The Parables of Jesus: The Ultimate Neighbor

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"  And he answered, "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." And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."  But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.  So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.  He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.  And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'  Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?"  He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise." - Luke 10:25‭-‬37 ESV

Necessity of Mercy

Context matters. The lawyer here is not a civil servant. He is an expert in the law of God. This lawyer is testing Jesus. He knows that Jesus keeps company with sinners of all stripes. The lawyer wanted to test and trap Jesus in some theological trap. So Jesus see the question as what it is, a trap. He counters with another question. Jesus affirms his response. But the lawyer wanted to justify himself. He wanted to whittle down and water down the law of God. He wanted to claim that he had kept the law of God in his own life. So he asked, who is my neighbor? In other words, what is the bare standard needed to claim that they follow God's law.

Nature of Mercy

The hero of this story is a Samaritan. They are hated and despised by the Jews. This is the standard by which we judge our love for neighbors. How we treat those who we do not relate and maybe even see as enemies... That is God's standard. We cannot do this or be justified in this. Acts of mercy are a mark of saving faith. A faith that produces no love and no mercy is dead and will not save.

Consider ourselves in light of this. We limit mercy, by who they are, because of timing, or how much. We all seek to justify ourselves in how we "love our neighbor." Mercy will cost us, make us uncomfortable, and may even require us to risk our lives.

Motivation for Mercy

Guilt is not enough to keep us loving those around us. The law of God should make us acknowledge our inability to keep His law. And from this humble place, we will see that we need Jesus; we all need a Savior. One who fulfills the law and grants us undeserved grace and mercy. Those who know Jesus will be merciful. We cannot truly know Jesus without being motivated towards mercy and grace.

Methods of Mercy

We are finite, we cannot meet every need. The world is too big. We are most obligated to help those who are closest to us, either geographically, spatially, or relationally. We cannot love those halfway around the world and neglect our family members. If your sister is in trouble the next state over, you cannot ignore then because they are geographically far.

We should focus on those close to us. The poor who we cross paths with on a consistent basis. Our coworkers and friends. We need to use wisdom in considering the urgency and their proximity to us.