Who is my neighbour?

“But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’” Luke 10:29
The parable of the good Samaritan is one of the best known of Jesus’ parables, yet it is only recorded in the Gospel of Luke. It came about following a discussion that Jesus had with a teacher of the law about what he had to do to inherit eternal life. It boiled down to two laws: the love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbour as ourself. But, we read, the man wanted to justify himself. He wanted to clarify just what Jesus thought the term ‘neighbour’ referred to.
The point about the parable of the good Samaritan is that the priest and the Levite did not stop to help the man who had been mugged, but the Samaritan did. Therefore the Samaritan was being a neighbour. This was almost unthinkable for a Jew at that time – Samaritans were considered to be unredeemable. But Jesus was teaching this man that ‘neighbour’ is a broad term, referring to our fellow man – not just those of our religion, race, nationality, etc. Similarly, we use the term quite narrowly today, to refer to the person living in the house next to us. We need to learn what this second commandment, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’, really entails.
Let’s finish today with some food for thought from Matt. 5:46-47. “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”