The Good SamaritanSample

"Who is My Neighbor?" The lawyer essentially asks Jesus Christ, “Exactly which people do I have to love in order to get what I want?” or “Who can I get away with not loving?” His motives are revealed. This question isn’t coming from a heart eager to please the Lord or to care for fellow human beings. Rather, he wants to justify his own actions, as if he could check off a box beside “loved my neighbor,” instead of discovering what it means to do the hardest, yet most fulfilling, work of learning how to spend oneself for God and others. We look for caveats, don’t we? We rationalize. We excuse. We dare to ask the Lord which people deserve love. Jesus doesn’t give the lawyer a direct answer. The tension lingers. The box remains unchecked. Instead, he tells a story about a suffering person. This man was robbed, wounded, and abandoned. He was left helpless and desperate for mercy from someone, anyone. What if this was your child? What if it was you? Well actually, it is. Or, it was you—broken and desperate for someone to come help. The good news is this: Christ came. He climbed into the ditch with us—allowing himself to be wounded and abandoned to die. Then, He conquered death. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). His victory bought restoration for every broken, abandoned person around the world, all across time. This includes you and your worst enemy. Redeemed children of God with eyes fixed on the Lord don’t ask who qualifies to be loved. There are men, women, and children—neighbors—here and in faraway lands who have fallen among thieves and been left alone. What will you do?