Who is my neighbor?
Luke 10:29-37
The Good Samaritan. The parable we all know… and we all ignore.
The man asked Jesus, “who is my neighbor?” And Jesus tells his a story. The man, a Jew, is traveling. He is attacked and left for dead. A priest- a man of the church- comes upon him and passes him by. A Levite- a temple worker- same thing. I imagine they looked away and pretended not to see. Like children who have yet to learn object permanence- if i can’t see it, it’s not there.
Then the Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews hated each other. And yet this is the man who stops to help. I don’t think it was coincidence that Jesus used two groups of people who were known to hate each other.
Just before this parable, Jesus gives us the greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. The next sentence is our second greatest commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.
It’s incredibly simple. Two commandments top all the others. So why do we make it so hard? Why can’t we do this? Fear. Power. Status. Popularity. Safety.
Love your neighbor. And who is my neighbor? Anyone and everyone in need.
So why is it that we allow the racism? The homophobia? The hatred against immigrants? The disabled? The mentally ill? Why do we “other” people?
We sit in our big beautiful downtown churches and fight over the color of the flowers on Sunday mornings. Or argue about who get to use the gym on Wednesday nights. Meanwhile, we have a homeless population a block away wondering where the next meal will come from. Many of us do not even see them, much less try to help.
Just like the priest, the levite, and the child who has not yet learned object permanence, if I don’t look then it doesn’t exist.
We stay in our bubble and send mission supplies to the Delta and pat ourselves on the back…. but never look into the eyes of our neighbors.
My dear wise friend, Grace, told me about getting involved with Saints Brew, the homeless ministry at All Saints Episcopal Church. She tells how stepping into this ministry changed her much more than it changed them. It taught her about what it means to be a child of God- we are all the same. She said- it you don’t actually look into the eyes of these people, you can’t get it.
We say we get it. And then we support a president who is a nationalist. Can we be nationalists and love our neighbors at the same time? Would the term Christian Nationalist not be an oxymoron?
My family and I bought some baby chicks last Friday. The lady had one with splayed legs and she threw that one in for free. Of course, being Good Friday, we took the sweet disabled chick and named her Grace. It seemed symbolic. The other chicks soon began pecking her until she was close to death. I have since to understand this is normal chicken behavior (though being first time chick owners, we are all a bit traumatized.)
I couldn’t help but think we humans do the same thing. We peck each other to death over our differences instead of loving and learning from each other.
When we look to Jesus, we see one who comes in the name of love. One is who not afraid. He doesn’t care about status or power or popularity. He only cares that we are His. He looks into our eyes so we know we are seen and He wipes our tears. We love because He first loved us. And only through Him can we stop the pecking.