It all started out as a test.   An expert in the law with a question to see if Jesus knew his Scriptures.  “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” he asked.   Jesus turns the tables quickly.  “You’re the expert in the law,” he says, “what is written in it?   What do you read there?”

The man was all too eager to show off his vast knowledge.  “You shall love God, with all your heart, soul, strength and mind,” he said.   “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus comes off like an agreeable game show host, awarding the prize for the right answer.  “Right!   Do this, and you will live.”

But then the expert in the law had another question.   This is the question that exposes him, and his real concern…

“And who is my neighbor?”

Who is my neighbor?   The man wants to know, if he is to love his neighbor as he loves himself, then exactly to whom must he extend this lavish love?  

You want to know a dirty secret?

I want to know the answer to that myself. 

How far must my compassion reach?

Where can I set the limits of my love and care for others?

You see…I can love my Lord and God with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength and all my mind because, well…the Lord is loveable.  And after all, loved me first—before I ever returned that love.

But loving my neighbor…well now.   Who exactly does that include?   Those nearby?   Just those whose names I know.   Surely not strangers.  After all, the Scripture didn’t admonish us to love strangers, but our neighbors.

Don’t you want to know?   How much will be asked of you?   How much you will have to give?   How far you will have to go?   With your love, your care, your compassion? 

Jesus hears the man’s question, but more importantly I think, Jesus hears the underlying concern.    A man who is an expert in the law of Moses wants to know just how many steps he can safely walk on the Sabbath.  Wants to know exactly what’s on his plate, should he unknowingly eat a forbidden food.   Wants to know his duties and his responsibilities, as well as the limits to them.   A man who is an expert in the law wants to know exactly who his neighbor is so that he will know if he is loving the right amount—no more, no less.

Jesus responds with a story.   We know the story.   A familiar story, but a very interesting story. 

A man is walking the treacherous path from Jerusalem to Jericho.  The desert road from Jericho west up the hill to Jerusalem was filled with switch backs, blind turns, and twists.    It was common for thugs to lay in wait for lone travelers walking along the road, hidden from sight until the opportune moment came when they could ambush the traveler, beat the person, and take all they had.

Sure enough, the man is mugged as he walks alone on the road, and the robbers strip him of his clothing, beat him, take his belongings, and leave him alongside the road half dead.

A priest happened along the road, and when he saw the man, he crossed the road and walked on by.   Notice, when the priest SAW the man, he removed himself from the situation.

Then a Levite came along, and he also SAW him!   But upon seeing the man lying by the roadside, stepped to the other side of the road and passed on by.

It reminds me of the case that was back in the news this week, the preliminary hearing was held to determine if an accused person should go to trial for stabbing a woman to death.  In a city like Wichita, that’s not so remarkable in its own right, but what made this particular murder so closely followed by the media is that the woman was stabbed inside of a busy convenience store in Wichita, and no one came to the woman’s aid.  Security cameras caught other customers stepping over the mortally wounded woman to get to the items they intended to buy.   One even turned back and took a photo of the bleeding woman with a cell phone!   It took a considerable amount of time for Emergency services to be called and for them to arrive, and by then, the woman was too far gone to be revived.

Do you hear about this happening?   How did you feel?   This is the modern day Samaritan story, but in this case, no one, NO ONE stopping to offer assistance or at least comfort to a person lying bleeding in their path.

In Jesus’ parable, there was someone who did stop to offer comfort.   After the priest, after the Levite, there came a Samaritan.   Remember, we’ve talked before about the resentment and bitter relationships between Jews and Samaritans.   Samaritans were descendants of the mixed marriages that resulted from the Assyrian conquest of Israel.  They opposed rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem, and instead, worshipped on a nearby Mountain.   You see, Samaritan, is the social and religious opposite of the expert in the law, the Priest and the Levite in the story.  Tom Wright writes that “in Jesus’ day, Jews and Samaritans hated each other like poison!”  It must have been a shock for those listening to Jesus for him to even mention a Samaritan, let alone make him the hero of the story!

It was this Samaritan, Jesus points out, that SAW the man lying by the side of the road and was moved with pity.   Didn’t cross on the other side of the road.   Didn’t step over the injured man.   Didn’t snap a photograph as a souvenir of being at a crime scene.  No he was moved with pity.

He administered first aid.  Bandaged the wounds.  Put the best medicine he had available, wine and oil on them.  Then he put him on his own animal, and took him to an inn.

Now then, catch something important right here.   We often skip to the next part of the story where the Samaritan leaves the man at the inn in the care of the innkeeper.   But before he does that…he “took care of him” himself!   The next day, after nursing the man and caring for him, he hired the innkeeper to continue the care until he could return. He left two full days’ wages for the care.  AND…if it cost more to nurse the man back to health than that, then the Samaritan promised to pay whatever it took.

This is amazing…selfless…compassionate…care.  Jesus wants to be sure the man who had questioned him knew, and anyone else hearing the story to know…this Samaritan went far, far beyond what would have been considered reasonable care.   He offered his time, he offered his money, and more than anything else, he offered his heart to the man he found lying on the side of the road.

Then Jesus asks his final question.  “Which one of these three, the priest, the Levite, the Samaritan, which one do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

Ah…

Jesus, in this final question, discloses his own underlying concern.   Remember, the man with all the questions was most concerned about just who he had to neighbor to.  Who is my neighbor?   Who will I have to help?  Who will I have to love?   You can almost read his mind…”I hope it’s not a Samaritan.”   “I wouldn’t want to have to take care of a Samaritan.”

Jesus turns it around in his story.  The Jewish man in the story is the victim.  The Samaritan is the hero.   The religious leaders in the story are the despicable.   “Which one of the three acted as neighbor?” Jesus asks?   And immediately, the man with all the questions has an “aha” moment.   Loving a neighbor isn’t just about who will we be asked to love and show compassion to.   Loving a neighbor is also about who will love and show compassion to me. 

You see, I might, like the expert in the law, want to know the boundaries and the limits if I am the one who is showing the mercy.  How much will I have to give?   Where does the expectation stop?

But if I am the one who is injured, in need, lying alongside the road, hurt…if I am the one who is hungry, homeless or oppressed….if I am the one who is lonely, sick, or forgotten, well then, I don’t want limits on who will be my neighbor.   I don’t want boundaries on who might show me mercy.   I won’t want those who could help me to be wondering how much they will have to give.

That’s the beauty of Jesus’ story.   It flips the man’s question around.   Who is my neighbor?   Who will I have to love?   And Jesus asks, “who will be a neighbor to you?   Who will love you?”  “Who acted as neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The man has an aha moment, and he says…”the one who showed him mercy.”

Go and do likewise.  Jesus tells him.   Go and do likewise.

The system of loving neighbors works both ways.   Yes it will require us to love when we don’t feel loving, to be compassionate when we don’t feel particularly compassionate.  To offer our time, our money and our heart to those who are interruptions into our lives.   But the system of loving neighbors also encourages others to love us, to be compassionate toward us, to offer their time, their money and their hearts to us, when we need it most.

Who is my neighbor?   I can only hope that there are kingdom people around when I fall, but only as I am willing to offer compassionate care and love when others fall.