Love your neighbour as yourself
Jesus seemed to come across characters often who, ‘tried to trap Him or test Him’. This week’s gospel reading comes from the book of Luke 10:27-37. An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus by asking him, “what should I do to inherit eternal life?”. He actually knew the answer well, as he should being an expert in the law. Jesus responses by asking him, “what does the law of Moses say,” verse 27…The man answered, you must love the lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind, And, love your neighbour as yourself. That last bit troubled the expert and caused him to ask a follow up question, “and who is my neighbour?”
Who is that then? The person/people who live adjacent to your house? The guy down the road, or that person who lives within the general vicinity of where you live?
Jesus goes on to tell that famous story we know well and call it…The Good Samaritan! The despised Samaritan to Jews ended up being the one, Jesus explains how true neighbour’s love even their enemies. And authentic spirituality is not based on ethnic identity or religious associations, but on love for God and for others.
We may not be Samaritan’s, but we can all be ‘good’, there is good inside all of us because we are made in God’s own image. Can we strive to be a neighbour to everyone so that all may know the spirit of God is within.