Luke 10:25-37
25Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27He answered, “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.” 28And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” 29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
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This passage is the well-known story of The Good Samaritan. Jesus first says that a priest saw the injured man and ignored him. Then a Levite saw the man and also ignored him. It was only when the Samaritan came by that the man got help, even though any Samaritan would have been considered an enemy. So two people who should have been ready to help a fellow Jew ignored him, but a Samaritan treated the injured man as his neighbor and provided all the help he could.
Jesus told this story to a lawyer in answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?”. We are to treat everyone as our neighbor, yet too often today we are encouraged by one group or another to see some people as “the other” and to treat them with suspicion and perhaps even outright hostility. We all need to keep this parable in mind as we read the news and encounter people, known and unknown to us.
We know that no one is perfect, including ourselves. So we need to act when someone is attacked, verbally or physically. And we need to be careful when we hear ourselves start to criticize or judge others. We should always be looking for and appreciating the good in others.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to see all people as our neighbors who we should help as best we can. Forgive us when we forget this. Amen
—Gary Vig