One night in early year 2002, I drove to Johns Hopkins University to lead a Bible study. While driving on a curved ramp, my car suddenly lost control and spun out vehemently. It slammed into the curb and knocked out one of the tires, and rested in the middle of the road facing the incoming traffic. It all happened in a split second. I did not know what to do and remained seated in a complete shock. The driver behind me saw the accident, he pulled over and came to help. After he found that I was okay, he quickly pulled out an emergency light from his car, and began to direct incoming traffic, because the place had no street light and was very dark. He did this until the police came. Before he left, he came over and patted this poor Asian guy and said, “Hey, you forgot to thank your black brother.” I was still recovering from the shock, while thanking him, I forgot to ask for his name.
No one appreciates a helping hand more than a man in distress does. Our appreciation would double for a help coming out of an unlikely source, from people outside of our own likeness. Once a certain lawyer asked Jesus, 25What shall I do to inherit eternal life? (Lk. 10:25 ESV) The answer is, 27You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. (Lk. 10:27 ESV) Jesus said, if you do not neglect this greatest commandment, 28do this, and you will live. (Lk. 10:28 ESV) The lawyer must think it as an easy task, therefore he asked, 29And who is my neighbor? (Lk. 10:29 ESV) To answer him, Jesus told the famous story of A Good Samaritan.
The lawyer thought the hard part is the boundary between neighbors and outsiders, and once he got that straightened out, love and eternal life would be his for keeps. Yet in the story, Jesus makes it clear that love transcends races and religions and it has no boundary at all! In Jesus’ story, for the Jew in distress, both the priest and the Levite were from the same race and the same faith, yet they refused to be his neighbor and leave him dying. The despised Samaritan became an unlikely neighbor to the Jew in distress. Likewise, who are your neighbors? Neighbors are defined by neither race, nor class, nor culture, nor political affiliation, nor religion. All these are walls to segregate different neighborhoods. Neighbors are defined by love. All who live in the love of God, are neighbors to each other, and the love of God never ends.
After finishing his story, Jesus asked the lawyer, 36Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? (Lk. 10:36 ESV) The lawyer was reluctant to even mention the word Samaritan, 37He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” (Lk. 10:37 ESV) Today we have no problem referring to the story as A Good Samaritan, yet it would be a shocking title to a Jew at that time. If Jesus told this story in America today, he would certainly replace the Samaritan with Muslim. Because today, the malice and despise a Muslim receives from many American would almost match that a Samaritan received from Jews. Yet whoever wants to receive eternal life, 37And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (Lk. 10:37 ESV) That is, whomever you consider as Samaritan in your heart, you go and show him mercy as a good neighbor would do!
Prayer: O Lord! We were sinners and not able to love without hatred. We would not and could not love outsiders. When we were robbed and beaten to death by sin, unable to be rescued by law, but Lord Jesus showed up as our unlikely Savior. Help us to love all our neighbors with the love of Christ!
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