Luke 10:24-37 tells us about a conversation that Our Lord had with a Lawyer seeking to test Him. They are talking about what the Law demands in order that a man receive eternal life. They come to agreement that we are to love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind and your neighbor as yourself. Now the Lawyer was seeking to remove all reproach from himself and asked who his neighbor is. The Lord replies with a story about the "Good Samaritan" who helped the man who had been robbed and beaten and left for dead. This Samaritan not only helped the man with his wounds, he brought him to an inn and put him up there paying the full price and telling the Inn Keeper that whatever else is spent in the man's care the Samaritan would pay. This is in stark contrast with the Levite and the Priest who had walked past the dying man by going to the other side of the road.
When Jesus asks the Lawyer which of the three had done right, He asks it this way. "Which of these three do you think proved himself a good neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?"
The point Our Lord is making here, I believe, is that it's not the person in need who must be our neighbor but us are able to help who must. When prompted to help someone don't ask, "Is this my neighbor?" but do ask "How can I be a neighbor to this person?"
No comments:
Post a Comment