"Who Is My Neighbor?" Christ minded in unjust times.

Luke 10:25

A man, described simply as "a religious scholar" , stands up to test Jesus. He asks, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Being knowledgeable in the law, he is perhaps curious about Jesus' interpretation of it or thinks he could possibly trap Him. Jesus replies, "What is written in the law?" "How do you read it?"

The scholar responds by saying, "Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, strength and mind and Love your neighbor as yourself". He nails it, the man knows the law, Jesus simply says," do this and you will live". There is nothing flawed in his interpretation of the law, nothing wrong with his theology yet there is something strangely human about his next question. Scripture says, the scholar, wanting to justify himself asks, "who is my neighbor". What did he want to justify? Why did he seem unsatisfied with the law he knew so well?

The good Samaritan

This popular parable is Jesus' response to the question, "who is my neighbor"? I personally find this to be one of the most challenging parables in the bible. A man selflessly risks his comfort, gives his time and money to aid another who has fallen into the hands of robbers. What's more? the man is a Samaritan and the victim a Jew, historically Jews and Samaritans were enemies.

Compassion

In this parable, Jesus challenges the very idea of being neighbors. It is clear that for God being one's neighbor is not defined by proximity, ethnicity, citizenship, religion, race or even relation. In our desire to be like Christ we must accept His definition of neighbor. What makes one a Christlike neighbor then? Showing compassion to all not just in words , but in action. The challenge is to see all people as created in the image of God and respond selflessly to their affliction as we would want done for ourselves and yes, at the core of this is presenting them with the reality of Jesus Christ. However the word has to be backed by action, I believe this is why Jesus healed the sick and spoke out loudly and clearly against injustice. Think about this, the harshest words He had was for the teachers of the law who abused their authority over the people.


Human rights, global citizenship, unjust times

Now more than ever we live in a shrunken world. It is truly difficult to be uninformed. Word gets around quickly, thankfully mass media is not our only source of information. In any major city in the world you come across people of all backgrounds with all kinds of stories to tell. Some have been victims of countless wars , others escape the most challenging circumstances to a new life of more systemic challenges and subtle oppression. It is the most exciting yet most difficult time to be a follower of Jesus Christ. The practice of Christlike love for one's neighbor is truly daunting yet necessary in this time and environment. Will I put my job, life, security , family on the line to speak out against the policies of the company I work for? Will I believe that countless innocent men, women and children deserve to die in a war when I know that is not the solution, will I say so unequivocally? Will I choose silence and inaction when I see people hurting or being treated unfairly ? Will I , like the scholar of the law in the gospel of Luke, look for a loophole, "well they're just unbelievers" "well those people over there are not like us" "we are the good guys and they're bad" "I was scared" " I did not know""They brought it upon themselves". The world might accept these justifications but God will not.


Every day, all around us there are Godly people who choose to act out of love for their neighbor, risking a lot but gaining more, these are my heroes. Let's be Christ minded.