Who is My Neighbor?

~~~Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary ~~~ 

 

~~~ Jonah 1:1–2:1-2, 11 ~~~ Jonah 2:3, 4, 5, 8 ~~~ Luke 10:25-37 ~~~

 

Who do you consider to be your neighbor?

 

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?

 

The lawyer could repeat the laws very well.

He knew how important it was to keep the commandments,

but Jesus goes deeper into the meaning.

He uses three well known characters of the that time.

 

He presents the scene for this attorney...

A crime has been committed.

A man has been brutally beaten and robbed by some local thugs.

 

Three different individuals see this badly injured man

on the side of the road...

a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan.

 

 

The priest could not touch this bleeding man

because it would result in his being made unclean.

Blood was unclean thus the priest would not be allowed into the temple.

 

All priests are Levites but not all Levites are priests.

 

The Levite who comes to pass this victim is not a priest.

The other Levites assisted the priests, similar to what a deacon might today.

They prepared the offerings and cared for matters of the sanctuary.

To a lesser degree the Levites were supported by the temple

 worshippers as were the priests.

This Levite did not consider it his responsibility

to take care of this stranger.

 

This is a trap we can easily fall into today.

We are witness to people every day who are less desirable than we like.

We see with our eyes but in our heart we do not feel responsible.

 

Both the priest and the Levite were caught up

in letting the strict interpretation of the law

take precedence over caring for this injured person.

They were unable to see him as their neighbor.

 

They saw him only with their eyes and not with their heart.

They did not allow themselves to feel compassion for him.

They could not begin to consider him as their neighbor.

 

Finally Jesus uses a Samaritan to drive home the point of his story.

Samaritans were the enemies of the Jews in that time period.

This does get the attention of the young lawyer.

The Samaritans, in the eyes of a Jew, were lesser human beings.

They were considered to be like 'dogs'.

 

Jesus is always drawing us to something bigger...

He paints the picture of the Samaritan as acting with kindness

 and compassion toward this injured stranger.

It is the Samaritan who is showing how to love beyond.

 

Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”

 

What frightens you when you begin to define

 who your neighbor really is...?

 

How can we break our stereotypical view of our neighbor?

It is more about who we chose to love as our neighbor

 than about how to love our neighbor.

Blessings in stepping out of the shadow of stereotyping.

I can learn to love better.