Who Is My Neighbor?

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:29

Neighbors in Lebanon, Oregon probably wouldn’t agree with Carl Sandburg’s quote, “Love your neighbor as yourself; but don’t take down the fence.” Neighbors realized that Rebecca and Michael Kerrigone’s house desperately needed to be painted but the Kerrigones were unable to get it done. While the couple was gone visiting family, the Lebanon football team along with local and non-local neighbors joined together to get the massive painting project done before the couple returned home.

“I would have to say this is an incredible thing that you have done for us and I am so grateful and astonished, and it’s just an amazing thing. This huge outpouring of love for us is just something that’s going to sustain through coming months and years, and it’s just a beautiful thing,” Kerrigone said.

Edward Rust’s definition of a good neighbor is, “someone to be trusted; a courteous, friendly source of help when help is needed; someone you can count on; someone who cares.” Proverbs gives us warnings on how to treat our neighbors. “Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you.” (Prov 3:29). Paul would later write in Romans for us, “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Rom 13:10)

Jesus listened intently as a religious leader and expert in the law gave a beautiful summary of how to inherit eternal life to which Jesus simply told him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.” Case closed! However the man realized he didn’t like the possibilities of his answer, so he probed a little deeper with Jesus, now exactly “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-37)

Neighbors come in all shapes, forms, and likeability so we can understand a little of why the religious leader wanted to get a better definition of who is a neighbor. We may have had neighbors who don’t mow their grass every week, play their music extra loud on the weekends, or cook some “strange” foods that have a pungent odor. Yet Jesus understood it is not those little peculiarities that the religious man was talking about, nor what we may be thinking.  Jesus confronted a much deeper issue related to the question.

Jesus didn’t try to answer the question with a lengthy dialogue or lecture, he told the man a story. Jesus shared about three men heading home from Jerusalem when they came upon a beaten, robbed, and bloodied man beside the road.  The man was totally unknown to any of the men so how could this man be their neighbor? The first one, a priest, didn’t even slow down as he walked past the body. The next man, a religious worker, slowed down but kept on walking. The third man, who was considered an outcast as far as society was concerned, slowed down, took time as he treated the man’s cuts, and carried him into the next town for additional medical care, at his own expense. Jesus looked at the religious leader and simply asked the question, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor?”

Jesus’ penetrating question to the religious leader, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor?”  forced the man to come to terms with who was his real neighbor. It is a question that every generation has had to come to terms with, including our generation. C. S. Lewis wrote in Joyful Christian, “Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”

The religious leader had the same problem of defining “who is my neighbor” as we do in our current culture.  D. L. Mayfield writes, “One of the sad truths is that many of us live lives where we only interact with people who are similar to us—from the same ethnic background, or socio-economic class, or religion, or even those who have similar interests. Often we go to the same schools, churches, neighborhoods, and even grocery stores of people who look, act, and eat like us. Think about creative ways you can change even one of those factors—and see what happens!”

For over three decades, Mister Rogers invited viewers to be his neighbor as he opened his front door singing, “It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Please won’t you be my neighbor?” (lyrics written by Fred Rogers, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Mister Rogers’ iconic neighborhood captured the essence of a neighborhood that has slowly disappeared. There was a time when a simple American tradition created a unique sense of Mister Rogers’ neighborhood and that was the front porch. Regrettably, as technology has advanced, Americans have retreated from their front porches away from neighbors. This has contributed to creating isolation and suspicion among neighbors. The front porches of yesteryears allowed neighbors to connect, and enjoy fellowship and offered the gift of slowing down. As folks sat on their front porches, neighbors were no longer nameless, faceless homeowners but people we could talk to, share stories with, and most importantly, ‘love our neighbors as ourselves.”

Unfortunately rediscovering the lost art of porch sitting alone will not change our culture. What it can do however is create space for us to slow down and think about what it means to be a neighbor. “Passive righteousness tells us that God does not need our good works. Active righteousness tells us that our neighbor does. The aim and direction of good works are horizontal, not vertical.” (Tullian Tchividjian)

Jesus gave some amazing front porch wisdom that will change our culture, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)

God is great!