The Loving Neighbor
Robert Frost once wrote one of America’s most beloved poems. Since Mr. Frost left it untitled, some have called it The Road Not Taken, others call it The Road Less Traveled—I guess it’s a matter of perspective.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
All of us, at different times in our lives, come to a crossroads. We might try to look down each path as far as we can see, but eventually we have to make a decision; and that decision, whether for good or bad, can make all the difference. We all travel different roads in life. We choose different paths on different occasions. But I think the point of Robert Frost’s poem is not so much which road we choose, but the attitude of our hearts—our outlook on life—as we travel that road.
In Luke 10, Jesus tells the story of an unfortunate man traveling a lonely and dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho. But before we get to the story itself, let’s find out why Jesus tells this story in the first place. Here’s what the Bible says:
Then an expert on the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to get life forever?”
Jesus said, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
The man answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.” Also, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Jesus said to him, “Your answer is right. Do this and you will live.”
But the man, wanting to show the importance of his question, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-29 NCV)
Now here’s an interesting encounter. This “expert in the law” may not have been sincere, but he’s certainly asking all the right questions. He wants to know how to receive eternal life. And he’s apparently been listening to Jesus—either that, or he’s smart enough to figure it out for himself—because, when Jesus answers his question with a question, he has the right answers.
When Jesus turns the question back at the “expert,” he answers, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.” And, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Jesus commends him, saying emphatically, “Your answer is right. Do this and you will live!” That’s been the message of Jesus since he first stepped out of the cobalt colored water onto Jordan’s muddy shores. And that’s been the message of this books since I first sat down at the keyboard. But not everyone is ready to accept what Jesus has been teaching.
Although he knew the right answers, he didn’t have the right attitude. Another translation says, “The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”(NLT). Remember that most Rabbis during Jesus’ day defined a neighbor as a Jewish person who kept the Law of Moses. Jesus sought to expand the people’s understanding of what it means to love your neighbor, so here he tells a timeless tale of an anonymous man traveling a treacherous trail.
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.
It happened that a Jewish priest was going down that road. When he saw the man, he walked by on the other side. Next, a Levite came there, and after he went over and looked at the man, he walked by on the other side of the road. Then a Samaritan traveling down the road came to where the hurt man was. When he saw the man, he felt very sorry for him. The Samaritan went to him, poured olive oil and wine 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. The next day, the Samaritan brought out two coins, 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.’” (Luke 10:30-35 NCV)
When we look at this story we see several individuals all traveling the same road, but with very different attitudes in their hearts. As Jesus paints this vivid word-picture three attitudes come clearly off the page. The first is...
The Hateful Heart
The first people this innocent traveler encounters during his seventeen mile trek were his attackers. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notoriously treacherous. It was a winding path through bleak and barren terrain which provided ample hiding places for thieves and bandits. But these thugs did more than just take his money—they stripped him of his clothes, his dignity, beat him within an inch of death and then left him for dead. If these crooks had been motivated by greed, they could have taken the money and ran. No, these men were motivated by something far worse—hate.
Its always appalling anytime we hear about violent crime in the news, but its worse when the violence is so senseless, extreme, or just plain hateful.
On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, the collective heart of America stopped beating when two high-school students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, walked into Columbine High School and opened fire. They called themselves the Trenchcoat Mafia, but what they really were was two angry teenagers on a shooting rampage. By the time the massacre was over, they would end up killing twelve students and teachers, as well are injuring twenty-three others, before finally shooting themselves.
Reports are sketchy, but according to several students at least two teenage girls, Cassie Bernall and Valeen Shcnurr, were asked the question, “Do you believe in God?” Valeen was one of the survivors, but Cassie wasn’t. She had been hiding under a desk in the library when Eric Harris slapped the top of the desk three times, then kneeled down in front of her and posed the question. “Do you believe in God?” he asked.
Trembling beneath the desk, she answered through her tears, “Yes. I do.”
“Why?” the gunman asked. But before she could answer, he shot Cassie Bernall in the head.
Cassie isn’t the only person in recent years to be killed because her love for God. According to a report from the Global Evangelism Movement, there is an average of 160,000 people murdered each year because of their faith in Jesus Christ. That number grows everyday. In fact, more followers of Jesus are being killed for their faith in the present day than at any other time in history.
If tragedies like the Columbine Massacre, September 11th, and the Virginia Tech Shooting, teach us anything, its that there is such a thing as evil in this world and it lives in the hearts of people who do not know the love of God! The Bible says, “God’s anger is shown from heaven against all the evil and wrong things people do. By their own evil lives they hide the truth… Because they did these things, God left them and let them go their sinful way, wanting only to do evil” (Romans 1:18, 24 NCV).
A heart that is filled with hate, can lead to nothing but suffering. Let’s be careful what we allow into our own hearts and what we put into the hearts of our children. Jesus’ story in just getting started, though. The second attitude we encounter along the road to Jericho is...
The Hurried Heart
Edmund Burke is attributed with the famous maxim, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” How right he was! As this innocent victim lies dying on the side of the road he is passed—not once, but twice—by people who could have and should have helped.
You’ll notice also that the two men who passed by on the other side of the road were not your average Joe Shmoes. These were the religious leaders of Jerusalem—a priest and a Levite (a temple servant, similar to a deacon in most churches). This priest would stand in the Temple and the synagogues and preach about loving your neighbor—but he separated his sermons from his service.
I can imagine the look of hope in this fading man’s eyes as he saw the Levite coming up the road. “Surely, he’ll help me,” he must have thought. But then hope turns to despair as the Levite, too, passes by on the other side. He was too busy serving the church crowd to be bothered with the needs of one man.
Neither of these men were violent or abusive, like the robbers, but they didn’t care enough about the value of another human life to stop and help their fellow man. John F. Kennedy, aptly quoting Dante’s Inferno, once said, “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those, who during a time of moral crisis, do nothing.”
In the Veggietales™ version of this story, Archibald Asparagus and Madam Blueberry (playing the roles of the priest and Levite) begin to dance and sing together: “We’re busy, busy, dreadfully busy. You’ve no idea what we have to do. Busy, busy, terribly, busy. Much, much too busy for you.” Unfortunately, that pretty much sums up the attitude that many people in this world have—they’re busy, hurried, can’t be bothered; and because of it, needs go unmet. How many people could be helped if we just weren’t so busy?
His hopes must have been at their lowest point as he lay there bleeding and struggling to breathe. But there was one more person traveling this barren boulevard. The final attitude we see in this story is...
The Helpful Heart
Just then, as the sun was beginning to set over the horizon, a Samaritan man comes around the bend. This man was different from the others who passed by. He didn’t have a hateful heart, or a hurried heart; he had a helpful heart.
You’ll remember that the Jews and the Samaritan didn’t mix. They avoided speaking to one another, not to mention touching. But when this particular Samaritan came upon this particular Jew, he didn’t see a Jew. He didn’t see white or black, Asian or Hispanic, Catholic or Protestant, he just saw a man! He saw someone in need—a fellow human being in anguish—and, the Bible says, “When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him” (vs. 33 MSG).
First, he cleaned the wounds and wrapped them with bandages—essentially applying first-aid. Furthermore, he lifted the man onto his own donkey and gave him a ride to the nearest Best Western. Finally, going the extra-mile, he paid the innkeeper saying, “Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back” (vs. 35 MSG).
And now, we return to the original question: “And who is my neighbor?”
Then Jesus said, “Which one of these three men do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by the robbers?”
The expert on the law answered, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Then go and do what he did.” (vs. 36-37 NCV)
That’s pretty clear, isn’t it? Friends, loving God and loving people means that we must never see broken, beaten, or bleeding humanity and pass by on the other side! We can’t just ignore it. We can’t walk around it. When we have the opportunity to help someone in need whatever that need may be, we have a responsibility to do so! The Bible says, “Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.” (Galatians 6:10 NLT). That’s just what this Samaritan man did; he was a good neighbor—a loving neighbor.
As I said, we all travel different paths in life. And, again, it’s isn’t so much the road we take, but the attitude of our heart along the way. If you’re like me, you’ve probably made some bad decisions in life. Have you ever wished that there was some way to make up for all the bad choices? That somehow you could make one good decision that fixes everything? The good news is—there is! You can! One right decision about Jesus overrides every other mistake or poor choice you’ve ever made. Every one of us stand at crossroads. Two roads diverge in a yellow wood. Which one will you choose? Will you choose to have a heart that is hateful or hurried? Or will you choose the road less traveled?
