Daily Lesson for October 20, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 10 verses 25 through 37:

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”27 And he answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

"Who is my neighbor?"

Now here's a question we have all asked many times.  And if I am honest I can tell you that I have asked the question for the same reason that the lawyer asked the question -- to justify myself, which I take to mean to justify my disinclination to love him or her as I love myself.

And so I ask, "Who is my neighbor?"

"Is he worthy?"  "Is she worth it?" "Is he dangerous?"

In the sphere of national security this is called "extreme vetting" which attempts to sufficiently answer the question "Is he a terrorist."  I personally have no problem with the process. I see that it is necessary.  Governments are required to do this.

And yet, the Samaritan in Jesus' story convicts and challenges me. While the priest and allLevite step aside, probably while asking the same self-justifying questions we ask, the Samaritan steps in without question. The Samaritan simply acts. He acts on impulse. On impulse, he follows the gold rule. He does what he would have others do unto him. He loves this beaten neighbor beside the side of the road just as he would wish himself to be beaten.

And so, Jesus changes the question. The parable begins with the lawyer's question,"Who is my neighbor?" But it ends with another question, "Who was the neighbor to the beaten man?"

And so Jesus turns the tables on the lawyer and also on me in changing the whole nature of the question from the self-justifying question about who my neighbor is to the self-convicting one about what kind of neighbor am I.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:

"On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right?"

It makes me think that maybe learning to be a good neighbor has a lot to do with learning to ask the right question.