"And who is my neighbor?"

This is a question that was posed to Jesus by a man at one time.  You can read about it in Luke 10:25-37.  The man, an expert in God's law (called a lawyer), wanted to make sure that he had done everything necessary to inherit eternal life.  Jesus responded by telling him to do what the commandments say, which the man had summarized as love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

The lawyer didn't seem to like that answer, though.  After all, loving God and neighbor may seem to be a bit vague.  How do you know when you've done that?  So, he further asked Jesus.  "And who is my neighbor?"  He seems to have wanted Jesus to tell him how well he was doing, and that he had his eternal life in the bag.  And yet, Jesus rarely lets us get away with patting ourselves on the back.

Jesus' answer to this question was to tell a story.  Many people now know that story as the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  The man gets robbed and beaten, two "holy men" pass by him without helping, until a Samaritan (viewed by the Jews as inferior people) stopped to help him.  This man acted like a neighbor, which is the conclusion to which Jesus led the lawyer.  The essence of Jesus' answer is not to tell who the man's neighbor is, but rather, how to be a good neighbor, without any boundaries on who fits that description.

So, who is my neighbor?  The person next door, the person down the street, the person at work, the person that lives in another country.  The businessman, the grocery store clerk, the kid dressed all in black with tattoos and piercings.  In other words, it is the same for us as for that man.  There is no boundary on who fits the description as our neighbor.  Every person that we come across is our neighbor.

As such, that also means that each person we come across is someone for whom Jesus died, someone whose forgiveness has been bought by Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection.  To not show love to any of these is to fail where this young lawyer failed.  When we pick and choose who we want to love, who we want to define as our neighbor, we fail the test of the commandments.  Since all of us do this, we are constantly driven back to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, and on the gift of God's grace, that undeserved love and favor which is ours through Jesus.

So, who can you be a neighbor toward today?  Chances are, the opportunities are limitless!