Who is my neighbor?

Most of us know the story of the good Samaritan, I have taught it in church several times. Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was and he answered "Love thy Lord thy God with all thy heart, might, mind and strength and love thy neighbor as thyself" He then stated that all the commandments basically fall under these two great ones. This is the advice from Jesus about how to return to God our father. Then the Jewish man that was speaking to him asked "Who is my neighbor?" Christ then answers with a story. First you need to understand that the Jews had a very strong dislike if not a hate for the Samaritans, they would even walk miles around an area just to avoid getting near any Samaritans. That is why the Samaritan woman at the well was surprised when Christ spoke to her.

Ok, so with the understanding that the Jews did not like or approve of the Samaritans. (They also intermarried and were looked down on for that too) The Samaritans as a group were considered to have left the important doctrines of the Church and strayed. The Jews thought that they were following the doctrines and doing what was right.  The bulk of the Jewish people judged these people and often they may have had good reasons for it. Care needs to be taken whenever we group an entire section of people and refer to them all as certain types of people. There are good and bad people in any group, race, religion, country or political party. The Jews were placing themselves above other groups of people at the time and we have to ask ourselves if we do the same thing today.

Jesus proceeded to tell the Story of a man that was robbed and beaten. Jesus then tells of a Priest and a Levite (Jewish Temple worker and Priesthood holder at the time) both of these men ignored the man that was hurt yet the Samaritan came, cared for and even paid a motel to care for the man's needs and offered to come back and pay any additional charges for the future. Christ then asked who was the true neighbor to this man. The answer seems easy on the surface. Given the fact that a Jew was asking Christ this question we can understand that Christ was getting to the root of the mans personal issues of what was holding this man back and this same advice applies to most of us even today.

Another time a rich  man asked Christ what he must do to enter the kingdom of God and Christ spoke to him of the commandments and this man told Christ he had lived all of these commandments since his childhood. Christ then told the man to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor. The man could not bring himself to do this since he was very rich. Christ was not telling all of us to run out and do the same thing. Jesus knew this mans problem and was addressing it specifically. The scripture that says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Long ago I learned that the gates of Jerusalem were closed at night and a small gate to the side was still left open but the camels had to kneel down and scoot through. If this information is correct then it teaches us that those that are rich can still enter heaven but with a bit more effort. I believe it all depends on your attitude about money. The man from the story held it above all to be the most important thing in his life and that was what held him back.

At Church we talk of Christ, we read of Christ, we preach of Christ and say that he is the only way wherein we can return back to our heavenly father and our heavenly home. This is all well and good but personally I struggle with some of my neighbors and wonder if I am like the Jewish man that looked down on the Samaritans. Reflecting on this I can see how I am like them. When your neighbors  kids throw rocks at your dog and trash into your yard, park in your driveway, it is easy to complain and look down on them. These people really are my neighbors and for me this is one of the things I need to repent of and change and it is a bit hard to write about it but even harder to begin to think of a plan on how I can act like a true Christian towards these people. Waving or nodding is not enough.

Do I want to be friends with these people? No, not really. Do I want to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with these people? No not really. What does that say about me?  They break the law of the day of rest  by going out riding their 4 wheelers on Sunday. We go to Church on Sunday. Does this make us better than they are? Am I a bit jealous of their recreation with their kids? Possibly.  What have we really learned at church? It is easy to love my nice friends, it is easy to love most of my family. For me, the advice of going out and selling all that I own and giving it to the poor is instead "Humble yourself and love your neighbor" will I be able to do that? This may be the first step. What did Christ say? Love your enemy and pray for them that despitefully use you?  For those Christians like me that consider yourselves already saved because you have accepted Christ we still need to reflect on whether we are really acting like Christians on a daily basis or just on Sunday so people can see us like those that used to pray on the street corners to be seen.

Have I killed anyone? No and I hope never to have to in my lifetime.  Have I stolen? I have a memory of stealing some batteries from my cousins house when I was like 7 years old and I did not even have anything that needed D batteries. I have goofed off at work when I could have been working so I suppose that I have stolen time from my company so whenever I think of that I try to repent of those things and become better and do what I know is right.  I asked myself all the questions about the commandments and yes I have had times in my life when I did things that I was not proud of but nothing gravely serious. The better question I feel is what is keeping me from moving closer to my God and I suppose it is my attitude toward some people and the way I treat them.

Human nature tells us to get them back if they do something to us. God tells us not to. People act in their own self interest. Many people do mean things because of their own insecurities.  A boy beats up on another boy at school because of his own issues he has deep within. Life is great, life is worth living and I have felt great joy being alive. I am glad we have the scriptures to learn from and I pray I can overcome the obstacles that hold me back.

Even the one living next door?