Who is My Neighbor?

The lawyer, trained in Jewish law, asked Jesus what he must do to be saved. Jesus asked what the law taught. The man considered, then responded, “To love the Lord God with all my might, all my strength and all my might, and to love my neighbor as myself.” Jesus thought that sounded good and said, “Yeah, do that.” The lawyer, wanting to move beyond what he already knew, asked, “and who is my neighbor? So Jesus tells a story. “A certain man” fell among thieves and was left for dead. The lawyer, used to the use of stories to answer questions (a common technique in Jewish law argument), begins to ask himself who he is suppose to identify with in the story – at this point in the story he is probably thinking this “certain man” needs a neighbor, so he should act as the person that helps this man. Perhaps the twist at the end would be to discover that the robbed man was a Samaritan, and that he should help even a Samaritan.

First a priest comes by. The lawyer can identify with the priest, because he probably worked with them on a daily basis. But the priest passes by, and the lawyer probably makes an excuse for him in his mind. Perhaps the priest was on his way to do a sacrifice and could not become unclean. Similarly, a Levite comes and passes by. Again, the lawyer can identify and makes an excuse for the man. Perhaps he must remain clean, but plans on sending someone back to help once he reaches the city. If at this point Jesus had stopped the story and pointed out that these men were not neighborly, the lawyer probably would have expressed excuses for them – arguing technical merits of the law. However, Jesus introduces the Samaritan into the story, with whom the lawyer could not identify in the least. Suddenly thrown off his expectations, the lawyer finds that the only person in the story he can identify with is the only unidentified man in the story, the “certain man,” robbed, stripped and left for dead. Suddenly he is in the position of being stripped of possessions and being nearly dead, needing anyone to help just to spare his life.

Instead of learning a sentimental teaching that in extreme circumstances he should care for even a Samaritan, the Samaritan is now caring for him. Suddenly the teaching “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” becomes much more profound to the lawyer. The person he thought would be his neighbor at the beginning ends up being himself, and so he learns to love his neighbor as himself. Perhaps the greatest power of this story is not simply in teaching us to look beyond our socially constructed barriers of Jew/Gentile, or whatever those barriers may be, but to truly identify ourselves with the hurting. For when we are near death, all those barriers disappear, and we simply want help.

The lawyer’s question was – what must I do to be saved? Jesus’ answer is meant to be a lived ethic – “You should live like this.” One interpretation of the story can be, “You should live life identifying with the oppressed, which melts away all barriers, thereby creating compassion.”