Love Your Neighbour (And Your Enemies)Sýnishorn

The parable of the Good Samaritan is confronting because Jesus never answers the lawyer’s question. 

As the brilliant NT scholar George Caird put it: “The question ‘who is my neighbor?’ is a request for definition; and the answer of Jesus frustrates the lawyer’s desire to define his liability (Lk 10:29)… The righteousness which exceeds that of the Pharisees demands a positive commitment to the well-being of others; it is an ethic of unlimited liability”.

Jesus has no interest in defining who your neighbour is. The problem of the lawyer's question is not in finding an answer, the problem is the question itself. The lawyer thinks God’s purpose for the world is to divide it into boundaries, be they cultural, religious, ethnic or monetary. He believes the world works properly when we care for our own. We reach out to those who fulfill the correct definitions, and we stray no further – for that would be risky and there we might meet strange and ungodly people who could infect us with their dirty ways. The lawyer believes in neighbourly love, but only to those who possess neighbourly status. 

Instead of giving an answer, Jesus shifts focus onto the lawyer by asking a question back:

Which of these was a neighbour to the man?

His point? Neighbour is more a verb than a noun. Neighbourliness is something we offer, not something we merit. In the kingdom of God, neighbouring is not about who do I have to love, but who do I get to love.

Reflection Questions

1. “Neighbour is more a verb than a noun.” How might seeing this change your prayers and change your practice?

2. Watch this video on "The Good Samaritan" from the documentary "For the Love of God"