Picture it, 2017, Anytown, USA. Jesus is teaching the crowd, and suddenly a religion professor interrupts, asking, “Lord, how can I be certain I’m going to heaven?” Jesus replies, “You have read the Scriptures and what do they teach?” The professor replied, “Of course. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength. You must also love your neighbor.” Jesus says, “That is correct.” Trying to justify himself, the professor replies, “Well, exactly who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replies, “There was a man who decided to take a trip. As he was driving through downtown he was carjacked, beaten, stripped, and left for dead in the gutter; as a lay pastor stood just out of sight recording the incident on his phone. Shortly afterward, a local pastor happened by on his way home to get ready for board meeting. He saw the man, shook his head and muttered “These people just never learn. Drugs and alcohol aren’t the answer,” and he hurried on his way so he wouldn’t be late for his meeting.

After some time, a Sunday school teacher passed by on her way to a Sunday school party. Upon seeing the man’s condition, and lack of clothing, she became indignant, complained, “Well. I’ve never seen such a vulgar sight,” and she quickly turned onto a side street, and continued on her way.

Eventually, a gay atheist, who was also an undocumented immigrant, passed by on his way to a protest march in Washington, DC. Upon seeing the victim lying in the gutter the man stopped his car, got out and called 911. While waiting for EMS, the man took the dress shirt he was wearing and used it to fashion bandages and began to bandage the victim’s wounds. When EMS arrived, the man followed them to the hospital, and made sure the victim was being well cared for before continuing his own journey.”

Jesus then asked the crowd, “Which person was a neighbor to the man who was carjacked?” The religion professor replied, “The man who stopped to help.” Jesus said, “Now, go, and be a neighbor.”

Luke 10:29-37

We’re all probably familiar with the State Farm jingle. State Farm: Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. It implies that for their customers, no matter what happens, State Farm has your back.

So What: Neighboring requires action.

This parable ends in much the same way that Jesus ends the Great Commission (found in Matthew 28 and Mark 16); Jesus gives the commands to “Go,” and “Do.” There is a saying that “Talk is cheap.” We can talk all day long about how much Jesus loves us, and how much we love Jesus. We can’t really reach others until we SHOW them Jesus.

A neighbor is willing to be inconvenienced.

We Christians often come down pretty harsh on the priest and the Levite in this parable. What most of us don’t understand, however, is that in order to serve in the temple, the priests and Levites were to remain ceremonially clean. According to Levitical law, if they became unclean, then they had to go through a process to become ceremonially clean again. This was often a time consuming process, and until they were again ceremonially clean they were forbidden from serving in the temple. This meant that they also received no pay during this time. They were certainly mindful of their duty to love God. And they may have even had pity on the man. But to actually try to help him may have greatly inconvenienced them.

Simply having pity on people does nothing to show them the love of the Savior. We have to serve in the moment. Often times that is all we can do. Carpe diem, seize the day. We need to seize the moment. We may not see any immediate results, or even have an opportunity to verbally witness. But by serving in the moment, we share Jesus.

If someone asks for prayer, it is easy to say “I’ll pray for you.” But how often do we really remember to do so? How about next time, instead of simply saying that you will pray for someone, actually take a moment to stop and pray. Even if they are not physically there, you can pray with them in that moment.

A neighbor is willing to cross cultural boundaries.

If Jesus actually did tell the parable today, who might He use in place instead of the Samaritan? Maybe an atheist, or a homosexual, or an undocumented immigrant, like in my modernized version? What about a prostitute, or a convicted felon, or maybe a homeless person? Maybe even a Muslim? The point isn’t necessarily who Jesus showed as the good neighbor. The point is that being a neighbor requires us to step outside of our nice neat comfort zones. We have to be willing to reach out to those who do not look like us, or think like us. Maybe they don’t even act like us.

It was a shock for Jesus’ listeners to hear a Samaritan be made to be the good guy. Samaritans and Jews hated each other. They did some truly awful things to each other, all in the name of “serving God.” We do the same thing today. We pass judgment on individuals and groups because they are not like us. I know homosexuals and atheists who are extremely generous people. And they would help anyone in need, no questions asked. Sadly, I also know people who claim to be be Christians who are so busy passing judgement on others that they miss opportunities to share Jesus.

The Samaritan didn’t ask the victim if he was a Samaritan or a Jew. He simply met the immediate need of a fellow human being. Likewise, in my modernized retelling, the good neighbor didn’t concern himself with the victim’s beliefs or ideology. He served in the moment. Jesus Himself is our example here. He met people’s needs in the moment. He crossed cultural boundaries, with the Samaritan woman at the well (Luke 4), and the Canaanite woman’s daughter he healed (Matthew 15), and healing the centurion’s servant (Luke 7).

So What: Witnessing and neighboring require action.

We have to be good neighbors if we want to be good witnesses.