Surely, you’ve heard the story.
A man traveling from Jerusalem to Jerico (making him unquestionably Jewish) was attacked by thieves and left on the side of the road. Along comes a priest (Jewish) who sees the guy lying in the ditch, skips over to the other side of the road, and passes him by. Then a Levite (also Jewish) comes along and sees his homie bleeding to death on the side of the road and also passes him over. Finally, along comes this Samaritan who sees the victim’s plight, is moved with pity, picks him up, bandages his wounds, takes him to the nearest trauma center (a roadside inn) and promises the innkeeper that he’ll take care of the bill.
Most people know this as a great parable of love, compassion, and concern for our fellow man.
What most people don’t know is why Jesus told the story in the first place – and why he chose 3 Jews and a Samaritan.
See, a lawyer (yep, they were stirring things up back then too) asks Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life.
Jesus puts his teacher hat on and asks the lawyer "What is written in the law, lawyer?"
Now the lawyer’s all bent outta shape ’cause he’s on the spot, so he digs deep into his treasure of lawyer wisdom and replies with, "Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. And, Love your neighbor as yourself." Adding under his breath, "Hot dang – I’m good!"
And Jesus answers, "Not bad, Brighteyes. You know the law – do what you already know it says and you’ll live forever."
Well, dang-it. That was an empty, unsatisfying no-win for the lawyer – so he goes in for the kill. "And, who is my neighbor?"
"Not a bad question", he thought; and you might think so too. But being who we are, we most often want to know who our neighbor is just so we can exclude anybody who isn’t. We need to know who’s "with us" so we can put up "no trespassing" signs for everybody else.
So, to answer the lawyer’s question, Jesus tells this really neat story – the one we know as the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Why the 3 Jews? ‘Cause he was speaking to Jews.
Why the Samaritan? ‘Cause Jews hated Samaritans. And Samaritans didn’t have too much love for Jews. It was a mutual hate-fest between the two.
The Samaritan that showed so much compassion to the Jewish stranger was stepping way, way, WAY out of bounds. The half-dead Jew wasn’t one of his own kind – not from his "hood". The crowd that heard this tale fully understood that the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable was showing love and compassion to a man that was, according to the standard wisdom, his enemy.
But, the teacher wasn’t done yet. He’d told a nifty story, but he was dealing a critical subject here – the "price" of everlasting life. Jesus took the lawyer’s question, spun it around, folded it up, flattened it out, and stood it on its head.
"Who then, of the three, was a neighbor to the guy that got mugged?"
It wasn’t the question the lawyer asked. For sure it wasn’t the one he wanted answered.
Lawyer-dude was looking for who his neighbor was so he’d know who to love – and who not to love.
This new question, with its answer so glaringly obvious, was about BEING a neighbor – not HAVING one.
And if you ARE a neighbor – then everybody is from your "hood".
Your next door neighbor. . . that’s your neighbor.
The guy behind you with the loud stereo. . . he’s your neighbor.
The woman with the strange accent, the guy with the thing wrapped around his head, the family that cooks the odd-smelling food. . . all your neighbors.
The idiot Republican/Democrat (you pick) that can’t seem to comprehend the obvious. . . your neighbor.
Tsunami, hurricane, earthquake victims. . . your neighbors.
Genocide victims in Darfur. . . your neighbors.
Terrorists, the Taliban, the insurgents in Iraq. . . yep, you got it.
If you really ARE a neighbor, it’s the only answer you can have to Jesus’ question.
So, it’s truly up to us: "Who is my neighbor?" or "Am I a neighbor?" Which question will you ask?
You choose, and Let’s be Perfect.