Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?” (Luke 10:29, The Message Bible)

                 Let’s see… there’s Bella across the road and Eddy next to her. There is another Charlie to our left and yappy Biscuit behind us.

                I realize that I know our neighbours’ dogs’ names better than I know the names of our human neighbours. The only neighbour’s name I actually know is Ramesh who lives on the other side of us. Interestingly, he doesn’t have a dog.

                We have lived here for 17 years – the longest we have lived anywhere and I have never gotten to know my neighbours. Oh, we wave to each other and occasionally say “hi” but I still do not know their names. From afar, I have watched their children grow up into young adults or from babies into pre-teens, but I still do not know their names. I would help any of them in an instant if asked but they never have asked. Partly, my excuse is that I am an unabashed introvert and it is not my style to go over, stick out my hand and introduce myself. Then again, they have never taken the bother, either.

My ignorance of simply knowing my neighbours’ names reminds me how disconnected from one other we are in our communities. Small wonder then that people are so divided and separate from one another. There is so much animosity, mistrust, prejudice, enmity and deep, critical gaps between one “tribe” of beliefs and views with those of another group. And part of the cause is that we won’t get to know each other or call each other by name rather than calling each other names.

It makes a big difference if we know someone else individually  rather than lumping them into some aspect of general assumptions and stereo-types. Long ago, I had a man in one of my churches tell them that he was quite opposed to divorced pastors – until he meant me and it change his mind.

It is a hoary cliché now, but true nonetheless, that we don’t know someone until we walk a mile in their shoes. But if you are going to ask to borrow their shoes, you just might want to know their name, first.

Our self-righteous lawyer thinks he has Jesus in a corner by asking Jesus, “And just how would you define neighbour?” People you know? Your inner circle of friends?  Members of your own faith community? Family? People who look like me? People who think like me? Implied in the question, I think, is that he is also looking for some parameters as to those who aren’t his neighbour. Who can he ignore? Who can he snub? Who can he look down upon?

The man’s question gives rise to, perhaps, Jesus’ best-known parable, The Good Samaritan. In it, a Samaritan, a Jew’s worst enemy outside of a Gentile, acts as a neighbour to a Jewish man who has been mugged, robbed and left at the side of the road.  Two up-right Jewish citizens cross the road to avoid helping the needy man. But the Samaritan stops and  tends the man’s wounds, takes him to an inn and pays the bill. “What do you think?” Jesus asked. “Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”

It is not who is a neighbour to me but who can I be a neighbour to?

And the possibilities are endless, diverse, interesting, multi-faceted, sometimes challenging, sometimes risky, but always rewarding and beneficial for both ourselves and our neighbours. It is hard to make enemies if we are friendly, open-minded, gracious and helpful toward others.

Jesus said that the second but equally important commandment is this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” He had a very broad and inclusive definition of who is our neighbour.

Break out the dog biscuits and meet your neighbours.

 Dale