Who Is Your Neighbor

" “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” — Luke 10:36-37

This week's GO considers how we show the love of Christ to others. By now, most Christians are familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan, but we don't always think of how to apply that lesson in our daily lives. The challenge in the story is to "go and do likewise."

The challenge is in how we treat others — particularly others that are different from us. There is a tendency in the Christian community to convey Christ's love to each other, but to sort of forget about the rest of the world. I think that misses the point.

One of the things that's always fascinated me is the way the Christian community in America has become cloistered. We create our own culture, we have our own schools, we have our own media, and we have our own gatherings. The more time spent focused inward, or on each other, is time pulled away from our mission — sharing Christ's love with the world.

The important thing is to treat others, no matter who they are, the way we treat each other, or better. That's what Jesus is getting at with the parable, and that's the part that gets lost. It's not just about helping people in need — it's crossing the artificial constructs we create in our society to help those in need. Crossing cultural barriers, class barriers, social barriers, and racial barriers.

That is a challenge worthy of all our GOs in life.