Who is My Neighbor?
Dear Sisters & Brothers in Christ,
In today’s Gospel we hear the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus tells this parable after being asked by a scholar of the law, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds by saying, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” The scholar then asks, “Who is my neighbor?”
The parable of the Good Samaritan is an answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Through the parable Jesus reveals that the neighbor to the robber’s victim is the Samaritan, the one whom the Jews despised and looked down on.
The parable challenges us to think of others as neighbors, not only if we like them or get along with them, but even if they are somehow quite different from us. They may have a different world view, they may have different political or theological perspectives, but the Lord calls us to see them as neighbors. The Lord commands us to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”
Many of us like being with like-minded people, and that’s okay. But when it comes to caring for the good of others, for doing what we can to help them and to will their good – the Lord calls us to love even those who we don’t necessarily like. Those who are in many ways different than us. We are called by the Lord to work for their good and for their well-being.
It is easy to love someone who loves us back, who makes us feel good or whom we find very likeable. But we can only love those we don’t necessarily like when we’ve learned to love the Lord with all our being, heart, mind and strength. Only when we let the love of God fill us, will be freely love those that we don’t necessarily enjoy being around. Love is not merely a feeling, its also a choice. A choice to will and work for the good of the other.
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life,
