Who Is My Neighbor?

Luke 10:25-37

I was sharing this morning how in big cities you can live next door to people and not know them, especially in places like Chicago.  I lived up there way back in the 70's in a little studio apartment up there.  In this apartment building there were people on the same hall that I was staying on and I didn’t even know them.  I’m talking about people that are living a door or two down from you yet walk by you like you don’t even exist.
 
Here in Alabama we wave at people and we speak to people but in those kinds of cities and places people don’t even speak.  They can live in the same building where you live and walk by you without even opening their mouth.  Thank God that we’re not that way here in Alabama.
 
In Luke chapter 10 this lawyer began to ask Jesus “Who is my neighbor?”  In that day and time they would use lawyers to try to entrap Jesus or try to trick him.  He asks this question and Jesus responds with a parable, as we see, beginning with the 30th verse.
 
In this parable Jesus said “a certain man” (he didn’t call him by name) went down to Jericho and he fell among thieves.   The thieves stripped him – we would say today they mugged him – they robbed him, beat him, and left him half dead.  A priest, supposedly a man of God came by and he looked over there and saw him, then he walked by on the other side of the road.  Then a Levite came.  Levites and priests were men that stood before God, men that led worship, and men that taught the Word. This Levite he went by on the other side of the road. 
 
The priest went by on one side and this Levite went by on the other side - this makes me think that this man that was beaten and robbed was lying in the center of the road.  I also think about Jesus our Christ hanging on the cross - there was one man on the right, one man on the left, and He was in the center. So the priest went by and the Levite went by but Glory to God there was another man, a Samaritan. Now the man that was beaten was likely a Jew, and this priest and this Levite are Jewish men.  I’m talking about men that should have had compassion on this man.  The Jews and Samaritans didn’t have any dealings with each other, but a Samaritan is the one who comes and has compassion on the man.
 
Even today there are men and women of God that go to church each and every Sunday and walk by on the other side.  A lot of times there’s little kids playing next door and they haven’t even taken time out to stop and ask the parents Hey, can your kids go to Sunday school?  Now the parents they might not be going, they might have even just gotten in, but we have to be like that Good Samaritan.
 
We have to be willing to reach out to neighbors - that woman, that man - sometimes we just need to take the time to talk to them.  We can start reaching out, picking up that little boy or girl; you and your wife taking that little child with you to church.  That child will come back and begin to share with them the things that they have learned.   Maybe it’s some little Sunday school books, some little drawings or something that they’ve done in Sunday School or church.  You keep picking them up and the next thing you know that parent wants to go and see what’s going on.  We can be like that Good Samaritan, seeing to the needs of others.
 
This man took the injured man, put him on his own beast (donkey or horse) and bound up his wounds using oil and wine to aid in the healing.  He took him to an inn and took care of him, telling the innkeeper as he left that whatsoever you spend, next time I come I’ll pay you.
 
The passage reads: “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”
 
That’s what Jesus tells this lawyer: You go and do likewise.  Don’t do like the priest and the Levite.  You do like the Good Samaritan - you go and do likewise.
 
This Samaritan had compassion on this man.  He had a heart of compassion; he was willing to lend a helping hand.  As one preacher expressed it:
The robber beat him up;
The priest and the Levite passed him up;
But the Samaritan picked him up.
​
There are neighbors in our midst that surround us, neighbors that are hurting, and neighbors that are in need.  We need to reach out to them.
~J.T.