In God's order nothing can substitute for loving people. And we define who our neighbor is by our love. We make a neighbor of someone by caring for him or her.
Jesus tells this story after a man asks him to define "his neighbor". The man wanted an excuse or an escape from loving everyone, so he asks Jesus to give him a list. After all, the man knows that the second greatest commandment is to "love your neighbor as yourself." A short and simple list of people to love is the perfect salvation by works. But Jesus is not concerned merely with the man's actions. He does not provide him a list.
Jesus deftly rejects the question "Who is my neighbor?" and substitutes the only question really relevant here: "To whom will I be a neighbor?" And he knows that we can only answer this question case by case as we go through our days.
Jesus cares about our hearts far more than we will ever know. One might say our hearts are the primary thing he cares about. Bear in mind his words when he tells the pharisees, "Clean only the inside of the cup, and the outside will be clean also."(Matthew 23) He speaks here of our intentions, our desires, and our will. Our actions, it seems, are of little value apart from the heart.
In the morning we cannot yet know who our neighbor will be that day. The condition of our hearts will determine who along our path turns out to be our neighbor, and our faith in God will largely determine whom we have strength enough to make our neighbor.
The heart is a strong and stubborn muscle. When we awake seeking to fulfill our goals and dreams and desires, we care little for the well-being of random strangers or close friends. Indeed, I can think of many times in my own life when I awoke and dreaded the thought of going outside for fear that I might interact with others and be forced to care for them and live my day for them instead of myself. Exceptionally selfish? Yes. Unique? Not at all. We all know the "walk the other way" cue our brains give us when we see someone we just don't want to interact with. Or perhaps it's a phone call we ignore. Or a text we just don't look at.
In the story of the good Samaritan, Jesus not only teaches us to help people in need; more deeply, he teaches us that we cannot identify who "has it," who is "in" with God, who is "blessed," by looking at exteriors of any sort.
The fact of the matter is that God throws people into our lives every day to whom we can "be a neighbor." We do so every time we choose to love them despite our copious thoughts to the contrary. Many times they aren't strangers. They could be old friends or new friends. Family members. Coworkers. Acquaintances. Even enemies. And yes, sometimes, I wager, they are people on the side of the road. The homeless man holding a sign, who would love for you to look him in the eye or give him a bottle of water or simply say hello before you pass him by. God uses all sorts of people. He isn't boring in his lessons.
We must recognize that the aim of the popular teacher in Jesus' time was not to impart information, but to make a significant change in the lives of the hearers.
Jesus gives us opportunities to love those we view as unlovable so that we can experience growth. He wants us to see the world as he sees it. He wants us to drop the labeling and the classifications. He wants us to stop judging people by the outside and begin judging by the heart. Or perhaps simply stop judging in general and start living.
By showing to others the presence of the kingdom in the concrete details of our shared existence, we impact the lives and hearts of our hearers.
Not only this, we also impact our own lives. I will go further into detail on the matters of the heart in the next chapter. For this one, I need only continue to remind you that for God's kingdom to be at work in your life, for you to begin living THE ETERNAL LIFE NOW, you have to start living as God intended you to live. You can't simply read this blog or read the Bible or listen to a sermon and think what a wonderful person you are becoming. You have to live, and you have to love. And to love, you have to make neighbors.
Won't you be a neighbor?
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