Friday, June 13th, 2008
my neighbours
I’ve been extremely busy this past week (it was so death) but I’ve decided to turn my econ lectures into blogging sessions. What a way to waste my tuition, right? But we’re forced to bring our computers to class, and I can’t find a better activity.
I’m currently reading through Luke, and I get a lot of the “Oh, I’ve read this before” moments. But the scripture never ceases to teach me new things, even with old stories. So a few weeks ago, I came across the story of the “Good Samaritan” and I was deeply tempted to just skip it, but decided against it in the end.
And the first few verses, really spoke out to me..
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Then Jesus proceeds to tell the story of the Good Samaritan. But I was shocked to find those first few verses there, because pastors never talk about it, and we just tend to forget the context of this story. I mean these experts knew exactly what they had to do, to love God and then love the people around us. And when I read this, the first thing I thought about was us, Christians. We know what we SHOULD do, the experts of the laws knew it as well, but Jesus still gave it to them straight up and lectured their faces off. And so I asked myself do we really act on what we know?? Do we demonstrate God’s love and actively show compassion to our neighbours?
And it’s sad, cause the answer that came back was ‘no.’ We tend to just stick within our Christian bubbles and care for one another more than the ‘outsiders.’ And when I see non-christians demonstrating more compassion towards others than we do, I seriously question how well I’ve measured up to what God has called us to do. Do we really love those around us? Cause I know I needed the good reminder. Scripture is good.
Tweet“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” – Luke 10:36