But Jesus tells this story in response to the lawyer’s (ie.
religion scholar) legitimate question:
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” After the lawyer rightly responds that the
law (Torah) demands that we love our Lord God with all our heart, soul,
strength, and mind and our neighbor as ourself, he then tries to pin Jesus down
with the question: “Who is my
neighbor?” Jesus, in the best rabbinic
tradition answers the lawyer with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Like most of Jesus’ stories, we’re left with the complex
challenges of: On our journeys through
life, we’re confronted with regular opportunities to love our neighbor. How we choose to interpret who is our
neighbor determines how we will respond to our neighbor. When we can see such opportunities with
hearts of love, then we respond with hearts of compassion. First we “see.” Then we “do.”
Both are challenging responses – challenging our identities as God’s
children (or not) who see and respond.
According to the fullness of the Great Commandment, when we love God
with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, then we love our neighbor which
means we love God. In this circular
understanding of love, we inherit and begin to participate in eternal
love. As we enter into eternal love in
the here and now, we continue our transformation as a faith-filled children of
God.
This parable is not just about what we see and do, but it
points us toward who God is. If we look
to Jesus to see who God is, we can see that God refuses to quantify, or
clarify, or get legalistic on us in defining our neighbor. Our God’s love is so high, so broad, so deep
that anyone in need is welcome in God’s circle of love. God is eager to be in right relationship with
all of us. May we continue to develop
our vision to see and hear God whispering, breathing, shouting, moving,
pushing, pulling, drawing us ever closer to God through opportunities to love
our neighbor.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley
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