To my knowledge, I have no enemies. If I did, I would be obligated to carry out a number of inconvenient activities including loving, blessing, praying for, and doing good things for them (Luke 6:27-31). But, like I said, I have a shortage of people who are cursing me, mistreating me, striking me, or taking my stuff. So I feel pretty blessed.

 

I do have some friends who I greatly enjoy spending time with. I love them and they are pretty easy to love. But spiritually speaking, it seems this is neither particularly beneficial nor even creditworthy (Luke 6:32-34).

 

My life is infested with neighbors. I have people all around me as I work, travel, and run errands. I also have a large number of Merriam-Webster definition neighbors. But this seems an overwhelming number of people to love as myself. And who is my neighbor, anyway?

 

I grew up hearing the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), but to be honest, it never quite made sense to me. Jesus tells the story to answer the “who is my neighbor?” question, but pretty much turns the question back on the questioner: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:36). As everyone knows, the answer to the question is “the Samaritan.” But what is the answer for me?

 

I think the answer lies in the relationship between the Jews (i.e., the questioner in the story) and the Samaritans, which (as my commentary informs me) was one of hostility. So it looks like my neighbor specifically includes those people I feel hostility towards, that I really don’t like, those people I see coming down the sidewalk and (if I am honest with myself) just wish I could cross to the other side of the street and avoid having to deal with.

 

Jesus is telling us when we see ______ (fill in blank with people you really don’t like) on the other side of ______ (pick a busy street) during rush hour traffic, we must cross over to them and dish out some serious love. It might involve providing a ride, money, or a place to stay (Luke 6:34-35), but you can expect it to be one thing: inconvenient.

 

Only then will we prove to be a neighbor.