Perspective: Neighbors and Enemies

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Neighbors and Enemies

But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Luke 10:29 (CEB)

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You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy."  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...

Matthew 5:43-44 (NRSV)

From a distance
You look like my friend
Even though we are at war

From "From a Distance" by Bette Midler

I always appreciate stories in the Gospel that contain questions, especially questions that are raised by Jesus.  Questions asked by Jesus transcend the discussion in which they are asked and demand a response from the reader.  In the Gospel of Luke, we read a discussion between Jesus and a certain religious scholar in which a number of questions are asked.¹  One day, the scholar approaches Jesus with the intent of testing Him and asks, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus responds to the scholar's question with a couple of questions of His own.  He asks, "What is written in the law?  What do you read there?"

Quoting two specific commandments from the Jewish Law, the scholar replies, "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."²  In response to Jesus' questions, the scholar has basically chosen two commandments to summarize the totality of the Law, specifically the mandates to love God and to love one's neighbor.

Naturally, Jesus approves of the scholar's interpretation of the Law.  He says to the scholar, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."  In two of the other Gospels, Jesus lists these same two commandments as the two greatest commandments.³  In one account, He even goes so far as to suggest that everything God has said through the Law and through the ancient prophets can be derived from them.⁴

Dissatisfied, the scholar feels the need to raise another question.  He asks Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus responds to the scholar's question with a story.  While traveling between cities a Jewish man is accosted by outlaws who rob him, beat him, and leave him at the side of the road to die.  A Jewish priest comes along, but, when he sees the man, he does not stop to help him but rather crosses over to the other side of the road and leaves him there.  Next, a Levite comes along, and, like the priest, he does nothing to help him.  Finally, a Samaritan comes along, and despite the animosity between Jews and Samaritans, he performs first aid on the injured man, takes him to safety, and makes sure that he receives the medical attention he needs.

Jesus asks the religious scholar, "Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"

The scholar replies, "The one who showed him mercy."

Turning back to the scholar's original question about what is required to inherit eternal life, Jesus says, "Go and do likewise."

What we typically call the "Parable of the Good Samaritan" is essentially another one of Jesus' teachings put into the form of a story.  In the Sermon on the Mount, which we read in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says,
You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy."  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.⁵

With this teaching, Jesus is essentially critiquing conventional wisdom, which teaches us to split all of humanity into two groups.  There are people we should love, whom we might call our "neighbors," and there are people we should hate, whom we might call our "enemies."  Sociologically speaking, we might think of these two groups as our "in-group" and our "out-group."  When the religious scholar asks Jesus who his neighbor is, he is operating with this view of a split humanity.  According to Jesus, God does not split humanity in this way, even between people who do what is right and people who do what is evil.  God loves and blesses everybody.

In Jesus' parable, the injured traveler is abandoned by people whom he would regard not only as his neighbors but also as pillars of his community.  In Jesus' society, both priests and Levites are well-respected servants of God.  The traveler is helped by a Samaritan, whom he would normally consider an enemy.  The Samaritan embodies Jesus' teaching by acting as a neighbor to the injured man and treating him as a neighbor.

If we want to inherit the abundant life God intends for us, then we must live as children of our Creator by loving all of God's children.  May we learn to love all people as Jesus taught us, whether or not they are like us, whether or not they are part of our "in-group," and whether or not we approve of everything they say or do.


Notes:

1. A majority of this perspective is based on Luke 10:25-37.  Quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version unless noted otherwise.
2. See Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.
3. Mark 12:28-31; Matthew 22:34-39
4. Matthew 22:40
5. Matthew 5:43-45 (NRSV)

The Good Samaritan Tends the Wounds of the Wounded Traveller was painted by Balthasar van Cortbemde in 1647.