Who is my neighbor?

[Robert]

[bible]luke 10,25-37[/bible]

What is Jesus trying to communicate in this story, not to us, but to those who were hearing it?

[Bootstrap]

You could pretty much substitute "Muslim" for "Samaritan" here, the Samaritans followed a monotheistic religion that was related to Judaism, and Jews did not even talk to Samaritans - the woman at the well said so to Jesus, she was surprised that he would talk to her.

So let me step into the role of the lawyer. I ask Jesus what I need to do to inherit life, and he tells me I need to love my neighbor as myself. I'm a little nervous that I might not be doing that, and I want to justify myself, so I ask, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus tells me a story about a Mennonite who was walking along the road and was attacked by thieves. A Yoder is heading down that road, he sees him, but passes by on the other side of the road without even approaching the place. Then a Wenger comes down the same road, he comes to the place where he is lying, then passes by on the other side of the road. Perhaps they were both afraid that someone would do the same thing to them if they stopped. Finally, a Muslim on a journey comes right up to where the Mennonite is lying, looks at him, and is moved with compassion. He stops on his journey, dresses his wounds, and takes him to a place where he can be cared for.

Now Jesus looks at me and asks which one was a neighbor to the Mennonite. "The Muslim", I say. And he says, "go be the kind of neighbor that this Muslim was". He doesn't actually answer my question, he tells me to go be a neighbor. But why does he pick a Muslim to make his point? The Muslim was willing to be a neighbor to the Mennonite. Should we not do the same?

[PeterG]

Jesus was trying to communicate that "Who is my neighbor?" is a bad question; the lawyer was asking it in an attempt to justify himself. (It could be a good question in a different context.) Jesus was trying to communicate that the lawyer was wrong to look for a reason to not love someone else as he loved himself.

[Josh]

All 7 billion people on earth aren't my neighbours, unless we want to redefine "neighbour" to mean "human being".

I think neighbour means neighbour. The parable is a rebuke of attempts to narrow down neighbour to exclude people who are right in front of you, but you want to avoid for some reason.

[Robert]

You could pretty much substitute "Muslim" for "Samaritan" here, the Samaritans followed a monotheistic religion that was related to Judaism, and Jews did not even talk to Samaritans - the woman at the well said so to Jesus, she was surprised that he would talk to her.

What is Jesus trying to communicate in this story, not to us, but to those who were hearing it?

Please stay on topic.

[Robert]

All 7 billion people on earth aren't my neighbours, unless we want to redefine "neighbour" to mean "human being".

Not in Jesus' time. What was he trying to communicate to those who were there listening?

[Bootstrap]

You could pretty much substitute "Muslim" for "Samaritan" here, the Samaritans followed a monotheistic religion that was related to Judaism, and Jews did not even talk to Samaritans - the woman at the well said so to Jesus, she was surprised that he would talk to her.

What is Jesus trying to communicate in this story, not to us, but to those who were hearing it?

Please stay on topic.

I think they would have heard this much as modern Americans would hear the story if we substitute "Muslim" for "Samaritan". Most of us have little contact with Samaritans, so I think the analogy helps.

And I think that's on topic.

That person who belongs to the monotheistic religion we all love to hate was a neighbor to one of us. Our fine religious folks were not. So go and be a neighbor like that guy we all love to hate. Don't try to justify yourself with the "who is my neighbor" question.

I think that's how they would have heard it. And I think some of them would have been offended by what Jesus was saying to them.

[Robert]

I think they would have heard this much as modern Americans would hear the story if we substitute "Muslim" for "Samaritan". Most of us have little contact with Samaritans, so I think the analogy helps.

There were no Muslims at the time of the story. Why did Jesus use the Samaritan and what was he trying to convey with this story?

Is the story factual or a parable?

Who were the other people in the story and what was Jesus saying about them?

[Bootstrap]

I think they would have heard this much as modern Americans would hear the story if we substitute "Muslim" for "Samaritan". Most of us have little contact with Samaritans, so I think the analogy helps.

There were no Muslims at the time of the story. Why did Jesus use the Samaritan and what was he trying to convey with this story?

They were a group with a closely related religion that Jews considered heretical, were ethnically distinct, and lived in a different region. They were hated enough that the Jews accused Jesus in this way:

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

Jesus was obviously not a real Samaritan. Calling him a Samaritan was a lot like accusing him of having a demon. Good overview here:

Hatred Between Jews and Samaritans

Jesus used a Samaritans to help us think about religious, ethnic, and national hatred.

[Bootstrap]

Who were the other people in the story and what was Jesus saying about them?

In Luke, it's an expert on the Bible who is trying to justify himself when he asks the question, "who is my neighbor?"

That seems to imply that Jesus thinks he should go be a neighbor to some people he is not serving. He says, "wrong question, don't justify yourself, go be a neighbor!"