neighbor – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

We see in this passage a very famous story: the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus and an expert in the law had been talking about loving God and loving one’s neighbor. And in trying to justify his failure to love his neighbor, the expert asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

I think it’s interesting that Jesus never answered that question. Why not? Because it was the wrong one.

What then is the right question?

Jesus, after telling the story, asked the expert, “Who was the neighbor to the man attacked by the robbers?”

The expert answered, “The one who showed mercy to him”.

Upon which, Jesus said, “That’s right. Go and do the same.”

In short, the question is not, “Who is my neighbor,” as if we can pick and choose who to love.

The question is “Am I a neighbor? Am I a mercy-giver?”

And if so, we can’t pick and choose who to love. We just love and show mercy to everyone around us.

I admit: Like the expert in the law, there are times I struggle mightily to do that. Some people just aren’t very “loveable.”

That’s why I need a Savior. We all need a Savior because none of us keep God’s command to love perfectly.

That, by the way, was the main point that Jesus was trying to make before the expert tried to justify his own failures to love others.

I don’t want to be like that. Do you?

Lord Jesus, you loved me enough to save me and show me mercy. By your grace, let me be a neighbor, let me be a mercy-giver to those who are hurting around me.

To fulfill the law

It has always seemed strange to me that Paul said,

For whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8b)

After all, isn’t loving God the other half of fulfilling the law?

Jesus did say after all that the two great commands are to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-40)

Why then focus only on the latter?

I’m not sure, but I think perhaps the reason is that we cannot separate the former from the latter. That if we truly love God, we must love our neighbor. And if we don’t love our neighbor, we’re not truly loving God.

John says as much in his epistles.

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? (1 John 3:17)

And again,

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.

For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. (1 John 4:20-21)

It’s very hard to argue with John. How can we claim that we love a God whom we have never seen, while at the same time we hate the people around us that we can see?

How about you? Do you claim to love God?

If so, how are you treating the people around you? Are you loving them? Or are you looking down on them? Are you despising them?

If you’re doing the latter, it’s time to take a close look at how much you truly love God.

So as John wrote,

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:18)