Luke 10:27 & 29
He said in reply, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
In a society that is more polarized every day these two verses of scripture are more important than ever. Jesus lays out a clear expectation of behavior for someone who want's to inherit the Kingdom Of God. Yet this scholar is clearly looking for a loophole in the law so that he can continue his hatred of another person. It's like he's flat out saying "but that guy over there who I dislike very much. Surely he isn't my neighbor?" so Jesus tells him the parable of the Good Samaritan. Let's be really simple and put this in today's language. Jesus is telling us that guy in ISIS who just bombed a city square. He is our neighbor and we need to love him the same way we love ourself. Now that may be easy to do because we may be in the fortunate position to be far away from that particular person. So let's get a little closer to home. That guy on Facebook who always posts his political views that are the opposite of yours... Yep you guessed it, YOUR NEIGHBOR! That co-worker who keeps slacking off and making your job harder… YOUR NEIGHBOR. Your spouse who just ticked you off for no reason… YOUR NEIGHBOR. Today let us find a way to love our neighbor.
