Love Your Neighbor

I saw this cool graphic that I thought was pertinent for each one of us. It said:

Love your neighbor- Who doesn’t look like you, think like you, love like you, speak like you, pray like you, vote like you. Love your neighbor. No exceptions.

How do we love our neighbor with no exceptions? Let me be honest. It’s hard for me to love EVERYONE all the time. I fall short consistently in the loving department. How about you? How about your friend that betrayed you? Your ex that makes everything extra hard? Your family member who hasn’t spoken to you? Think for a moment about those in your life hard to love. Not easy, right?

There’s a familiar story in the Bible that can help us learn how to love our neighbor. The Good Samaritan story takes place in Luke 10:25-37. Picture yourself sitting in on this conversation with Jesus and the unloving religious person, aka, the lawyer.

The lawyer was trying to test Jesus. The lawyer was a so-called “expert” in the law of God, so he asked Jesus what He should do to inherit eternal life, knowing full well the answer! Jesus, the greatest teacher of all time and on to the man’s schemes, answered the questions with a question. He asked him what was written in the law and the lawyer said with his head held high and all the piousness he could muster: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27)

Jesus affirmed that he was correct. But the lawyer wanted to justify himself knowing full well he couldn’t keep these commands. So, he tried to limit the law’s demands to justify himself. “Who is my neighbor?” Kind of like saying: “Hey, Jesus, where do I draw the line on this loving stuff? Certainly not everyone?”

So Jesus told a parable to correct the lawyer’s wrong viewpoint of who his neighbor was. He told about a traveler on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho, who fell among robbers. He was stripped of his clothes, beaten and left half dead. A priest came by, saw the man and continued on. A Levite came by and saw the man and kept going. Finally, a Samaritan came upon the man, and when he saw him, took pity on him and bandaged up his wounds. He put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. He then gave the innkeeper two silver coins asking him to look after him and take care of any extra expenses that he might have. (BTW, did you know that Samaritans and the Jews pretty much hated each other and the Samaritan probably took care of a Jew?)

Jesus and the unloving religious person wrap up the visit with Jesus asking “Which of the three men do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell upon robbers? The unloving religious person said “The man who showed compassion.”  Jesus responded by saying “Go and do likewise.”

What if we saw ALL people through the lens of God’s love, not our prejudices and biases? What if we asked God where we’ve been a hypocrite, like the lawyer? Do you suppose He might tell us? What if we started caring for the castaways, throwaways and giveaways in our midst? And finally, what if we asked God for opportunities to BE a Good Samaritan this week? Do you suppose He may give us those opportunities?

I’ve come to believe in my own life that it’s hard to love my neighbor without loving God. God is love and as I ask Him, He delights in helping me love like He loves. I believe He can help us all love our neighbor in ways we never dreamed possible!

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.