Luke 10:30-37 – My neighbor is …

Jesus used a lot of parables in His teachings. Parables are stories with heavenly or eternal truths. It's often told to stimulate and challenge the audience's thinking. Luke 10:30-37 is such a story. And Jesus told it in response to the lawyer's question. Luke 10:29 says, "Wishing to justify himself, he asked, "Who is my neighbour?"

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said that a man was going down Jericho Road. Geography of the road suggests that there were clefts on the way that robbers could hide themselves. Unsuspecting travellers would often be waylaid. Many of them must have lost their belongings to those robbers. 

This man was traveling along that road that day. And as had happened to other travellers before, some robbers pound on him, beat him up, took away all his goods, and left him half-dead. That same day, a Priest, a Levite and a Samaritan also passed by that way. If he could foresee that day, he would be very certain that either the Priest or the Levite would stop to help him. He wouldn't have guessed that it would be the Samaritan who would stop to help him.

This is the twist to the story. The Samaritan stopped to help, though Samaritans and Jews were historical enemies. A Samaritan would never stop to help a Jew. But this one did. He even went out of his way. He not only gave him first aid but also put him on his mule, checked him into an inn to be nursed, and paid for his bill. The next day, because he had important things to attend to, he gave the inn-keeper two denarii. The amount required to look after the beaten man. He even stood as a guarantor to settle all further cost needed to nurse him back to health.

Here, the Lord paused to ask the most important question, "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” Notice that the lawyer wouldn't even mention the word, Samaritan. He said the man who showed mercy. The Lord then told him to go and do likewise.

What is the essence of this story? Remember, it should answer the question, "Who is my neighbour?' The point made is this: My neighbour is anyone with a need I can see, and a need I can meet. He or she is my neighbour. It has got nothing to do with status or race. Take a look at those people around us. What is their greatest need? Isn't Jesus their greatest need? Look at ourselves, aren't we able to provide the answer to that need? The answer is obvious. Who then is our neighbour?