Luke 10:36-37
“Which… was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
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The Samaritans were a Gentile people mostly living in Samaria, and Jews thought of them as inferior and hated them. However, Jesus used the Samaritan man to respond to a lawyer’s inquiry of “who is my neighbor?” It probably shocked the lawyer to hear Jesus speak well of the Samaritan as the only one who acted compassionately toward the beaten traveler. Actually, when he was asked who among the three (the priest, the Levite and the Samaritan) was neighbor to the victim, he did not pointed to Samaritan directly, but rather to the one “who treated him with mercy.”
This was a new definition of neighbor: He’s the one who loves. Jesus was saying what no other religion in history ever said: That everyone in the world, without exception, is our neighbor. A good Samaritan didn't think he was too good to help. This is how Jesus turns the ways of the world upside-down. He teaches us to love our enemies, to love all people, and not just to love those that look and act and think as we do.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate good neighbor, and His example is the one to imitate. He saw us in a world of sinners robbed of our potential, stripped of spiritual ideals, wounded by sins, and unable to rise from our beaten state. And because of God’s love, He came down to where the sinners are and gave mankind a corresponding act of mercy, seen in type in the good Samaritan. Through His death and resurrection, He covers our nakedness, binds up our wounds, and heals us. He puts us in the safety of His church and provides for our physical and spiritual needs.
Let us pray +
Almighty Father, help me to be kind today even if people are not kind to me. Help me to do what You want me to do. Teach me to be kind to my neighbor and love them as I love myself. Help us to be like the good Samaritan. Let us show your work by being a good neighbor to those around us. Thank You for loving me. In Jesus' Name,
Amen +
Great are the works of the LORD, exquisite in all their delights.
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