"Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: " '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, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus...
"And who is my neighbor?" - as told by Dr. Luke
He wanted to feel righteous in front of that crowd because he knew the law and lived by the law and he thought Jesus was about to pat him on the back and say good job.
But when he asked the question and Jesus didn't begin to quote law-by-law everything this man lived for he was stunned and embarrassed. He was embarrassed by Jesus' quick and simple answer, an answer that implied that his own righteousness, because he followed the law, wasn't all that important after all.
So he wanted to catch Jesus off guard and ask, "Who is my neighbor?" saying to himself," Ha, gotcha Jesus, no quick answer on this one. Here's my second chance to be justified before these people because I only associate with the best Jews and my neighbors are righteous and well established in the community."
Jesus responded with one of the most well known parables of all time, the parable of The Good Samaritan, You can check out the story in Luke 10, here is a quick synopsis:
A man was mugged, beaten and left for dead on a street leaving Jerusalem, the big city. As he lay there dying for the entire world to see a priest, saw him and instead of stopping to help him, which is what you would expect a priest to do, he walked by on the other side of the road. So the dying man's situation didn't change, but there was hope a Levite, who was the chosen holy man by God, the equivalent to an Arch Bishop in standing with the community and a televangelist in popularity, walks by. He sees the man and instead of helping him, which could do wonders for his reputation, he too walked by on the other side. At last a Samaritan man comes by that place sees the man and takes him to get care. He pays for this man he doesn't know with money, probably more than his budget would allow.
Jesus ends by asking the man who was the good neighbor to the man in the ditch. The expert in the law responds by saying "the one who had mercy on him". Jesus told him to "go and do likewise".
but to understand the significance you must understand something about samaritans
This ethnic group of people were looked down on by the Jews. The Jews considered them dirty, evil people that were slightly above animals, much like the slave owners viewed the slaves in the early days of our country.
Yet out of the three people that saw this man the one that had the least to gain and the greatest reason just to walk by, showed mercy.
In one story Jesus had torn down this man's self-righteousness. Jesus showed him it's not who you are when people are watching that matters but who you are when it's just you and God and you have nothing to gain. Jesus taught this man that it's not what you know about the letter of the law and how you follow it, but whether or not you understand the love of God and live it.
Jesus took the least of all men, a Samaritan and not only showed that he is equal to the Jews but that he is their neighbor. In one story Jesus showed the world that as people we are equals, equally flawed, equally in need of Christ.
Of all the commandments to follow, loving each other is the second most important. As believers we must view everyone we come in contact as our neighbor, and our equal.
It is easy to love those that live the way we do, act the way we do and believe the way we do. It is harder to love those that are not like us. Those people we call weird or walk by on the other side of the street or hallway when we see them. Those people that we refer to as "them" or "their kind". We all share a common ground and that is we are all human, from Bill Gates to the homeless guy I pass on my way to work, from the Supreme Court Justice to the pregnant teenage mom debating abortion...we are all human.
it isn't enough for us to love god and our clique
It isn't enough for us to go to church, read the Bible and wear the Christian t-shirts. Jesus is calling us to love the unlovable to reach out to those who are hurting and dying; to tear down the walls of prejudice and preconceived notions and to see people through His eyes.
"Who is my neighbor?" is not the question. The question is, "Who can I touch, who can I reach with the love of Christ? ".
"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' - Jesus Christ
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