When it comes to being a neighbor, we are to view and love everyone as our neighbor...

Last week, we were looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. During this event from history, a lawyer responded to having the tables turned on him by Jesus by asking Jesus a second question. "And who is my neighbor?" We talked about the reality that the lawyer thought that he had trapped Jesus because there was great disagreement when it came to the answer to this question. And the lawyer believed that however Jesus answered this question, Jesus would end up offending someone.

You see, in the Jewish culture of the first century, Jewish rabbis often taught that the Jewish people were to love their neighbor and hate their enemies. We see this in another account of Jesus life in the Bible called the book of Matthew in Matthew 5:43. In other words, Jewish people who were right with God were under obligation to love other people who were insiders that were right with God, but Jewish people did not have to love people who were outsiders who were not right with God.

So there was great debate when it came to who was an insider and who was an outsider. There was a great debate when it came to who was right with God and who was not right with God. There was great debate over who needed to be shown love and who did not need to be shown love.  There was great debate when it came to who should be considered a neighbor. And now Jesus was being forced by this lawyer to enter into this debate. Luke then reveals for us how Jesus entered into this debate in Luke 11:30-32:

Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. "And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. "Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

Luke tells us that Jesus replied to the lawyers question with a parable. Now a parable is an earthly story that is designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. Jesus began this parable by explaining that as a Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. To fully understand the context of this parable, however, we first need to understand something about the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

You see, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a dangerous road frequented by robbers. The road descended 3,000 feet over 17 miles. This road would be very similar to traveling from Golden Valley to Bullhead City. There were many places along the road where robbers could hide in wait of unwary travelers and attack them by surprise.

Jesus then explained that the Jewish man who was on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked by robbers who robbed him, beat him, stripped him naked and left him half dead on the side of the road. The robbers left this man on the side of the road to die of exposure or attack from wild animals after taking everything that this man possessed.

However, by chance a priest happened to be traveling on the road to Jericho when he came upon this half dead man lying on the side of the road. This priest was a Jewish religious leader who was a direct descendant of Aaron who had the position, privilege, and responsibility to lead the Jewish people in following the Jewish sacrificial system. This religious person would have been considered right with God and would have been the insider of insiders. In our culture today, this man would have been like a Senior Pastor of a church.

Yet, when this insider of insiders saw his fellow Jewish man beaten, naked, and left half dead on the side of the road, he responded by moving to the other side of the road. This insider of insiders responded by distancing himself and walking right past his fellow Jew to instead continue on to Jericho. 

Jesus then explained that just by chance, a Levite happened to be traveling on the road to Jericho when he came upon this half dead man lying on the side of the road. This Levite was a Jewish religious leader who was the priest’s assistant and was responsible for the less important tasks at the Temple. In our culture today, this man would have been like an Associate Pastor of a church.

Yet, when this insider saw his fellow Jewish man beaten, naked, and left half dead on the side of the road, he also responded by moving to the other side of the road. This insider also responded by distancing himself and walking right past his fellow Jew to instead continue on to Jericho.  Now I want us to imagine ourselves in this event from history in the crowd listening to Jesus as He has this conversation with this lawyer. I want us to place ourselves in this scene for a minute. If you were there in the crowd listening, would you think that these insiders were very loving to their fellow insider? If you were there in the crowd listening, would you think that these insiders were acting like insiders when it came to having a relationship with God?

Or, if you were there in the crowd listening, would you think that these insiders were acting like outsiders when it came to having a relationship with God? How would you have responded to what these insiders did when it came to their fellow insider? Would you view these Jewish religious leaders as being very neighborly to their fellow Jewish neighbor? You would have been disappointed in them wouldn’t you? Jesus then continued His parable by revealing a third character in verse 33-35:

  "But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. "On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.'

Now if you were a Jewish person in the crowd listening to Jesus parable, at the moment Jesus referred to a Samaritan, you would have gasped in disbelief. You would have gasped in disbelief because of who the Samaritans were. You would have gasped in disbelief because of how Jewish people felt about Samaritans. You see, Samaritans were people who lived in Samaria. And at one time, Samaria was a part of the northern Kingdom of Israel.

Then, in 722 B.C., the Assyrian Empire conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In order to help control the regions that they conquered, the Assyrians developed a strategy that involved deporting large numbers of Jewish people and replacing them with large numbers of people from the nation of Assyria. The Assyrians who moved to Samaria worshipped false gods and simply added the worship of the One True God to their worship of their false gods.

Over time, the Jewish people began to intermarry and adopt the religion and culture of the Assyrians. The Samaritans rejected all of the Old Testament except the first five books and refused to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. Instead, the Samaritans built their own temple on Mt Gerizim in 400 B.C.

Now as you might imagine, the Jewish people did not respond well to what was happening in Samaria. And over time a great deal of animosity built between the Jewish people who lived in southern Israel and the people who lived in Samaria. The closest cultural comparison to how the Jewish people viewed the Samaritans would be that the Samaritans were viewed in a similar way to how a black and white married couple would have been viewed in the southern United States in the 1950’s.

The Jewish people came to view the Samaritans as “half breeds” and wanted nothing to do with them. So, if you were a Jewish person you would have gasped at Jesus introduction of a Samaritan into this parable. Samaritans were viewed as outsiders. Samaritans were viewed as people who were far from God. Samaritans were viewed as those who did not need to be shown love. Samaritans were not viewed as being neighbors. Instead, Samaritans were viewed as the enemy ethnically, culturally, and religiously. And as a result, Jewish people did not believe that they needed to be neighborly to Samaritans.

However, this Samaritan did six different things for this injured Jewish person that demonstrated that he loved this Jewish person as a neighbor. First, the Samaritan took the risk to engage the injured Jewish man. After all, the robbers could have been hiding in the distance waiting to attack him as well. Second, the Samaritan took the risk to bandage the wounds of the injured Jewish man. Third, the Samaritan took the risk to anoint the cuts with oil and wine, which would have soothed the wound and disinfected the wound. All of these actions would have taken time and would have exposed the Samaritan man to potential danger.

Fourth, the Samaritan took the time and effort to load the man on his mule while he walked alongside the mule. Fifth, the Samaritan took the time and effort to take him to the inn in Jericho. And sixth, the Samaritan took of his own resources to provide care and comfort to the injured man by staying the night and paying for his future care by giving two days wages. In the culture of the first century, two days wages would have paid for the injured Jewish man to stay at the inn for twenty four days in order to recover from his injuries.

You see, as Martin Luther King famously pointed out in his sermon on this event from history: "I imagine that the first question the priest and Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But by the very nature of his concern, the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”After telling this parable, Jesus then asks the lawyer a very pointed question. Luke reveals for us Jesus question in verse 36:

 "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?"

Now this morning can you imagine the scene as Jesus asked the lawyer that question? Can you imagine the tension that would have been present? Can you imagine the tension that comes from knowing the right answer but not liking the right answer? After all, Samaritans were outsiders. Samaritans were far from God. Samaritans did not need to be shown love. Samaritans were the enemy. Samaritans were not viewed as being neighbors and were not viewed as needing to be treated as neighbors. Can you imagine how long it took for the lawyer to provide the answer to that question? Luke then reveals how the lawyer answered Jesus question in verse 37:

And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."

This morning, did you notice the lawyer’s response? I mean, he could even say the word Samaritan, could he? Instead the lawyer stated "The one who showed mercy toward him." However, Jesus does not let the lawyer off the hook, does He? Instead, Luke tells us that Jesus commanded the lawyer to go and do the same. Jesus commanded the lawyer to love just like the Samarian loved.

You see, Jesus commanded the lawyer to love just like the Samarian loved because love is not a noun. Love is a verb. Jesus commanded the lawyer to love just like the Samarian loved because love is proved, or demonstrated by our actions. Jesus commanded the lawyer to love just like the Samaritan loved because being a neighbor is not about location or racial or ethnic identity. Jesus commanded the lawyer to love just like the Samarian loved because being a neighbor is about our actions regardless of location or racial or ethnic identity.

And it is here, in this event from history, that we discover the timeless answer to the question “Who is my neighbor?” And that timeless answer is this: When it comes to being a neighbor, we are to view and love everyone as our neighbor. The timeless reality is that being a neighbor is to love everyone as our neighbor, because when we love everyone as our neighbor, we provide the proof that we love Jesus with our total being. Being a neighbor is to love everyone as our neighbor, because when we love everyone as our neighbor, we reveal and reflect the love of Jesus to our neighbor. And being a neighbor is to love everyone as our neighbor, because when we love everyone as our neighbor, we are doing what matters most to Jesus.

You see, what matters most to Jesus is that we live a life that loves Him with our total being and that demonstrates our love for Jesus by loving our neighbor like Jesus. And when we love our neighbor as ourselves; when we love our neighbor like Jesus, we are perfectly positioned to be the vehicle God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to those around us as we live a life of faithful obedience to Jesus. We will live a life of faithful obedience because our faithful obedience flows from a life that loves God with our total being and the loves our neighbor as ourselves.

And everyone is our neighbor. The people that live next door are our neighbor. People who are just like us are our neighbor and people who are nothing like us are our neighbor. The obnoxious guy or that girl who is so full of herself that sits next to us in class is our neighbor. The brownnosing coworker that we always covering for because he does not get his work done is our neighbor.

Now a question that arises at this point is “Well Dave, if that is the case, if everyone is my neighbor, then how am I supposed to love everyone as my neighbor? How should I be a neighbor?”

Tomorrow, we will begin asking and answering that question....