I was teaching the kids at church about the Good Samaritan tonight (Luke 10:25-37), and it made me think of how I and so many others can be in our own lives.
A man asked Jesus a question about how to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what the Law (the first few books of the Old Testament) said. The man answered, and Jesus told him he was correct. Part of the answer was to love your neighbor as yourself, so this man figured he’d justify himself with Jesus and asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus knew He needed to address a different question, so instead of saying who your neighbor is, He told a story about how to be a neighbor.
In the story, a man went down a dangerous road and got beaten, robbed, and left for dead. Two people at different times passed by on the same road who could have helped him. These people were a priest and a Levite, both people chosen for special duties by God. They each saw this man was there, but simply passed by on the farthest side of the road from him and went on their ways.
At that point as I taught, I thought about how easy it is to do this in my own life, specifically when I see a homeless person. It’s easy for me to just pretend I don’t see them because I’m afraid of interacting. But why am I afraid? This is another human. This is someone God loves just as much as He loves me. If God is willing to reach to rescue fallen humanity, why should I shy away from getting to know my equal and showing them God’s love that reaches?
I continued teaching Jesus’ story. A Samaritan came by, someone that would have been hated and shunned by Jesus’ audience. This man stopped to help, and went above and beyond to make sure the man on the road would recover. Jesus then asked a question of His own: Who was the neighbor? The man who had asked, “Who is my neighbor?” answered that the neighbor was the man who showed mercy. Jesus then told him to go and do the same.
At the end, I told the kids something that I was also telling myself: If we see someone who needs help and we can help them, we should do it. We should be kind and helpful to people, even if it makes us uncomfortable. We should be kind and helpful, even if the person we’re helping might not like us, and even if we might not like them.
So after learning once more how to be a neighbor, the words of Jesus echo in my mind: “Go and do likewise.”
Related:
Consider Those Around You
Prejudice and the Great Commission