Are we Neighborly? (Luke 10: 25-37)

Fellow Pilgrims...

Growing up we lived next door to a widow. Her husband had been gone for awhile, and she lived all alone. But for some reason she really enjoyed spending time with my sister and me, and my parents would often encourage us to go to her house, just to sit with her. Though she could be a bit testy, as a whole, my sense is that she was a lonely woman who loved having someone to talk to, spend time with, or just listen as she told incredible stories. So we did. And i wonder, reflecting back on my experiences with her...

Were we good neighbors?

I like to think we were, but who knows? Would we have bandaged her wounds if she had fallen and seriously hurt herself? Would we have paid for a doctor to come and care for her; if she needed the medical assistance? Would we have run over there and protected her from harm? We visited when it was easy, what if she needed more? Would we have been as diligent and as faithful? I dont know. I just dont know.

And yet if i take Jesus' teaching in Luke 10: 25-37, i have to believe that to follow Jesus, to walk in the light of Christ, and to embody an ethic of godly living, i must be a good neighbor, to any and all who are suffering. Perhaps more than that, i have to be a good neighbor to the "other." We all know who the other is, right? That person we don't like. They don't look like us. They don't listen to our brand of music. Maybe they even cheer for the rival of our favorite sports team. Either way, we know who that person is, and if Jesus' teaching is true, these are the people we must go out of our way to minister to.

But why?

Why can't we resemble the religious leader who walked on other side of the road when he saw the suffering man lying there, in a pool of blood? The religious leader was following the rules. He couldn't be near anything that might defile him. Maybe the leader/priest was on his way to the temple for offerings/sacrifices to the LORD, and to defile himself with this man's blood, would be akin to removing God's blessings, at least as far as the priest understood it. Why can't we be like him? Or maybe the question is, are we already like the priest?

Do we worry so much about getting dirty, tainting our purity, ruining our set in stone dogmatics? Are we so sure of our theologies and faith and understanding of truth, God, Jesus, etc that we know God/Jesus/Spirit would want us to stay away from our neighbors? And why stay away from them?

Maybe they are so different, so full of questionable stories that we worry they could dirty us if we get near them, so we ignore them, walk on the other side of the road, leaving them in their own filth and broken narratives. But if Jesus says we are to be neighbors to these people, no matter how different they are, what does that mean? What does that look like?

Does it mean our tables will be open to "those" persons. You know the ones. The people the community talks about, gossips about, points fingers at? Are our tables to be open to them?

If we want to honor Jesus: YES!

What about the person who comes from a different race or religion?

If we want to honor Jesus: YES!

What about the gay, lesbian, transgendered, or bisexual person?

If we want to honor Jesus: YES!

If we are Republicans, we must invite Democrats. If we are farmers, make room for the city folks. If we are liberals make room for the conservatives. And so on.

God's table, which should be our practice and table as well, should, no must be open to all, no matter where their stories come from and no matter what they might be into. Invite them. Feed them. Love them. And in so doing we will do more than discover the beauty of Jesus in a very real, authentic, and transformative way. We will do something that we haven't done in a very long time: We will find ourselves, finally. Amen.

Shalom, Salaam, Peace,
jerry

PS this is late because the powercord to my laptop died, and i didnt have access to a computer until today...