Luke 10: Be the Neighbor of the One Who Needs Help

Introduction

That Sunday, a good part of the Primera Iglesia Evangélica Bautista de Madrid was away on retreat with the pastor in Los Ángeles de San Rafael. At the morning service in Madrid, a brother from the church brought the message. He started from a question that had been weighing on him for several weeks: how should a child of God respond to the division spreading through our society and our closest circles?

To answer it, he did not want to listen to the media first, but to the voice of the Lord Jesus himself. He opened Luke 10 and the parable of the good Samaritan. The text is well known, almost too well known. Yet in it Jesus turns the lawyer's question around: it is not about knowing who my neighbor is, but about being the neighbor of the one who needs help.

The message ended with a word from James: faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.

Outline of the Message

1. Sifting the News Through the Gospel

The preacher notes a growing intensity in taking sides and radicalizing ideas. A civilization that has long held high the defense of certain values becomes, he says, more conservative, and what worries him even more, more reactionary and more totalitarian.
He denounces the "double standard": one measure for me and mine, another for those outside my circle. We end up criminalizing those who seem to threaten our way of life and blaming them for all our troubles.
He cites the elections of September 6 in an eastern German state, where the far-right party Alternative for Germany won almost an absolute majority. According to a joint statement from the Protestant and Catholic churches published two days later, 33% of Protestant voters and 34% of Catholics voted for that party.
He also mentions the events in Ceuta in August: "If the same thing happened in my neighborhood, in my city, what would I say? What would I do?"
What we see and hear in the media, especially digital media, conditions our responses. We have to stop and listen to what Jesus says in his Gospel, in order to filter what we live through.
The image comes from the kitchen: flour looks simple, but it has to be passed through a very fine sieve so that it is light and the impurities are left aside.

2. Jesus Confronts Us With Ourselves

Jesus always confronts the people he speaks with about themselves, about what they say, think and believe. Two thousand years after Luke, this text should lead us to the same reflection, beyond our preconceived ideas and our ready-made interpretations.
His first reaction, the preacher admits, is to distance himself from the lawyer: "I don't want to identify with him." A man who knows and studies the law, but whose way of living it makes him a bad example.
You can know long passages of the Bible by heart, read commentaries, meditate on studies. But what the Bible asks is that our knowledge be confirmed "by our behavior, by our actions, by what we do."
He does not want to resemble those whom Jesus compared to whitewashed tombs because of their hypocrisy.
We know what it takes to inherit eternal life: faith alone, recognizing the work of Jesus and confessing him as Lord and Savior sets us free from sin. But, like the lawyer, we need to ask again what is written, so that our faith is reaffirmed day after day.
The congregation knows the great commandment of Matthew 22 by heart. Said louder, the neighbors in the apartments above would hear it, and even the passersby on General Lacy Street. "But the question is whether they will perceive it in your life," whether they will notice that it is love we are sharing.
Jesus' question is put to us too: "How do you read it?" With what intelligence, what conviction, what eyes?

3. When Our Principles Waver

One evening, remote in hand, the preacher came across a 2012 film, winner of the audience award at the San Sebastián festival and directed by a filmmaker of Lebanese origin: The Attack (L'Attentat).
A renowned Israeli surgeon of Palestinian origin discovers that the author of a suicide attack in a Tel Aviv café, which kills 19 people, is his own wife, with whom he has shared his life for years and who turns out to be a stranger to him.
The film brings down the physical borders between Israel and Palestine, but above all the character's emotional and mental borders. It makes us think about those principles we believe are unshakable and that can waver when the facts of life run over us.
Jesus reminds us of the fundamental principle of the Gospel. And in doing so, he often puts us face to face with our insecurities, with principles that are sometimes very fragile.

4. "Who Is My Neighbor?" An Upside-Down Answer

When we want to justify ourselves, the same question comes up: "Yes, that's all very well, but who is my neighbor?"
The usual answer: the neighbor is the one who is close. My family, my loved ones, my friends, perhaps a classmate or a colleague at work. And closeness often stops there.
If we widen the circle a little, we let in a neighbor, an acquaintance, or at most the poor man who stands at the supermarket door every day. "And with that, I can pin the little medal on myself": the best Christian in town, duty done.
"If we go about it that way, we are Pharisees," just like the lawyer we wanted to distance ourselves from.
The parable shows that the neighbor does not depend on blood ties, on affection, or on the sympathy we feel. Its teaching is not "who is my neighbor," but "I must be the neighbor of the one who needs help."
"Whatever his situation, whatever affinity I have with him, whether I find him likable or not, I am the neighbor of the one who needs help."

5. The Radical Nature of the Gospel

The book of Acts and the letters of the apostles show how radical the Gospel was in the hands of the first believers. Their community revolutionized its surroundings and drew attention by the way it lived.
Paul writes to the Galatians: "So then, as we have opportunity, let's do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith" (Galatians 6:10).
The author of the letter to the Hebrews: "But don't forget to do good and to contribute, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Hebrews 13:16). The preacher insists: it is a sacrifice.
To the Romans, Paul asks us to give our enemy something to eat and drink if he is hungry or thirsty (Romans 12:20).
The golden rule of the Gospels: whatever you want people to do for you, do the same for them, for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12). And in the judgment of the nations, Jesus says that caring for one of these least is caring for him (Matthew 25:40).
Then a challenge to the congregation: "Help me find even a single verse in the Bible that tells me I must help selectively, help some and not others." At the first service, nobody had found one.

6. Being Moved With Compassion Is the Hardest Part

Jesus' answer to the lawyer is hard to accept: "Go and do likewise." It is addressed to us today as well.
Talking about who our neighbor is, agreeing with the interpretation, is easy. "The most complicated part of this whole story is that we be moved with compassion like the Samaritan."
For that, we have to forget ourselves and let the Holy Spirit lead us. If I rely on my principles and my knowledge, it will be very hard, not to say impossible, to be moved with compassion.
We have the words of Jesus and his example, what he did for each one of us. Now it is our turn to take a road that risks taking us far from our route, our habits, our comfort, and even the image we have of ourselves.
We have to stop and learn to look the other person in the eye, without pride, without thinking ourselves superior, and understand what is happening to them. We cannot pass by at a distance.
The priest and the Levite no doubt had an excellent excuse. Commentators explain that, whether coming from Jerusalem or heading there, they were performing a service at the temple and had to avoid becoming unclean. "The goal was very good, the excuse was excellent."
We too can take shelter behind our law, our doctrines, "our tailor-made dogmas, like a fine tailored suit" that we wear on Sunday or the rest of the week.
To let compassion act, we have to take risks, mobilize emotional and material resources, and first ask ourselves whether we are ready to do so.

7. Becoming the Neighbor Today

We know the great principle: love the Lord your God above all, and your neighbor as yourself. The question remains: what am I going to do now? Go around the wounded man and continue on my way with my principles?
"Maybe I can be the neighbor" of the one who is attacked on the roads of life, of the one who is evicted from his home because he can no longer pay, of the one who loses his job, of the one who suffers from an illness.
The neighbor of the one who is lost, of the one who mourns a loved one, of the one who is afraid of the unknown, of the one who carries a thousand stories in his head and his heart without any rest.
The neighbor of the one who jumps the fence for a better life, with a life buoy at Ceuta, with a suitcase in an airport where a whole life and a great deal of fear are packed, or with a work permit, on the way to an unknown town or village.
"Maybe I can be the neighbor, so that the Word of God becomes a reality." For, as James says, faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself (James 2:17).

Key Takeaways

Before reacting to the news, sift what you see and hear through the words of Jesus.
Knowing the Bible by heart is not enough: your faith must be confirmed by your actions.
Jesus turns the question around: do not ask who your neighbor is, become the neighbor of the one who needs help.
No verse authorizes you to help selectively.
Being moved with compassion requires letting the Holy Spirit lead you, leaving your comfort and taking risks.

Personal Application

What shapes your reactions to the news the most: the media, or the words of Jesus?
Where does your circle of "neighbors" stop today? Who is left outside it?
Behind what "good excuse" do you sometimes shelter in order to pass by someone?
Which person in difficulty around you could you look in the eye this week, without pride, to understand what they are going through?
What risk, emotional or material, are you ready to take to let compassion act?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is my neighbor according to the parable of the good Samaritan?

The preacher shows that Jesus answers the opposite way from what we think. The neighbor does not depend on blood ties, on affection, or on sympathy. The question is not who my neighbor is, but to become myself the neighbor of the one who needs help, whatever his situation.

Why did the priest and the Levite pass by?

According to the commentators cited by the preacher, they were performing a service at the temple and had to avoid becoming unclean. They no doubt had a very good excuse. The preacher warns that we too can take shelter behind our rules and our tailor-made dogmas so as not to stop.

What is the hardest part of this parable?

It is not knowing the theory, which we know by heart. The hardest part is being moved with compassion like the Samaritan. It requires forgetting ourselves, letting the Holy Spirit lead us, leaving our comfort and taking risks, both emotional and material.