Lord, who is my neighbor? Scripture ref.: Luke 10:27-37 27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. As I did my Bible study tonight I came to Luke chapter10 and it dawned on me that most people think that when Jesus commands us to Love our neighbors as we Love ourselves He is referring to the whole world as being our neighbors. But, correct me please if you feel I may have misunderstood these scripts when I say what I am about to say. As Jesus illustrates above with the good Samaritan, the neighbor was the person(the good Samaritan) who helped the man who was in need, and He did not include the Priest or the Levite in that category. As a matter of fact He made it a point to exclude them completely by saying 36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37 And he said,He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. I wondered why didnt He call the Priest and the Levite the mans neighbors, especially since they were both men of God. Surely men of God would be everybodys neighbor if no one else. I thought, as I read that. So does this mean that if I have a need and people just ignore me and do not help me am I to understand by this illustration that I do not have to Love them as I Love myself because Jesus says that they are not my neighbors? For example, If out of Love for myself I buy myself a few groceries. Do I buy them grocery as well just because they are in this world? I am speaking of those who ignored me in my hour of need now. Jesus gave me food for thought and I feel helped me to clear up a lot of questions that I have had concerning people who do not give a hill of beans about you, but you end up helping them when they have a need because they are your neighbors and arent we supposed to Love them and if we Love them then arent we supposed to help them? So my question is: Who are my neighbors? The people who live in direct proximity to me on my left or on my right, but do not help me out during hard times? OR is my neighbor the people who care for me in my hour of need like the good Samaritan? Gwen Wilder
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 06:55:18 +0000