The Problem with Neighbors is…

Neighbor. What a loaded word. I mean really. If you ask and average person they will probably talk about the people who physically live in the neighborhood they live in. After all that is what that word means nowadays. But where does that barrier stop? Does it end at the end of the street? Does it end at the cul de sac? What if your street goes on for a long time? Does it end after a certain street? Certain mileage? Does it end when a major cross street breaks the flow of houses? What about planned communities? Does that change since everyone lives in Leisure World or The Wells or The Groves? What about care facilities? Or an apartment complex? Do you count the whole complex, just your building, or just your floor?

If you were to ask a fellow Christian then they will likely talk about the people the live near especially in a casual conversation, but when you talk about neighbor in a more biblical setting then the answers start to change, because Christians have been taught to understand neighbor to mean so much more than those who live physically near them. In that context they talk more broadly that neighbor could mean anyone actually. We are presented with a more universal understanding of neighbor to mean something more in the realm of global citizen. We should consider anyone and everyone as having the capacity to be my neighbor. That complicates things.

You see when Jesus and the legal expert have the conversation about the what it written in the law about gaining eternal life the legal expert responds with a combination of Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. What we have come to know of as the greatest commandment. The legal expert wants to make sure he is right or justified in his behavior and teaching so he asks Jesus a very important question, “And who is my neighbor”. You might think this man is trying to be sneaky, and maybe he is, but something important to understand, as I understand it, is the word for neighbor as found in that Leviticus text is the word re’a. Historically this word had been interpreted to mean a fellow Israelite, a peer, or a community member. So this legal expert, wanting to be within his legal right of who to love and treat in a loving way probably had this definition in his mind. While he is being legalistic, his definition is as broad as to say all of Israel AND those who reside within my community, which may or may not include Gentiles.

What I don’t believe he was prepared for was a conversation about loving a person that had generationally been taught was the worst of the worst.. These were people who had broken away from the mainline faith. It was a political break, but that political break caused their faith to change also mainly due to political decrees. Samaritans didn’t just up and decide to change the way they worship on a whim or because of some new revelation, they did it because their king decreed it to happen. But because of this, the people in the south where Jesus and this legal expert are having this conversation, Samaritans have been branded as the worst of the worst. They have perverted the faith and in the Jewish mindest that cannot be forgiven. They have put so many labels on them that that is quite literally all a Jewish person can see when the look at or hear about a Samaritan. Surely a Samaritan is not my neighbor. Now I have to believe this is intentional, but the legal expert can’t even force himself to answer Jesus’ qution about which of the three was the neighbor. He answers Jesus, but instead of saying it was the Samaritan, he answers that it was the one who demonstrated mercy toward him. The idea that a Samaritan is the neighborly person is just too much for him because of all t he labels that have been ingrained in this legal expert about who a Samaritan is.

But don’t worry we haven’t gotten ANY better at ANY of this. In fact, Jewish people for centuries have been at the top of the lists of groups of people that are hated and persecuted. For the entire life of civilization we have labeled people that are different in order to band together against those who we label one way or another. Man I could have you sitting here for hours if we decided to just sit around and talk about all the labels we have for people. Let’s get the big ones out of the way: Republican and Democrat. Right now in our country just saying that I am or that person is affiliated with the opposite party can quite literally change the entire atmosphere of a conversation or room. When World War II happened we made our own internment camps for Japanese people and distrusted German-Americans. When COVID hit the Asian community was being attacked and blamed for this virus coming to the US. People of different ethnicities, and color skin are targeted because they are labeled as different or given a stereotype because some of them fit in that label. In school, you have the jocks, the nerds, the smart kids, the band kids, the emo and goth kids, and the labels go on and on. Like I said we could be here all day.

And as I alluded to, it’s not just that we create these labels about people but then we begin to define them that way, and treat them differently because of those labels. I have been following a story about an allegedly corrupt company because of a documentary that came out, and now people have labeled the whole company as corrupt and evil. The problem is that the company has a franchise model where almost all of their stores are independent. But as you can guess, people have been harassing and vandalizing these independent stores even though they have nothing to do with the alleged curruption at the corporate level. Just like some people label all cops and other law enforcement agencies as corrupt because of the actions of a few. We like to label people, because it gives us a way to think and act and talk about that group.

That happens to the rich man. The rich man, a label, wants also to inherit eternal life, and Jesus after finding out this man follows the 10 commandments, tells him to get rid of his rich man label by helping the poor, another label, through the sale of his possessions. He can’t do it because he likes his rich label too much to let go of it. Being rich and having possessions is a label he knows is a good label, and getting rid of that label in this society, and in our society today, is seen by society as a poor decision. So people try to hold on to labels that help, and shed themselves, if they are able, of labels that will hinder.

So when we create and live by these labels, we, whether we intend to or not, are being just like the people in the stories we have just heard about. We are trying to define who my neighbor is. By doing that then we are able to have a checklist and then we look at the list of who falls into the category of neighbor and who doesn’t and it becomes a very black and white way of seeing our faith. If this person I might help falls into the category of who my neighbor is then I can help them and know that God approves of it, but if they don’t fit this list then I don’t have to help them and God will be ok with it and I can feel good about myself. It’s honestly no different than when Peter wants to know how many times he should forgive someone. He wants a small number and Jesus gives him an infinite number.

When Jesus asks the legal expert to answer his question about who was the neighbor to the man who encountered the thieves, Jesus is showing that even a perceived enemy could show neighborly love to someone. In that moment the Samaritan was less concerned about the labels that might be associated with this person lying on the road, and more concerned with loving him the way he loves himself. And I am sure the Samaritan would want someone to help him in this situation if he were the person on the side of the road. When it comes to loving our neighbor, the only label that should matter is that they are your neighbor and they are a person in need. The rich man should know that even if he gave up half his possessions that he would probably still be richer than the poor people that he could help. But by reducing his wealth a little, he could love his poor neighbor in a way that changes that poor persons life. And if he sold it all then there is a chance that someone would love him enough to help him. It’s almost like Jesus is creating this idea of pay it forward. Pay love forward knowing that someone will then show you love when you need it.

What do you think? Should labels prevail our society and thoughts when we see someone in need? Should we so narrowly define who neighbor is so that we can very clearly justify ourselves with who to help and who to leave out just so that we can feel good about ourselves? Can an enemy be our neighbor? I’m not saying this is an easy conversation to have nor am I any better at it than any of you. But maybe we can, in a way, be like the legal expert, and admit that even the person or groups of people we don’t like or even hate, can be the person who demonstrates mercy to us, and maybe we then can demonstrate mercy back. Maybe we can set aside the labels for a time and understand that we don’t need to define neighbor in a narrow sense, but accept the broad understanding that anyone we encounter physically or otherwise IS our neighbor, and that we are called like the legal expert, by Jesus, to go and do likewise. Demonstrate mercy to our neighbor setting aside all labels and stereotypes, because in the end, their are our neighbor, and most importantly, they are a child of God, just like you, just like me. And that is all that matters. Amen.