Again, Who is my Neighbour?

So, why is that such an important question?

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22:36-40

 

Jesus says that all the Law and the Prophets hang on two commandments, and one of them is “Love your neighbour as yourself”.

That is why the question of “Who is your neighbour” is so critical.

So, let’s examine that question.

"Who is my neighbor? Where do I draw that line?"

• Is my family my neighbor?
• Is the person next door my neighbor?
• What about the folks on the next street over?
• Is everyone who lives in my neighborhood my neighbor?
  • If so, how do I draw that geographic boundary?
  • What about those who have moved, who lived in my neighborhood? Are they still my neighbors? Or did they somehow lose status simply because they couldn't afford the rent and had to move?
• Where do I draw that line?

Did Jesus offer an answer?

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" - Matthew  5:43

Wow, yes indeed. Even your enemy. That’s a pretty broad definition.

But before we get to that definition, let’s look very carefully at Matthew 5:43.

Notice Jesus didn’t say “The Law says love your neighbours and hate your enemies.” That wasn’t an accident. Jesus always chose his words and crafted his message very carefully.

So, why those words?

When Jesus said, “You have heard it said”, he wasn’t saying, as some have argued, “I’m changing that law. Here’s a new law.”  In fact, before he ever gets to this point, Jesus in Matthew 5:17 says “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

When Jesus said “You have heard it said”, he was very specifically saying “this is what people say”, not “what the law says.” Then he said, as the one who came to fulfill the Law, let me tell you what the Law really says, “love your enemies”.

Put quite bluntly, the way I read it, Jesus was saying, “even your enemy is your neighbour.”

Talk about expanding the neighbourhood!

So, where then do we draw the line?

Can we use geography? What does Jesus say about that?

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” – Matthew 28:19.

No, apparently, we can’t. Jesus is pretty explicit about that.

What about ethnicity?

Do you remember the parable of the Good Samaritan?

Do you remember how it ended?

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” – Luke 10:36-37

And one of the morals of that story was, even the most despised foreigner among you can be your neighbour.

So, geography and ethnicity can’t be used to exclude. Even enemies can’t be excluded.

What’s left?

Time, maybe? Could someone born a hundred years from now, or a thousand years from now, be your neighbour? I suppose, but if even an enemy must be your neighbour, I don’t see why someone born half a world away, half a millennium from now can’t be.

Of course, you could decide not to draw borders and to not make exclusions. Would that fit the definitions that Jesus provided?

“… And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:20

Jesus isn’t drawing any temporal boundaries. So, what gives us the right to?

So, what does it look like if we don’t draw boundaries?

I would say that providing aid and comfort to those who struggle, regardless of race, gender, faith, place of origin, or current residence is loving your neighbor. Recognizing that we are stewards of this Earth, not owners, and that we must care for it for future generations, is loving our neighbors from the future. Honoring gravesites and remembering our past is loving our neighbors from the past. And maybe, just maybe, protecting habitats and caring for wildlife is loving our neighbors of other species.

That’s a pretty wide answer to the question “Who is my neighbour?”

So, who is your neighbor?