Neighborly eyes

By Tyler Tankersley

Jesus was a prolific teacher. He was constantly telling little yarns that would make people step back and reassess the way they viewed the world, themselves and God. One of his more popular stories is commonly called "The Good Samaritan," but that title does not do it justice. I think a better title would be "What it Means to Be a Neighbor."

This parable (found in Luke 10) is preceded by a dialogue in which a lawyer approaches Jesus and asks, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus smirks and asks him, "Well, what does your Bible tell you?" The lawyer responds, "Scripture says we are to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves." Jesus nods and turns to walk away, but the lawyer is still confused. He asks Jesus, "But who is my neighbor?" And in response to this question, Jesus begins to tell a story:

"A man was walking from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by thieves and left for dead. A local priest saw the man and rather than helping him, the priest passed by him on the other side of the road. Likewise, a Levite did the same thing. But a Samaritan saw the man, bandaged his wounds, took him to a local inn and incurred all the costs of nursing him back to health."

After telling this story, Jesus turns to the lawyer and asks, "Now, which of these three men was the most neighborly?"

The obvious answer is the Samaritan. To the original hearers of this story, the fact that a Samaritan was the one who acted with the greatest ethical imperative would have been controversial. Judeans and Samaritans did not exactly agree on many things. The person who the community least expected to be the most righteous ended up serving as the purest symbol of compassion.

What does it mean to be a neighbor? In the story, the priest and the Levite clearly saw the man. It was evident he was hurt and in distress. Yet, they did nothing. We don't know this from the story, but perhaps they offered a prayer akin to, "Our thoughts and prayers go out to this poor man. God, we ask that you send someone to help him. Just not us."

According to Jesus, being a neighbor involves two steps: noticing and acting. It is not enough to simply notice pain and suffering in our midst; we also have to address it. To take this story to heart, we each have to ask ourselves, "Where is there suffering in our community? Who are those being left on the side of the road?" And when we see them, are we merely going to notice, perhaps offer a prayer and then pass on the other side? Or are we going to truly address the suffering? I guess what I am really asking is, "Won't you be a neighbor?"