Title: What is a Good Neighbor?
Contents
Bible: Luke 10:25-37
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The Gospel of Luke is the only book in the New Testament that records the childhood of Jesus. The Gospel of Luke records that Jesus listened to the rabbis in the temple and asked questions. There were two famous rabbis at that time, one of whom was a teacher named Shammai and the other was a teacher named Hillel. Among these two teachers, the one who taught the law was Shammai, and the one who taught the law flexibly was a teacher named Hillel. However, it seems that the teacher who influenced the Jews more today was a teacher named Hillel.
The difference between them is that Shammai taught the law in principle, but Hillel had the advantage of being able to summarize the law in one word. That is why Hillel is said to have taught the Pentateuch in a nutshell: “Do not do to others what you do not like.”
Similar words can be found in the Gospels. In Matthew 7:12 we read, “Treat others as you would like them to treat you. This is the statute of the law and of the prophets.”
One day the scribe asked, “Jesus, how can a person have eternal life?” Then Jesus said, “What is written in the law?” Then the scribe refers to the words of Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:18. It says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…” “Love your neighbor as yourself.” “To love God and to love our neighbor” Jesus said that this is the way to eternal life.
The scholar of the law has a question here. “Then who is my neighbor?” In response to this question, Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is like going down a mountain. So there were a lot of robbers. A robber fell on the way. The priest passed by and the Levite passed by, but the Samaritan did not pass by and helped him. My neighbor is a Samaritan who helped a man who was killed by a robber.
The first condition of being a true neighbor is that the Samaritan helped the Jew, beyond blood, ethnicity, and ethnicity.
If you look at the history of the world, there have been many wars and massacres that occurred because people could not overcome the racial limits. The Samaritans mentioned in today's text also have a history of being treated like dogs and pigs by the Jews because they did not become Israelites because they were of mixed race. A true neighbor must transcend race. However, it is not easy to put this into practice.
When they say, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” the Jews who think of ‘your neighbor’ are only the Jews themselves. It is the Jews who think of other Gentiles as unsaved people.
However, if we look at Genesis 12, we see a scene where God calls Abraham. God says, “Leave your country and your relatives and your father’s house and go to the land I will show you.” This is God's word, saying, "Leave your country, blood, race, and tribe." Only then can we become the father of faith and the source of blessings.
There are two countries that have stood out in this World Cup. That's Germany and Spain. Germany did not win the championship, but it showed off the majesty of the old tank corps, and Spain took the trophy. This changed the law in 1999, saying "Anyone with German citizenship can represent Germany". So, out of the 23 representatives who came out this time, 11 had non-German parents. Spain is also divided into a region centered on Madrid and a region centered on Barcelona. The two regions have different flags and different languages. However, this time, the Spanish player used a lot of Catolina people, mainly from the Barcelona area, which had been neglected. Through this unity that transcends races, Spain was able to win the World Cup.
A true neighbor is something that transcends blood and kinship, race, and school ties.
The second most important thing is to be able to help now. No matter how busy I am, there is nothing more precious than life. That is, the person who takes the lead in saving lives, even if I suffer a loss, is my neighbor.
The third most important thing is that someone you can embrace in your chest is a true neighbor. The Samaritan embraced the man who had been hit by a bloodthirsty robber. There was a heart that could hold him, not caring about the blood of that person. Jesus also embraced the leper. This is showing love to the marginalized.
Jesus said that love of neighbor is directly related to eternal life. I hope that we love our neighbors regardless of locality, school ties, blood ties and races, put life first and love our neighbors, and treat our neighbors with your love, compassion and compassion. So he was praised for doing well and said, "You gave the least of a cup of water." I pray in the name of the Lord that all the saints who are being blessed will be blessed.
2010-08-13 21:52:55