Who is my neighbor?

During Vacation Bible School this month, we'll focus on the question “Who is my neighbor?” using the parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10. When a lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responds by asking what is written in Scripture. The lawyer dutifully responds, “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.”

Easy enough to understand, right?

But the lawyer had another question - “And who is my neighbor?” Who do I have to love? What’s the bare minimum I can do to meet the demands of the law but no more?

Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan. When a man falls into the hands of robbers, it’s not religious leaders or his fellow countrymen who step in to help, but rather an outsider, a foreigner who shows mercy and acts as neighbor.

The simple answer to “Who is my neighbor?” is everyone. People like us and unlike us; people who share our faith and those who don’t; people next door, in the next county, or across the world; indeed, all of creation.

We are connected to one another by our shared humanity. All of us, regardless of language or nationality or religion or status were created by God and in the image of God. 

When we love our neighbors, then, we are loving God. And if we want to love God, we cannot do so apart from loving our neighbors. Of course all of this is made possible because of God’s love for us. As we read in 1 John 4:19, “We love because God first loved us.”

How do we show love for God and neighbor? This love is more than a feeling - it is seen most clearly in words and actions. As in the parable, a neighbor is one who shows mercy: attention, compassion, and care. We also show love for our neighbors through acts of service; in how we vote and advocate for the vulnerable; and in the words and tones we use to talk about others, whether in person or on social media. 

This theme of love for God and neighbor will also be present in the first readings chosen for worship this summer. In these Old Testament stories, we’ll hear how, sometimes, loving God and our neighbor is risky and uncomfortable, like in the stories of the Hebrew Midwives, the Fiery Furnace, and Daniel and the Lions. Sometimes, loving God and our neighbor means doing what we don’t want to do, like in the story of Jonah. 

But, God gives guidance to us through the gift of the law (we’ll hear about the Ten Commandments), the gift of prophets (we’ll hear words from Micah, Amos, and Isaiah), the gift of wisdom (we’ll hear selections from Proverbs). Most of all, we are nourished for this work through the gift of Jesus, given for us in the Communion meal. Filled with God’s love, we are sent out to share this love with our neighbors near and far.