Who Is Your Neighbor?

 

Who is your neighbor? Is that title relegated to the people that meet the corner boundaries of your home? What if you live on a farm and there isn't anyone beside you for miles in any one direction, does that mean you don't have any neighbors? Or is it that if you live in a subdivision everyone in that "neighbor" hood is your neighbor? How about those of us that might live in an apartment complex or a set of condos, are your neighbors just the unit to your left and right and across the hall? Or are your neighbors in a housing complex every unit in your building or are they the sum total of all the buildings in an apartment complex or a high-rise tower setting? My guess is that we each would have our own preconceived notion of who our neighbors are, which leads me to the question once again, who is your neighbor?

Well our handy, dandy Webster's dictionary defines a neighbor as someone living or located near another. Merriam Webster also provides a second meaning of the word neighbor which simply put is "your fellow man". So, if your neighbor is defined as your fellow man, I suppose a similar question aptly applies, who is your fellow man? Is your fellow man the people living or located near your house? Is your fellow man the folks down the street, in your neighborhood, in your complex or tower? Does it matter where you live when it comes to defining your neighbor?

I believe it matters and I also believe we have lost the relative importance of knowing who our neighbor is and how we should be treating them. Why is it so important for us to identify who our neighbor is? Well that question was asked of Jesus back in the gospel of Luke chapter 10 and although I would assume everyone is familiar with that passage, I definitely would like to look at it for a moment. 

It is recorded that a lawyer was attempting to trip Jesus up and asked him what he would have to do to gain eternal life, Jesus answered the man with a question, "What does the law say to do?" To which the lawyer responded, "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." Luke 10:27. Jesus retorted that the esquire had answered correctly and if he would do those two things he would gain life eternal. The lawyer, frustrated but unwilling to concede, came back with a clarifying question, he said, "Who is my neighbor?" The parable Jesus uses poignantly answers the lawyer's inquiry and our Flat Tire Ministries introductory question.  "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have." Luke 10:30-35. After sharing the parable, Jesus asked the man to tell him which of the three was the victim's neighbor, and the lawyer answered the man who showed mercy on the injured man. Jesus laid it all out there by directing the lawyer to go do the same thing as the true neighbor of the man did, thus gaining eternal life. Which brings us back to our original question, "Who is your neighbor?" By reading Jesus' parable, I would lean more towards the "fellow man" meaning more than just the person that lives in close proximity to your own home. Now, if that is the case, and if our directions from the Creator of mankind is to love our neighbor just like we love Him, then who are we to be picking and choosing who we want to claim as our neighbor.

We do not choose our neighbors, even the ones that live next door to us. The above passage makes that clear. If we are not at liberty to classify neighbor versus non-neighbor then why do we have such a hard time with loving our neighbor regardless of the hue of his skin, or any other defining characteristic for that matter? I went back and reread the words of Jesus and I didn't read anything that says to love your neighbor as long as he or she looks like, sounds like, or thinks like you do. That being said, if you believe the Bible is the true, undeniable, infallible word of God, then our neighbor is our fellow man and any judging of our fellow man should be left up to one that will judge us all (Matthew 7:1-2). Maybe it's time for a little self-reflection, maybe you and I need to look at our daily walk and analyze whether we are acting on behalf of the judge and jury on people, when in reality our only job is to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. May mercy, grace, and love flow through all we do this week, month, year, and may we love our "neighbors" all of them! 

Coach Carter