When I was growing up we didn’t really know our neighbors. We might have recognized them, said hello to them when we saw them, but really we had no idea who they actually were, nor did we much care. We were busy and so were they. Getting to really know people takes time and effort, and it’s even harder today than when I was growing up. We often nowadays have to literally go way out of our way to even say hello to people!
Who is my neighbor today? When Messiah Yeshua was asked this question he gave the illustration of the Samaritan fellow who helped the Jewish guy who was robbed and left for dead. The Samaritan went way out of his way to help someone who, in the content of their day, absolutely didn’t live next door to him. Yet the Samaritan expressed neighborly help that the two Jewish guys didn’t, who quite possibly might have lived on the same block as the Jewish guy who was robbed!
Maybe
identifying a neighbor isn’t as much about proximity as it is about
intentionality!
How often do we intentionally look to connect with people, regardless of where we find them? How often do we consider the needs of others, even when it inconveniences us, or even costs us? This month we celebrate Purim, and remember a couple of people who knew who their neighbors were. Individuals who weighed the personal cost of caring, and took intentional action anyway.
At
the end of the parable, Messiah Yeshua asked the Torah lawyer who initially
asked the question, “Which of these three seems to you a neighbor to the one
attacked by robbers?” And he said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” Then Yeshua said
to him, “Go, and you do the same.”
Who is your neighbor?
Forward for Messiah,
Kirk
Gliebe
Rabbi &
Director
