How Are We To Know Who Our Neighbor Is?

How Are We to Know Who Our Neighbor Is?

Luke 10:25-37

During the conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel, the remnants of Jews that were left behind intermingled with their conquerors, the Assyrians. Being half Jew and half Gentile, they became known as the Samaritans. They were a mix of foreign pagans and unscrupulous Jewish people. So, they were naturally hated by many. In the eyes of the Israelites, Samaritans were worse than Gentiles. In this passage of Scripture, Jesus tells us the story of the good Samaritan, someone who was far better morally than many of the Jews that He spoke to.

This expert lawyer was asking Jesus how he could inherit eternal life. Jesus then asks him what is written in the law. In verse twenty-seven, the lawyer quotes from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Jesus tells him that he is correct and that the lawyer should follow the Scripture (Leviticus 18:5; Nehemiah 9:29; Ezekiel 20:11; Romans 10:5).

Now this lawyer was not the type of lawyer we see in a judicial system. He was however an interpreter of the Mosaic Law. So, in some way he was a lawyer. But I do not think that I would want him representing me in court. But instead of the lawyer being honest, the lawyer tried to justify himself (Luke 16:15) by asking, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus now tells the story of the good Samaritan.

The lawyer regarded the injured man as a subject for conversation; the thieves, as an item to take advantage of; the priest, as an issue to keep away from (Psalm 38:11); and the Levite, as an object of interest. Just the Samaritan regarded him as an individual to love, which at the time was unheard of (John 4:9).

The lawyer represents human law. The thieves represent lawlessness. The priest represents religion. The Levite represents works. But the Samaritan represents grace. How many of us have obtained grace but fail to show it?

From the story we learn three standards about loving our neighbor: (1) absence of affection is regularly simple to legitimize, despite the fact that it is rarely correct; (2) our neighbor is anybody of any race, creed, sex, religion, or social foundation who stands in need of something; and (3) love implies acting to address the issue. In any place that we live, there are individuals nearby that are in need. There is nothing but bad reasoning for declining to help.

There was profound scorn between the Jews and Samaritans. The Jews considered themselves to be the pure and unadulterated descendants of Abraham, while the Samaritans were a blended race that came from when the Jews from the Northern Kingdom intermarried with different people groups after the exile of Israel. To this lawyer, the individual most drastically averse to act accurately would be the Samaritan. Truth be told, he was unable to bear to say "Samaritan" in response to the question that Jesus asked in verse thirty-six. The lawyer’s disposition showed his absence of affection, which he had previously said that was commanded by the Law.

So how does this help us to understand who is our neighbor? This story has a reasonable application for us today. Any individual that we can help is our neighbor. It does not imply that main the individual living nearby to us is our neighbor. Individuals need Christ, the Good Samaritan. You can watch any Christian television network, and there is and has been a lot of talking about sharing the Gospel to the world. But what are we truly doing to ensure that people know who Jesus Christ is?

I was walking my dog Lucien through our neighborhood one day in June 2021. On an adjoining street, there was a man in his driveway, and it looked like he was preparing to do some yard work. He said hello and asked how I was doing. For some reason I told him of my upcoming surgery to remove a tumor on my right kidney. The doctors had found a mass and thought it to be cancerous. The man prayed for me right there in his driveway. Needless to say, the people at our church had been praying for me as well, but it felt different having a complete stranger pray for me.

Why do I mention this about my issue with cancer, which God healed me of? The point I want to make is that I believe the Lord led him to pray over his neighbor. We did not know each other, but we do now. It did not nor does not matter the color of skin that we have. It does not matter what branch of the military that we served in. Nor does it matter what church that we attend. What man may consider as something that may divide us, we are neighbors, and not just because we live in the same neighborhood.