(Further reflections on “Three Choices”—Sunday 3-July-2022)
God's command, ‘loving your neighbor as yourself’ (cf. Leviticus 19:18), has always been a challenge and was challenged by an expert or teacher of God's law (cf. Luke 10:25-37). He had a sincere question about eternal life. Jesus told him what he thought he already knew that the Law of God, that is, "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 (Luke 10:27)." He wasn't satisfied with Jesus' answer as he wanted to justify himself and said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Like 10:29). Let's pause here and if we can be honest with ourselves, this, more than often is also our sincere question and real struggle in identifying our neighbors. Possibly, it's not that we don't know who our neighbors are. But we don't seem to know or connect with them (at least in a certain urban context). Thus, loving them as ourselves is somewhat superficial or just a cliché and is not our lifestyle.
Jesus turned the question around by telling the man, who seemed to know “the letter” but not “the spirit” of God's Law, a story about three people who saw the same thing, but acted differently toward a "stranger" who faced a serious problem (cf. Luke 10:30-35) and then asked, "Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? (Luke 10:36)"
Jesus is asking us the same question today. Are you a neighbor to someone who is in need or who faces problems? (See *P.S.) This does not only liberate us from the struggle of finding out ‘Who is my neighbor,’ but also points us to the right direction, which is, becoming a neighbor to someone in our community. God has become our neighbor through Jesus Christ who showed no partiality and showed mercy to all, regardless of our (racial/financial/social) status. We are called to do likewise (cf. James 2:8-13).
So the question practically becomes, Am I a neighbor to (a.) this church? (b.) my colleagues at work? (c.) my family or loved ones or friends? and (d.) to my neighborhood? And if the answers are ‘yes’, then showing mercy and showing no partiality are mandatory for those who who desire to live/do well in the Lord.
May the above Jesus-like questions shape our heart and strengthen our mind in living out God’s word daily/weekly/monthly/yearly and not just believing and talking about it only.
Love and blessings. —
Pastor Lap
P.S. It needs to be serious problems like having an accident or financial crisis, etc. This should NOT be used as a guilt-trip by someone who faces chronic financial issues due to their laziness, because they don’t want to work even if they are able to work. This does not apply to those who are intentionally slothful and want to leech others. There are many cultures around the world where loved ones back home guilt-trip and leech their family members who work overseas (whom they tend to view as the ‘richer rich’ expats). These love ones need to heed other Bible verses, e.g. Proverbs 6:6-11; 10:4-5; 12:24; 18:9; 13:4; 21:25; Matthew 25:14-30; and this *strong verse* 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
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