And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. [Deuteronomy 6:5 (NLT)]
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. [Leviticus 19:18 (NLT)]
When a nomikós (Scripture lawyer, an expert in religious law) tested Jesus by asking what he must do to inherit eternal life, the Lord countered with his own question, “What does the law say?” When the man responds with the words of Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, Jesus says he’s answered correctly. Wanting clarification, he then asks, “Who is my neighbor?” His query tells us the nomikós is more interested in the letter of the law than its spirit. Apparently, he wouldn’t want to waste any love on someone who wasn’t his neighbor or miss loving someone who was! Jesus answers the man’s question with one of his best-known stories—the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Since this expert in the law was testing Jesus, he probably wasn’t alone. His question was another attempt by the religious leaders to trap the troublesome rabbi into saying something that would get Him into trouble with the authorities or show His ignorance of Scripture and expose him as a Messianic pretender. They never seemed to understand that you can’t outsmart the one who wrote the Law!
Because we’re not 1st century Judeans, we fail to appreciate how shocking this story was to Jesus’ audience. Divided by racial, ethnic, and religious barriers, the Samaritans and Jews had a long history of enmity going back 900 years to the kingdom’s division. When the Samaritans’ offer to help rebuild the Temple was refused, they built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim which the Jews destroyed in 128 BC. In retaliation, Samaritans defiled Jerusalem’s Temple by throwing bones into it on Passover. The feud grew and, by the time of Christ, the Jews hated the Samaritans so much they crossed the Jordan river rather than travel through Samaria. The two groups fed their mutual hatred with insult and injury.
Even though Jesus’ audience would have been offended by the priest’s and Levite’s failure to help the dying man in the parable, they still expected the third man to be a Jew. Can you imagine the gasps when Jesus deliberately chose a Samaritan as the hero of His story? To a Jew, the Samaritans were a “herd” not a nation and, because of their mixed Jewish-Gentile blood, they were racial “half-breeds.” The worst insult a Jew could use was to call someone a Samaritan. A common saying in Judah was, “A piece of bread given by a Samaritan is more unclean than swine’s flesh!” Yet, in Jesus’ parable, it was a Samaritan who showed compassion for the nearly dead Jew when his own countrymen ignored his need. When Jesus asked the lawyer which man was a neighbor to the injured man, unwilling to say it was a Samaritan, he answered, “The one who showed him mercy.”
To the parable’s priest, the injured man was nothing but an inconvenience and, to the “rubbernecking” Levite, he was a curiosity. Their failure to help the injured man wasn’t because they didn’t know he was their neighbor; it was because they lacked compassion! To the Samaritan, however, the wounded man was neither Jew nor Samaritan. He was a person in desperate need of help and the Samaritan only did what a good neighbor does—he responded with love.
People today continue to be divided by racial, ethnic, religious, and political barriers. If Jesus were telling this parable today, He’d have no difficulty finding people who define “neighbor” by skin color, language, rituals, values, ancestry, history, customs, or politics. The lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?” The question we should ask ourselves is, “Am I a good neighbor to everyone?”
Brent Askari’s play, The Refugees, begins with an unusual premise. Because of a violent civil war in the United States, an upscale American family become refugees in a Middle Eastern country. When the family’s Arab social worker referred to the American refugees as “you people,” the once suburban housewife’s expression spoke volumes. In her previous Connecticut life, anyone who wasn’t white and upper middle class had been “those people” but the tables have turned and the roles reversed. Instead of being the ones with the money and advantages, her family and others like them are “those people:” a minority, seeking asylum in a new country, unfamiliar with the customs, and unable to read, write, or speak the language. Wearing clothes they once would have sent to Goodwill, they need government assistance to survive. Her once high-priced lawyer husband is now a stock boy whose boss takes advantage of his immigrant status. This family and other American refugees are as unwelcome in the unnamed Arab country as are the refugees at our border.
My son has a beautiful pomegranate tree in his yard but, when he first purchased the property, he didn’t know what it was. Although showy red flowers eventually appeared, it wasn’t until the flowers developed into deep-red globe-shaped fruit that he knew it was a pomegranate. The tree was recognized by its fruit and it is by our fruit that Christ’s followers are recognized.
Spiritual gifts build God’s Kingdom in a variety of ways including teaching, outreach, speaking, counseling, discipleship, serving, practical assistance, visitation, and prayer. Our gifts were given for the common good of Christ’s church and we need one another’s gifts for the body of Christ to function. Within the church, some gifts, like shepherding, evangelism, or leadership, are easily noticed while others, such as mercy, giving, intercession, and faith may be less obvious. While those gifted in service (the ability to see undone tasks in God’s work and get them done) often work behind the scene, the people gifted in hospitality (the ability to warmly welcome all people into home or church) are front and center Sunday mornings as they greet people by name and extend the hand of friendship to visitors.
Jesus promised the disciples, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.” [John 14:16-17] In fulfillment of that promise, the moment we accept Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit moves into our hearts. When He arrives, He helps us but, rather than making the bed or washing dishes, the Spirit comforts, counsels, and convicts us. He gives us the power to share His word, the strength to do His work, and confidence in the fullness of God’s promises.
Jesus told several parables regarding the day of His return. The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids stresses being ready before that day occurs and the Parable of the Sheep and Goats describes the separation of obedient followers from unbelievers and pretenders in the final judgment. It is between those two that we find the Parable of the Talents about serving our Master until the day of His return.
Devotions of the Heart 