Who is my neighbour? Not everyone! Am i right?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WesleyF
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I thought over this again and here’s what I think -

Jesus didn’t answer the question directly.

“Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
“The one who showed him mercy.”

This shows that the Samaritan man proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers. It doesn’t say that the robber was neighbor to the Samaritan man. However, if Mr. X is the neighbor of Mr. Y, then by definition Mr. Y is the neighbor of Mr. X.

Jesus told the lawyer, “Go and do likewise”; in other words, go and be a neighbor to everyone. If I am to be a neighbor to everyone, then by definition everybody is a neighbor to me. Now it makes sense.
 
lilym said:
couldn’t have it more wrong. At the end of the parable jesus said ‘go and do likewise’ - go and do as the samaritan did, since he was in the only person who did anything in the story. There’s no indication that the jew, the victim of the robbers, felt neighbourly in any way towards the samaritan. For all we know, he may’ve resented having needed help - many people do.

Or as our lord put it “you have heard that it was said, “love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But i tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”(matthew 5:43-44). Can’t get plainer than that. He even tells us why a bit later in the same passage - 'if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not hte tax collectors do the same?” (v 46)
Click to expand...
perfect!
 
WesleyF said:
So my understanding is that anyone who does not show me mercy is not my neighbour and that I am not bound to love him like I love myself.
Click to expand...
What is the difference, or not, between you and anyone else? Are some created in the image and likeness of God and not others? Which might you be, if that is your conclusion? Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure? How do you know? Who would you be without this consideration? What if the shoe were on the other foot?
 
WesleyF said:
Jesus told the lawyer, “Go and do likewise”; in other words, go and be a neighbor to everyone. If I am to be a neighbor to everyone, then by definition everybody is a neighbor to me. Now it makes sense.
Click to expand...
Cool. Now you can work on why this is so.
 
WesleyF said:
I’ve often heard the parable of the good samaritan being used to convey that everybody is our neighbour and that we should be like the good samaritan. But when I read the parable, I am more and more convinced that the neighbour was “The one who showed mercy on him” (Luke 10:37).

So my understanding is that anyone who does not show me mercy is not my neighbour and that I am not bound to love him like I love myself.
Click to expand...
Everyone is our neighbor in the sense that God loves everyone. Therefore if we love God and love as God loves, then we love everyone and show mercy to everyone. The point of the parable is, we are good to those we know (our neighbors) but not to strangers. That is why we must make everyone our neighbor.
 
WesleyF said:
What do you mean by “this”?
Click to expand...
“this” = “Go and do likewise”; in other words, go and be a neighbor to everyone. If I am to be a neighbor to everyone, then by definition everybody is a neighbor to me. Now it makes sense.
 
The very point of the parable is that the Samaritan was the good neighbor. Look at what the Samaritan did. He helped a man he didn’t know, and likely didn’t even have a reason to like. Look at what it says about the man who was injured? He was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. This indicates that he was a Jewish man. The Jewish and the Samaritans were enemies! This very story indicates that the man who was a neighbor wasn’t just helping any old person, but helping the very people that we don’t like. If we are to show that kind of love to people we don’t like, how much more to the ones who live right next to us that we don’t necessarily dislike or even are fond of?

As to loving one as ourselves? Well C.S. Lewis wrote in his book Mere Christianity in a chapter on forgiveness about this. While I cannot do it justice I will attempt to give an idea to what he wrote about. What does it mean to love my neighbor as myself? Well sometimes I don’t even particularly like myself. There are times in fact that I loath the things I’ve done, or the man I am because I do not live up to the man God wants me to be. As Paul put it the things I know to do, I do not, and the things I know not to do, that I do. But I never want bad for me. In fact, I pray that God will bless me and make me into the man that He wants me to be. That’s what it means to show love to your neighbor. That even when we don’t particular care for them, we still want good for them. That we pray for good things for them, and that God will make them into the person that He wants them to be.

We are not excused to want good for those who aren’t necessarily good. We as Christians are challenged to love and pray for even those we might consider enemies, and when we find them in need to pick them up and dust them off, care for them and bring them back to health.
 
bmullins said:
The very point of the parable is that the Samaritan was the good neighbor. Look at what the Samaritan did. He helped a man he didn’t know, and likely didn’t even have a reason to like. Look at what it says about the man who was injured? He was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. This indicates that he was a Jewish man. The Jewish and the Samaritans were enemies! This very story indicates that the man who was a neighbor wasn’t just helping any old person, but helping the very people that we don’t like. If we are to show that kind of love to people we don’t like, how much more to the ones who live right next to us that we don’t necessarily dislike or even are fond of?

As to loving one as ourselves? Well C.S. Lewis wrote in his book Mere Christianity in a chapter on forgiveness about this. While I cannot do it justice I will attempt to give an idea to what he wrote about. What does it mean to love my neighbor as myself? Well sometimes I don’t even particularly like myself. There are times in fact that I loath the things I’ve done, or the man I am because I do not live up to the man God wants me to be. As Paul put it the things I know to do, I do not, and the things I know not to do, that I do. But I never want bad for me. In fact, I pray that God will bless me and make me into the man that He wants me to be. That’s what it means to show love to your neighbor. That even when we don’t particular care for them, we still want good for them. That we pray for good things for them, and that God will make them into the person that He wants them to be.

We are not excused to want good for those who aren’t necessarily good. We as Christians are challenged to love and pray for even those we might consider enemies, and when we find them in need to pick them up and dust them off, care for them and bring them back to health.
Click to expand...
Beautiful.
Many thanks.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top