Who is my neighour?
WHO IS OUR NEIGHBOUR? 15th SUNDAY C
14 JUNE 2019
(Luke 10: 25-37)
You hear the words ‘A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho’. You know at once that they begin the famous parable of Jesus, the parable of the Good Samaritan, told one more time just now. To understand and appreciate it, we need to remember that Jesus told his story to answer the question put to him: ‘Who is my neighbour?’
In the Jewish religion at the time of Jesus, there was much discussion happening about just who a Jewish person’s neighbour is. It was generally thought that one’s neighbour is restricted to those who are born Jewish and those who have become Jewish. With his choice of a Samaritan who gives striking practical assistance to the wounded Jewish man, Jesus is asserting that our neighbour is simply every other human being in need. So the idea of neighbour goes way beyond our family, our friends, our work-mates, our nationality, our political party, our comfort zones and our church. Jesus is asserting that even our enemy is our neighbour. (At the time Jesus was telling the story, Jews and Samaritans were, in fact, deadly enemies).
So Jesus is teaching in his parable that no one at all must be excluded from our care and concern, but also that our love of neighbour must be concrete and practical. How does the Samaritan behave in the parable? If the Samaritan had been content to say to the wounded and bleeding man: ‘Bad luck, Buddy! What a mess they’ve made of you! But cheer up! It could be worse! You could be dead!’, and then galloped off, that would have been callous, cruel, and insulting. Instead , he does all he possibly could for the man who fell among thieves. Jesus spells this out when he says:
But a Samaritan traveller who came upon him was moved with compassion when he saw him. He went up and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He then lifted him on to his own mount, carried him to the inn and looked after him. Next day he took out two denarii and handed them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and on my way back I will make good any extra expense you have”.
At the end of the parable, Jesus to the teacher who questioned him, puts this question: ‘Which of these, the Levite, the priest, or the Samaritan, showed himself to be a real neighbour to the wounded man?’ He gets the answer he was looking for: ‘The one who took pity on the wounded one.’
In our lives, then, the neighbour we are called to love is, in a nutshell, the person who needs me now - right here, right now. We must not discriminate. We must not pick and choose. We must not wait either till he or she appears along our way, perhaps quite dramatically. God asks us to be on the look-out for them, to focus on them, and then to put ourselves out to support them - with our compassion, outreach, time, trouble, and money.
In his beautiful book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Emeritus Benedict suggests a challenging application of the parable. He sees the entire continent of Africa represented in the unfortunate man who has been robbed, wounded, and left for dead on the side of the road. He sees in us, members of one of the richest nations on earth, those two professionals who pass by on the other side of the road - too selfish, too busy, and too preoccupied with our own schedules, agendas and other personal concerns to get involved.
I am convinced that if Jesus came to Israel today and a lawyer asked him again, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ he would change the parable a bit. In place of the Samaritan he would put a Palestinian! If a Palestinian were to ask him the same question, in the Samaritan’s place we would find a Jew!
But it’s just too easy to limit the discussion to Africa and the Middle East. If any one of us were to put to Jesus the question ‘Who is my neighbour?’ what would he answer? He would certainly remind us that our neighbour is not only our fellow countrymen but also those outside our nation and community, not only Christians but Muslims also, not only Catholics but Protestants too, and not only believers but also people with no religious faith. But he would immediately add that the most important thing is not simply to know who my neighbour is. The most important thing is to show what it means to love my neighbour, the person i.e., whoever it may be, who needs me and needs me now. ‘Go and be the Good Samaritan to them, and go now,’ Jesus would surely be saying to you and to me.
In our Eucharist today, let us pray for the grace to respond to the clear and challenging teaching of Jesus our Guide, both on who my neighbour is, and on how to care for them in the kindest and most practical ways we know!
Fr Brian Gleeson
Who Is My Neighbour?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km_cmb9SBtY
HELLO NEIGHBOuR SONG (GET OUT) LYRIC VIDEO – DAGames:
HELLO NEIGHBOuR SONG
