Go and Do Likewise

Cutting the Mother's Day Cake

I know I have good neighbors on my street.

They keep an eye on the house when we're away.  One drops by to give me vegetables from his garden.  Another plows out my driveway if we get a heavy snowfall.  All in all, I feel pretty well cared for, and thankfully, we have not had a catastrophe like many did during recent hurricanes and super storms.

But in today's reading, Jesus addresses the lawyer who seems to understand the first part, but stumbles on the second, where he is to love his neighbor as he loves himself.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." - Luke 10:27

"Who is my neighbor?" he asks.

Jesus responds with a familiar parable, the one of the Good Samaritan.  I doubt there is anyone, Christian or otherwise, who would fail to recognize the Samaritan as a good man.  He not only helped the victim of the robber, but he gave him a place to stay, someone to watch over him and promised to return to check on him later, paying whatever it costs.

Jesus doesn't ask if this man was a good neighbor.  He asks whom did the lawyer think was the neighbor to the man.

Wow!

That's a different definition of neighbor than I had in mind.  

Every Sunday at St. James (the church where I have been training), the congregation (mostly the women) prepare something for coffee hour.  Occasionally, they go way overboard and prepare a feast, celebrating some special day whenever possible.  They do such a great job, there is always food left over, enough for take-out meals for those who are back home.

This past Sunday was Mother's Day, so the men took a stab at being the hosts.  The men are good, and though they were serving, the women were there to help out.  

Well, as luck would have it, all the food went.  While the men were cleaning up, I noticed a man who happened to walk in.  He held a plate in his hand and he looked puzzled.

I walked over to him and asked if I could help.  "Do you have any food left?" he asked.

I looked around and all we had left was cake, not a very healthy offering.  I told him that was all we had and he said he would be very grateful, so I went over and had them fill his plate with enough sugar sweet icing and carbs to send him spinning.

He took the paper plat and plastic spoon in his hands and I realized I was being a terrible host, so I invited him to sit with me.  He refused coffee, but accepted the conversation and we proceeded to get to know each other.  

By the time he finished his cake, I had introduced him to Father Tobias and invited him to come back next Sunday.  I believe he will.

I don't know if that is what Jesus meant when he said we need to be neighbors, but it felt good.  Sure, as a deacon, it is part of my job or my role to go out among the people and make these connections, but this man came to us.  

Maybe it was God's way of saying, "See how easy it is to be a neighbor? Go and do likewise."