Hey, Neighbor!
Who is my neighbor?
He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "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." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" - Luke 10:26-29
Today's Gospel reading includes the parable of the Good Samaritan, the man who stopped along the road to help a stranger.
We know the story, and we know it was told by Jesus to a lawyer who asked the question, Who is my neighbor?, after correctly answering Jesus' question about the Law.
At the end of the parable, Jesus asks the lawyer to identify which of the men in the story was the neighbor to the one who was in need of help, and the lawyer told him it was the one who showed mercy.
Go and do likewise, he tells him.
The lesson for us, I guess, is that the neighbor we should show love to may not be the ones we may would prefer to love. They could be strangers, outcasts and even enemies.
I wonder if the lawyer went away happy, knowing his questions led him to look at the world differently.
Jesus wants us to know it is not the easy stuff that brings us to eternal life, but the hard stuff, the inconvenient and out-of-the-way tasks we are called to do for others.
When we encounter someone in need of help, we may feel we are ill-equipped to offer the kind of help the person may need. In our struggle to find others who might help, we do nothing.
It could be we are overthinking the situation, seeing ourselves as inadequate when all we may need to do is stop and talk and listen to what the person has to say.
The Samaritan found a solution to the man's immediate needs without making the problem his. He was able to go on his way and settle up when he returned.
He didn't focus on the myriad reasons he couldn't help.
So, perhaps that is what we are called to do, to be willing to listen and do what we can, and not walk away having done nothing.
Sounds simple.
It isn't.
More to come...