What a parable! This is a story that touches home, unlike some of the parables that seem far removed from our world; this is a parable we live out regularly. How many times have we had the experience of driving by a car on the side of the road? The hood is up and the emergency lights are blinking. Someone needs help. Most people drive by. At an intersection, someone is holding a sign saying “Will work for food.” The suffering of the person is clear. There is a new kid at school….. It is easy to get inside the skin of this parable. We live this parable regularly.
Like the priest and the Levite, we sometimes have our own definition of neighbor. We know who we would like as our neighbor. Sometimes we draw the boundaries of our neighborhood only around those we love or who are like us. Oh yes, this parable touches home. We live this parable regularly.
But, this life of faith is not about defining neighbors and setting boundaries around neighborhoods. The steps of the Good Samaritan should lead us into new directions of Christian service. For the real issue, as Jesus insists, is not who the neighbor is, but what it means to be a neighbor. We are obliged to be a neighbor to everyone; not just to those in our group. What Jesus shows is that boundaries of the neighborhood are broke wide open to include anyone in need. “Neighborhoods do not create love. Love creates neighborhoods. That is what Jesus told the lawyer who asked him the question, “Who is my neighbor”? Listen to what he also tells us: Which of the three was a neighbor to the robbers victim? The one who treated him with mercy.