Who is My Neighbor?

Lk 10:25-37

 

1. When I moved to Grand Rapids, my neighbor invited all the surrounding neighbors and offered a party for us. It was a quite different experience from that in California. Even though my neighbors there kindly said “Hi!” whenever we met, we were not real friends. When I asked to my colleague at Fuller why it is so, my Dean answered that the death of neighbor happened in America.

The modern industrialization and urbanization destroyed neighborhood and made it quite superficial. In the modern society, we feel loneliness in the crowd. Everyday we pass by and meet so many people, but we really meet nobody. It is a sickness of modern society, and now people are used to be lonely. So, we replace our neighbors and friends with unknown people on TV and internet. We hate superficial relationship. Therefore, we happened to prefer anonymity and avoid personal contact. It is a modern tragedy.

2. One day, a Jewish lawyer approached Jesus and asked a question: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”(25) Jesus asked him what the Scripture says about that, and he gave the correct answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.”(27) Jesus said that you have the right answer and now you “do this and you will live.”(28) It seems a simple QA, but the lawyer asked this question “to test Jesus.” (25) Therefore, he pushed Jesus with another question: “And who is my neighbor?”(29)

3. What kind of test is this? It was intended to expose Jesus’ disloyalty to Jewish nationalism and attack His teaching. Jewish nationalists emphasized the pure bloodline and restricted God’s command of neighbor love with the pure Jews, excluding Samaritans who were mixed blood with foreigners. However, Jesus loved also Samaritans and treated equal with the pure Jews. This lawyer attempted to expose it and invalidate His teaching of eternal life, as “he wanted to justify himself.”(29)

4. However, Jesus used his attack as a good opportunity to teach about genuine love of neighbors as God intended. The parable of a Good Samaritan is well known:

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' (30-35)

Then Jesus asked the lawyer: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”(36) He could not answer otherwise than “the one who had mercy on him.”(37a) And, Jesus told him that “Go and do likewise.”(37b)

5. In this parable, Jesus fundamentally changed Jewish understanding of neighbor to love. First, a neighbor to love is a stranger. A neighbor is not necessarily one who lives close or one of the familiar people. Jewish people loved only Jewish people and justified it as the neighbor love that God commanded them to do. But, it was natural and this exclusivity was even sinful in the sense of collective egoism that loves only those belonged to the same people or same class. Jesus did not say that this robbed man was pure Jew, Samaritan, or foreigner. He was simply a human being who needs a neighbor and friend to help.

We have to overcome our own boundaries to obey and practice the genuine neighbor love. Of course, we have to love our family, church members, physical neighbors, and the same people who are closely located to us in the providence of God. But we have to be careful not to limit us in this boundary exclusively and justify our exclusivity as the neighbor love. No, if we are exclusive and stay only inside, we commit the sin of separatism and collective egoism for the pursuit of self-glory and self-comfort. It is a spiritual autism.

We have to love the other peoples and races of whom we discriminate and even despise, in order to really obey God’s command of neighbor love. If we want eternal life like this lawyer, we have to remember that eternity is contradictory with limitation. Our eternal life in heaven will be a life together with different peoples. Segregated and discriminated life is neither salvation nor freedom from sinful desire of collective egoism.

We formed a Korean congregation, not because we desired to be comfortable with a segregated group of the same people and same culture within the wall of separation, but because we wished to train and strengthen ourselves to reach out to the other peoples. If not, our existence will not be justified. Even the name of God and Jesus Christ will be a false justification for our collective egoism.

6. Second, a neighbor to love is one who needs us, whatever need it is from us. It could be our material, affection, relationship, time, talent, technique, or anything else that we can give. In this world and our community, there are many people who need us in many ways.

KDC showed us that many people in our city need our help. As weather becomes chilly and winter approaches, many poor people requested blankets and sheets and many poor moms requested diapers and wipes for their babies. There are many more urgent items. Poor people requested 857 furniture and only 125 are filled (14%). They are our neighbors.

When the Good Samaritan saw the robbed man, he “took pity on him”, “went to him”, and helped him with his affection and materials. To be a neighbor, first we have to know who need our help. The next decisive step is to feel compassion and sympathy. Priest and Levite also saw him but tried not to take pity on him. They might have justified their cold heart with some reason or logic.

But, we may not justify our coldness with any reason. Some insist that our help will extend their poverty and laziness. Some insist that our help will not fill their infinite needs. Some insist that our help will corrupt them by providing money to buy drug or alcohol. Yes, it is true that there are some dangers. But, none of those is a justifiable justification to neglect them. They certainly have problem and need. We have to know their tears and prayers, their suffering and agony. We have to take pity on them and then we have to go to them and help.

7. How many friends do you have? It is one of the most important and meaningful things in our life to make friends. To make a neighbor is to make a friend. The best example is husband and wife. Though they were strangers, they became real friends and real neighbors in the rest of their lives, overcoming many differences and difficulties.

If we have made friends for our sakes until now, let us make friends now for their sakes. Your small amount of money and affection could save the life of a hungry African child and educate him or her to make a good Christian to help others. Make more neighbors and love them. You can change their life and even save them. Jesus said that “Go and do like the Good Samaritan.” See their need and feel compassion, go to them and help them! It is the way to inherit the eternal life.