Love your neighbors, be a neighbor who loves

A man was on a business trip when he was mugged. He was badly beaten, his wallet and phone were stolen, and he was left unconscious on the sidewalk. A pastor was walking by and saw him ahead, but crossed the street to walk past on the other sidewalk. A politician known for his good family values walked by and did the same. A drag queen was walking by and saw the injured man. She ran over in her heels, crouching down to check on him and calling 911. She rode with him in the ambulance and gave her own card to cover all his hospital bills. 

Sound familiar? 

As well as we know the parable of the "Good Samaritan" now, it was pretty revolutionary when Jesus first told it. He implied that when people were hurt, the good religious authority figures of the day couldn't be bothered. Instead, it was the social outcast, the one who was seen as having the wrong beliefs, living the wrong lifestyle, being part of the wrong culture, that showed real love. 

Another interesting thing about this parable is it was told because an expert in the Mosaic law had asked "who is my neighbor?" When Jesus told the story, He highlighted the one who was showing love, not just receiving it, and told the expert to "go and do likewise." When the expert wanted to know who he could love or not love, Jesus flipped the script by showing that the least expected person was the true neighbor, but the point wasn't picking and choosing who gets accepted, it's being the one who's actively showing love. 

When the word "neighbor" isn't making me think of the Good Samaritan, it's making me think of Mr. Rogers (and getting "Won't you be my neighbor?" stuck in my head). There's a famous quote by Fred Rogers that talks about looking for the helpers when things are scary. When there's so much darkness, look for the helpers, the neighbors. 

Things have been dark lately, in our country as a whole, and even in our own community. As we look for the helpers and neighbors, we've seen those very people coming under attack in every way. Sometimes when things happen that people aren't comfortable with, they try to find ways to rationalize it. When an innocent person is treated in an unjust way, there's a tendency to justify it by trying to downplay empathy for that person. 

He shouldn't have been there. She shouldn't have said that. Oh, look at this thing they did I don't like. Oh, look at who they're married to that I don't think they should be. 

As if the fact that you disagree with them, or have different beliefs than them, or come from a different community than them, means they're not your neighbor, means they don't deserve sympathy, means you can walk by on the other sidewalk. 

Meanwhile, it's often the very people you don't want to associate with as your neighbor, the people you're looking for excuses not to love, who are the ones busy rushing in to help others. 

The other funny thing is that Jesus really didn't leave any wiggle room. Not only did He say that we need to be more concerned about acting as a neighbor than about deciding who deserves our help, He also straight up told us we need to be loving our enemies. That pretty well includes everyone – those you like, those you don't like, those you agree with, those you get into social media comment battles with. 

Another important point is that while Jesus does call us to love in general, He also focused on helping those in need while holding those with power accountable. He always advocated for those who were ostracized, hurt, treated unjustly, and oppressed. And He always challenged those with authority who were abusing their positions, calling them out for doing harm. 

With everything going on around us right now, I think we all need to take a long, hard look at who Jesus would be criticizing and who He would be helping. 

Then we need to take a long, hard look at ourselves, not to ask who our neighbor is in terms of who deserves our compassion, but to ask whether we're being good neighbors and whether we're genuinely, practically loving people, regardless of who they are, regardless of what they have or haven't done, regardless of how they're different.

Please, love all of your neighbors. And be a neighbor that actually steps up. We desperately need it.