Fri. July 4th :: Lk. 10 :: Neighbors

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.
"Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27 He answered, " '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.'"
…But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus,

"And who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10.25-29)

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Who is my neighbor?

Perhaps the whole of our Christian witness will be summed up in how we answer that one question. At least Jesus thought so. So what's the answer?

Brianna and I moved into a bona-fide house last fall, so one of our tasks this spring has been to get to know the neighbors. To be honest I don’t like that kind of stuff. I’m an introvert at heart. I don’t like the 10 seconds of any relationship. After that I’m generally OK but the first ten seconds make my hands sweaty. Maddie helps though. (For the record, Maddie is my dog, not my mistress). Brianna and I have gotten to know more people while scooping poop off their lawn than by any of means of outreach. Maybe I’ll write an evangelism book about that. Something like: ‘Say no to pamphlets; Say yes to puppies.’ Anyway…

I’m wondering how you would answer that question.

Who is your neighbor?

When was the last time you made a Samaritan-like detour to reach out across town, or across the backyard fence?

Don’t use a phony religious cop-out like “that’s just not my gift.” I’ve used that excuse and it was as lame coming out of my mouth as it is coming out of yours. It’s time we retire that phrase and answer the hard questions Jesus asks of us:

Who is my neighbor?

The Forth of July would be a great opportunity to find out.