"What must I do to inherit eternal life? You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.
Gospel of Matthew
We are all familiar with the Gospel discussion between Jesus and the synagogue lawyer. Jesus is confronted with a question from this scholar of church: "What must I do in inherit eternal life?" It is quite obvious that this person already knows the answer, but asks it to test Jesus. And Jesus wisely throws the question back to him. "What do you find written in the law?" And the lawyer quotes from both the book of Deuteronomy and the book of Leviticus: Firstly, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." Secondly, "You must not bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite. You must love your neighbor as yourself." And Jesus responds: "Do this and life is yours".
Jesus did not invent the great commandment. It is will engrained in scripture and anyone familiar with Jewish law would be familiar with the connection to be made between loving God and loving neighbor. In fact, Jesus had taught that himself many times before. In the Gospel of Mark, for example, there is the instance when a scribe asked Jesus what is the first of all the commandment, and Jesus Himself answered the question by quoting both from the book of Deuteronomy and Leviticus that the greatest commandment is to love God and love neighbor. The only difference that can be found is that Leviticus describes neighbor as a fellow Israelite.
When the lawyer asked Jesus "who is my neighbor", (and it is said that he asked to justify himself) Jesus' story of the good Samaritan changed considerably what had been the commonly understood meaning of "love your neighbor". The lawyers question "Who is my neighbor" implies that there are some who may not be my neighbor. Jesus' story implies that there is no one who is not my neighbor.
Neighbor is not a matter of blood bonds, nationality or religious affiliations, or sexual orientation. It is determined by our attitude towards another. The one who loves neighbor is the one who takes pity, the one who is moved to compassion
This is the challenge that the Levite, the Pharisee, the lawyer, and often ourselves, fail to meet. It is easy to be a neighbor to the people I love, my family and friends; but how good am I at being the neighbor, that is being moved to compassion, with those I don't like, or those who are not like me. Or how often do I use my projects, my job, my busyness, as excuses for not being available when someone needs my help. How often do I use my need for security, my perceived need for things to justify not acting in a compassionate manner to those with a greater need who may be different than myself.
Even though we may all be very familiar with the Gospel reading about the Good Samaritan, can we allow it to challenge us and convict us of our failures to properly respond to those around us so that we may grow in a better relationship with the Lord and the people we encounter. It's not a question of being hard on ourselves: Its a desire to see things properly, to take the blinders off, so that we may respond in a more compassionate way to those we encounter on our journey.
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