How Big Is Your Neighborhood?

How Big Is Your Neighborhood?

We are living in a day when divisions among individuals, groups, and nations seem to be growing. The world’s financial situation continues to decline and wars and violence are an everyday reality. Confusion, anger, and fear have seized the hearts of many and the response of many people is to retreat into their own little caves. Where is the Church in all of this? Where are you? Where am I? How are we to respond? Much wisdom can be found in the Scripture on these issues as we look at the life of Jesus, and how He responded to His culture, we gain His insights into how we can respond and relate to ours.

The Problem

Jesus entered into a culture where religion had lost its purpose. Judaism was no longer the dynamic force that represented Abraham, Moses, or David. The leaders of Judaism had become either political servants of Rome or were simply a legalistic society for professional clergy.

Jesus had harsh words for Jewish religious rulers. He congratulated them for some things, but He severely criticized them for others. They had misrepresented God and made religion a burden, not a blessing. One group, the Pharisees, was conservative and Bible-believing to the point of legalism. Jesus commended them for their adherence to the Law, (tithing, believing in the resurrection, and other virtues) but chastised them for missing the Spirit of God in the application of it all. Another group, the Sadducees, was liberal and heavily influenced by intellectualism. They had cast aside all faith in the supernatural and favored a more “reasonable” approach. Israel’s problem was that religion was either legalistic or faithless, or both. In that condition the people walked in darkness.

Pure Religion

The book of James defines pure religion as caring for widows and orphans (see James 1:27). Another verse says, “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only” (James 1:22). The issue here is that true personal faith cannot be separated from practical personal actions. This is where Israel got it wrong and where we often do as well. We cannot be true believers without personal compassion toward those in need. Nor can we merely be social activists, ignoring the foundations of faith. Once faith and action are separated into “camps,” both camps are in deception.

Jesus’ Neighborhood

In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) Jesus gave an answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” The question was asked by a religious scholar in an effort to trick Jesus. Jesus replied to him with this story: A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. The man was robbed and beaten, left “half-dead.” This half-dead man was approached by a priest and later a Levite (a type of religious official), both of whom crossed the road to avoid him. Then along came a Samaritan. Many Jews despised the Samaritans because they were of mixed ancestry, and were considered to be impure for racial and religious reasons. (An irony in Jesus’ story is that many of the people who went to Jericho used the Jordan route to avoid going through Samaria.)

In the story, the Samaritan responds to the wounded man differently than what the religious officials did. The Samaritan ministered oil and wine to the injured man, put him on his own horse or donkey, took him to an inn to recover, and guaranteed whatever further expenses incurred.

Then Jesus asked the religious scholar this key question: “Which of these three proved to be a neighbor...Priest, Levite, or Samaritan?” The lawyer answered, “The one who showed mercy.” Jesus said, “Go and do the same.” The story gives us tremendous insight into the heart and mind of Jesus, and it has great implications for us today. We see that Jesus’ neighborhood was much bigger than that of His contemporaries; it included all people. We also learn that neighborliness was a matter of mercy, not geographical proximity, or racial and religious sameness.

Jesus’ Brothers and Sisters

Protestants and Catholics disagree on whether or not Jesus had physical siblings (see Mark 3:31-35). That controversy is based on the Catholic belief that Mary never had sexual relations with Joseph. What we can’t overlook, however, is that Jesus defined “brother and sister” as those who did His Father’s will.

This truth becomes clear in Matthew 25:31-46, where Jesus discusses the Great Judgment Day for all nations...He will separate them one from the other, as a Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The “Sheep” are placed on His right hand and the “Goats” on His left. The separation was based upon whether or not they had shown compassion to the hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. Both groups asked Jesus for an explanation of their behavior. Jesus responded by saying, “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these—My brothers—you did it unto Me.”

Jesus identifies with the needy and calls them His brothers and sisters. The defining issue is compassion and according to the Bible, those showing compassion, or those who failed to do so, were unaware of the significance—they just responded to the opportunity in a personal way...some negatively, some positively.

One-to-One

The Samaritan was one person ministering to another. The government can’t do this for us; even the Church can’t do this for us. It is a one-to-one issue. One of Jesus’ charges against the Pharisees was that they taught others to do what they themselves would not do on a personal level. The Bible says that Jesus is the revelation of the Father in every way. He is the revelation of God’s nature, righteousness, holiness, power, and mercy. When religion is void of God’s Spirit, it becomes a tool of deception and wars against the very God it professes. James reminds us, as Jesus reminded us, that one way to test true faith is by the way we treat those who are weak, vulnerable, and in need. Most of us have been the “Priest” or “Levite” on occasion. But Jesus is calling us to be the Samaritan; to pour on the oil of mercy and the wind of the Spirit and to humble ourselves and walk beside the wounded...and we can do it personally.