gentile man? Perhaps.
The actual verse Jesus is sort of quoting is Lev 19:18: “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your own people but love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the Lord.” “Your own people” would be other Jews, so the verse could easily be understood to read: “Love your Jewish neighbor as yourself.” There was a school of Jewish thought that interpreted it just that way.
When Jesus was originally asked, “Who is my neighbor?” The question could have been about Gentile vs. Jew rather than how far out I extend my neighborhood to know whom to include in my “neighbors” definition.
However, the life-saving principle of “pikuach nefesh” strongly suggests that Jews were allowed, and indeed obligated, to help injured Gentiles in Jesus’ time.
In either case, the heart behind the question is wrong. We shouldn’t be seeking what is the least we can do. It shouldn’t matter if the person is like us or even if the person likes us.
It shouldn’t matter if the person lives next door or halfway around the world. Our obligation as Believers is to extend the love and mercy of Jesus to everyone we meet.
That may mean we travel a great distance to help the oppressed. It may mean we take up the cause of a people group near us who are being threatened or bullied. It may mean standing guard at our local playground, so smaller kids don’t get pushed around.
To pick up our cross and follow Jesus is going to cost us. It should! It cost him everything. Certainly, we shouldn’t object to paying such a small price for the very large debt we owe him.
So, ask yourself a very difficult question: What am I doing to love my neighbor? Start with the ones that live in your home. Am I showing love and appreciation for those I live with?
Then, stretch it out to those you interact with, the grocery clerk, the operator of the machine next to you, the secretary in the company you call on.
Next, what about those who work for you? Or those you have some power over, like the waitress or the lawn guy.
Then, get real and ask the same question about those you don’t like. What am I doing to love my neighbor…the people I dislike or dislike me?
Am I willing to repent of the wrongs I did and to forgive the wrongs done to me? Then, expand your vision to the “neighbors” you never see: Those in the inner city, those in prison, those in places you’ve only read about.
We are called to be the “Light of the World”, not just the Light of Bryan or West Unity or Pioneer. Are you praying for the lost you’ll never meet? Are you sponsoring missionaries who have actually gone to the places we will never travel to?
Seek an honest answer to these questions to be sure the light of Christ actually can shine through you and not get buried in anger and prejudice.
Remember, we shouldn’t be seeking to see what is the least we can do. Letting our light shine requires us to put ourselves where the darkness is. And helping those in need is the best way to show Christ’s love.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.