Last week, a lawyer asked Jesus, what is the greatest commandment?  Jesus answered that it was to love God with everything, and love our neighbours as ourselves.  Then, right after that answer, Jesus told a story:

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”  (Luke 10:25-37 ESV)

Jesus set up a high standard, based on the Old Testament part of the Bible, that was undeniable for the lawyer.  So, instead of challenging it, the lawyer tries to get around it.  He tries to find a loophole, by asking Jesus to define neighbour.  If he has to love his neighbour, perhaps he can choose who qualifies as a neighbour.  Just the people next door?  Just those of my race, religion, education or income level?

He’s asking the same question as many readers today – who exactly is my neighbour, so I can make sure I love the minimum number of people necessary?

So Jesus tells this story, known as the story of the good Samaritan.  The two religious professionals, the Levite and Priest, are too concerned with ritual purity to stop.  His first Jewish hearers might have been thinking this was an anti-clerical message about underdogs like them being heroes in contrast to prideful authorities.

But then Jesus introduces a Samaritan into the story as the hero.  Samaritans and Jews avoided each other.  There was lots of bad blood, that went back a long way.  And yet Jesus makes him the hero.  The Samaritan was a true neighbour, even to his enemy.

Jesus challenges the prevailing beliefs about what it meant to love God.  Good piety includes loving care for others, not just purity.

Then he goes further, and tells the legal expert, “You go and do likewise.”  He’s essentially saying, “Legal expert, be like this guy, who followed the law you claim to know. “

After hearing Jesus’ command to love our neighbour last week, how many of us tried to find a loophole?  Is loving our neighbour really that bad?  When I trained to be a paramedic, one of the first questions the class asked was, “When I’m off duty, do I have to stop and pull over if I see an accident?”  The answer was no, you can drive past, but if you stop you need to stay until another professional takes over.  There’s a loophole – a paramedic off duty simply can’t stop at every accident.

But as a Christian, is there a similar loophole?

Question: How have you tried to justify or rationalize not loving someone like yourself?

Ryan Sim - September 25, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - Neighbours to Acquaintances

Won\'t You Be My Neighbour?

Remember our story yesterday about Jesus stopping to help a hurting woman? It wasn’t just about interruptions. After helping the woman who interrupted his travels, Jesus carried on his way towards Jairus’ house, since he’d asked Jesus to heal his daughter. It turns out that Jairus’daughter had died in the meantime, but Jesus kept going, and arrived at her bedside and raised her from the dead. That’s the true point of this story – the resurrection from the dead is what we’re heading toward – ultimate goal. He gives us a glimpse in this story, showing us that our death will not be the end of us, but that Jesus offers to simply wake us up in his kingdom. It’s a matter of whether we want to join that party. Jesus said the main thing was loving God, loving neighbours. The confidence to live that way, with all its sacrifices in this world, all flows from Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. It is our resurrection from being dead to sin now, and the physical death still to come. We can be distracted by other things – even good things – and lose perspective. We can tell ourselves things will settle down, or that more will be enough, or that everybody lives like this. But these are distractions. We can only do so many things well – why not make our specialty what God says is most important? We’ll have to slow down. John Ortberg – Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is the one thing hurried people don’t have.” Think of the difference between good doctor and bad doctor from a patient’s perspective. It often has to do with perception of being hurried – does the doctor seem to listen and care? I know someone who visited the doctor recently, and waiting for an hour in the exam room listening to him talk on the phone about golf, then she heard him tell a drug rep he was extremely busy. She knew it was a lie, and that he didn’t care about her as a person. We don’t want to be like that with our neighbours! Question: What good things might be keeping you from the “main thing” of loving God, who calls you to your neighbours? We meet for coffee every Wednesday night at Starbucks in the Chapters Store in Ajax, in Durham Region just East of Toronto. Maybe we'll see you there?

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