Who is my neighbor?
God became man in order to show us that love is not an other-worldly reality. Jesus showed us that love is real, it is here and now. By the incarnation of God's Son, love became a person. Love is never something foreign. In today's reading, Christ is asked by a doctor of the law what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus counters with a question about what the lawyer finds written in the law of God. He responds with the most sacred words of the covenant God made with Israel: the Schema. “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind.” (Lk 10:27) In this law, God did not demand impossible, unnatural, or spectacular things of the Jews. He only asked obedience and love of his commandments. Then the lawyer adds to this another of the commandments of the Old Testament: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). Jesus approves this answer, however, he breaks the common practice of qualifying who would be one's neighbor. Christ answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan. He teaches that there are no distinctions when it comes to the mercy of God.
Paul tells us in Colossians that the sovereignty of Christ over the whole world demands that when we are redeemed by his grace, we take on his attitude of mercy towards the whole human race. So, who is my neighbor? Everyone created by God in Christ. Everyone in need, whether it is spiritual or physical. It is sometimes strange that people today profess their love for the human race, but they pass by those in their own homes, families, or workplaces, or parish community. There are people around us, very close to us, who are in need. Sometimes the need is not a material one, but a spiritual one. It is a need of presence. It is a need for love. Look around you, who is your neighbor? May we not pass them by.
God became man in order to show us that love is not an other-worldly reality. Jesus showed us that love is real, it is here and now. By the incarnation of God's Son, love became a person. Love is never something foreign. In today's reading, Christ is asked by a doctor of the law what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus counters with a question about what the lawyer finds written in the law of God. He responds with the most sacred words of the covenant God made with Israel: the Schema. “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind.” (Lk 10:27) In this law, God did not demand impossible, unnatural, or spectacular things of the Jews. He only asked obedience and love of his commandments. Then the lawyer adds to this another of the commandments of the Old Testament: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). Jesus approves this answer, however, he breaks the common practice of qualifying who would be one's neighbor. Christ answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan. He teaches that there are no distinctions when it comes to the mercy of God.
Paul tells us in Colossians that the sovereignty of Christ over the whole world demands that when we are redeemed by his grace, we take on his attitude of mercy towards the whole human race. So, who is my neighbor? Everyone created by God in Christ. Everyone in need, whether it is spiritual or physical. It is sometimes strange that people today profess their love for the human race, but they pass by those in their own homes, families, or workplaces, or parish community. There are people around us, very close to us, who are in need. Sometimes the need is not a material one, but a spiritual one. It is a need of presence. It is a need for love. Look around you, who is your neighbor? May we not pass them by.
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