Who is my neighbour?

Who is my neighbour?
Luke 10:27-29
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

A neighbour is the one who sees another in trouble and extends the mercy of God. In verse 37, Jesus tells us to go and extend mercy to others as the Samaritan did.

The Samaritans were not as highly classified as it were with the Levites and Priests. It would have been obvious to think that such would have helped the man in trouble to recover from his state but they didn't. The Samaritan did and saw to it that the victim was taken care of and even left security in case he needed more money before his return.

The concept of a neighbour as shown in verse 27 "Love your neighbor as yourself", is one that challenges us to be merciful to others in the way we would have wished that they treat us. Not necessarily because we know them (the Samaritan did not know the victim), but because we would love that we be treated well in the event that we find ourselves in such needy situations.

Verse 29 is a question to absolve responsibility. Who is my neighbour? This was a question asked by an expert of the law who wanted to test Jesus. He asked this to justify himself because he had answered to a question that Jesus had asked while he was still tempting Jesus.

Luke 10:25-26 25 Then one of the experts in the Law stood up to test him and said, “Master, what must I do to be sure of eternal life?” 26 “What does the Law say and what has your reading taught you?” said Jesus. (Philips version)

Verse 27-29, this expert answers and part of the answer is to love his neighbour as himself. He then seeks to absolve himself the responsibility of a neighbour which requires that we extend mercy to anyone in need that God brings our way. Most of the time we seek to 'mind our own business' and only intervene if it concerns us directly.

Being a neighbour is:

1. Obeying God's word by choosing to love others as ourselves. verse 27
2. When an opportunity to show mercy arises, we consider how we would have loved to be treated if we were the victims and act that way. verse 27
3. Going beyond human expectations to God's expectations as the Samaritan. It would have been expected that the priest and levite would have cared and not the Samaritan, the opposite happened
4. Getting into risk of the unknown and trusting God to care for us in those moments of showing mercy as He has commanded us. verse 37