Jesus tells us not to split hairs over who our neighbor is. Just BE neighborly.
In our Deuteronomy reading, Moses is giving a final sermon to the People of God before they go into the promised land. Although this reading is fine in Hebrew… it begins mid-sentence in English. So let’s add verse 8 when we read it. Deuteronomy 30:8-14
The 70 disciples have just returned in our Luke reading. Jesus praises them for seeing the reign of God so close – and said many kings and prophets have wished to see this. Luke 10:25-37
In our first reading, Moses tells the people that the commandment of God – summarized as to love God with all your heart, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself, is not impossible. On your own, it just may be impossible. But God is with us.
The people are scared. They sense Moses is not going to be with them when they cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. Who will help them keep the Laws of God? Who will mediate? Who will guide?
And Moses comforts them. He tells us that the Word of God isn’t in heaven and accessible only through prophets. Nor is the Word on the far side of the world and you need a spiritual quest to get it.
The Word is in your mouth, and on your heart. God’s love is written on us.
We have the power to love with all our heart and soul because we have the power of God upon us.
God chooses to make us prosperous, and God chooses to make us flourish, and God chooses to make it possible for us to fulfill God’s laws.
It IS possible to Love God with your all; and love your neighbor as you love yourself.
It IS possible because God makes us strong enough.
The lawyer who approaches Jesus today knows that correctly following God IS possible. And he wants to be sure he does just that.
“What, rabbi, do I need to do for eternal life?”
“Well, how do you interpret scripture?”
“You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.”
“Bingo,” says Jesus. “Do this, and live.”
But the lawyer wants to be 100% sure he’s doing the right thing by God and his neighbor.
He knows who God is.
But who is his neighbor? This is a matter of eternal life in God’s presence or punishment away from God. It is a super serious question.
Who is my neighbor, Jesus?! Am I treating her right?!
And Jesus doesn’t answer with a list of people. He doesn’t say ‘Your family’ or ‘Your church.’ Jesus doesn’t call our neighborhoods full of our neighbors, or say that all strangers are neighbors. In fact, he chooses NOT to define who is our neighbor at all.
Jesus instead tells us the old familiar story of The Good Samaritan. But never once does Jesus call the Samaritan this, nor does he call the Priest and Levite bad. Let’s set that language aside for now and look at this text with fresh eyes.
A man was going from here to there, and on the way, robbers mugged him and left him injured and half dead.
A priest went down this same road. He saw the man. He went on by.
A citizen went down this same road. He saw the man. He went on by.
A nobody went down this same road. He saw the man. He was moved with great pity and went above and beyond to be sure the man was cared for.
Which of these three was a neighbor to the man?
Well, perhaps the priest was a neighbor. Hear me out! Maybe the beat up man was part of his parish. They shared the Jewish faith. Clergy of all walks usually consider themselves called by God to tend to the sheep and care for others. This man is part of the priest’s flock. But the priest walks on by.
Why?
Jesus never tells us.
This is repeated with the second man. He is a Levite. A Jewish man who is part of the group concerned with obeying Scripture and being lay leaders in the faith. He’s a neighbor to the man in the ditch too. They’re both Jews. Maybe they even both lived in Jerusalem and both were going to Jericho. But the citizen walks on by.
Why?
Again! Jesus doesn’t say.
I think perhaps Jesus doesn’t say why they walk by because the “whys” we don’t help one another could fill up all of scripture and then some. It is easy to come up with reasons not to help someone. If the priest touched the man, then the priest would be ritually unclean. If the man helped the man, maybe he’d be jumped by the robbers who were still near by. If the priest stopped to help the man, he’d be late to the side of the death bed of a parishioner. If the man stopped, he’d be late to his own wedding.
We don’t know why they don’t stop.
And Jesus doesn’t tell us.
Because for noble reasons and ignoble reasons, every day, we choose not to help everyone we see. Practically we say we cannot give money to every charity. Sinfully, we choose to give money to companies that do harm rather than paying more for local goods. Every day, for good reasons and bad reasons, we don’t help everyone.
And whatever our reasons, the result is the same for the guy in the ditch… no help. Good reasons and bad reasons look the same to him: no help, no mercy, no pity.
The third man also has places to be. Also has good reasons and bad reasons to keep moving on. But he chooses to stop. He feels empathy with the guy in the ditch. He sympathizes. He then doesn’t just help him up, but goes above and beyond by paying carrying the man to help and paying for that help – and checking in on the man again later.
Jesus says this man is the least like the man in the ditch out of the three. He is physically not a neighbor. He is not Jewish. He is Samaritan. He doesn’t pray in the temple. He prays in the high place. His ancestors didn’t go to Babylon. They stayed here, never exiled. His ancestors or maybe even he broke Moses’ laws and married foreigners. Samaria also was home to all who were excommunicated, criminals, or outcasts from Judea proper.
Jews and Samaritans looked so similar to outsiders, but to insiders… they were bitter rivals. Enemies in many cases.
We could say the Samaritan didn’t realize he was helping a Jew, and wouldn’t have stopped if he did. We can say the Samaritan didn’t care what race or nationality the injured man is. We can give him any morality or questionable morality we want… the result is the same. He helps the man.
Jesus then asks the lawyer – which of these was a neighbor?
The priest over the man; the fellow citizen; or the outcast?
The lawyer chooses the man who ACTED like a neighbor instead of physically or culturally a neighbor.
And Jesus agrees.
He then tells the lawyer, “Go and do likewise.”
Go and ACT like a neighbor.
Jesus never defines who our neighbors are. He never tells us who we are or are not to help, or why we are to help or not help. Instead, he gives an example of what a neighbor is like, and then tells US to do this.
In other words…
Don’t split hairs over who is or isn’t your neighbor.
Just BE a neighbor yourself.
Go and be.
Be neighborly.
Amen.
Pastor Whitney Bruno Sermons 