Welcome to the Neighborhood ~ Luke 10:25-37 ~ Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

For ten years now, I’ve only ever lived in apartments.  And in those ten years, my relationships with most of my neighbors have been uncomfortably cordial.

I’ve never had a problem with any of my neighbors, and they’ve never had a problem with me.  But because you share laundry facilities, street parking, and (most especially) walls with these neighbors—you know more about them (and they know more about you) than anyone would care to admit…

I learned that one of my neighbors sings Beatles songs in the shower…

I learned that one of my neighbors was incapable of boiling eggs, when the fire truck came…

I prayed that I would never have to learn how good a shot dear old Mrs. Fishman was, when I learned that she slept with a Colt 45 under her pillow. 

One afternoon, I opened my apartment door to retrieve the evening paper at the same time as my neighbor across the hall—and that day I learned that he cooks his dinner in the buff!

You can’t choose your neighbors.  You can love them, despise them, ignore them—but unless you or the neighbor decides to move, they’ll always be your neighbors.  You will always be theirs. 

From this perspective, anyone with whom your share a space, a place, or time, is your neighbor. 

In today’s Gospel, a lawyer asks Jesus, “who is my neighbor?” 

And since we all share this place called planet earth, and live in this time called now, your neighbor is everyone. 

So how many neighbors would there be in Jesus’ parable?

There’s the robbers—and their victim.  Plus the Levite and the Priest who cross the street and pretend not to see the poor man as he lay in the ditch.  And there is, of course, the unlikely hero of the story: the Samaritan.  In the minds of the people Jesus taught that day, a Samaritan would be just about as repulsive as the robbers—simply because of where he was from.  Yet these are all neighbors—neighbors to love as yourself, no matter how cruel, self-centered, repulsive, or needy they may be.

But at the end of the parable, notice how Jesus repeats back to the lawyer his original question, but with a small twist: “which of these was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

Yes, a neighbor is anyone and everyone—but to BE a neighbor demands something of you.  A neighbor is ONLY as a neighbor does…  So yes, we are to be and to do unto our neighbors as the Samaritan does to the man in the ditch.  But we’re not hearing the whole story if we read this merely as a moral tale… 

Let’s think about this Good Samaritan…  He doesn’t just give the poor man a band-aid and go on his merry way.  He goes to him, he cleans and bandages his wounds, and then he brings him to an inn.  He gives the innkeeper carte blanche to do whatever it takes to restore the victim back to health. 

Notice how Jesus makes no moral inventory of the man in the ditch.  He could be a victim of a random act, OR, he could be a scoundrel who just got his comeuppance.  But that doesn’t matter.  In who do we find such lavish love; such compassion; such sacrifice?  Jesus Christ is our Good Samaritan—and we are the person in the ditch; wounded, broken, helpless. 

We are Jesus’ neighbors—and Jesus becomes a neighbor to us by meeting us in the places of brokenness and desolation in our lives—REGARDLESS of whether we are there by our own fault or not…  When Jesus comes to us, he’s not thinking about what we deserve or what he can get from us.  Jesus BECOMES our neighbor so that he may love us. 

Growing up, I always loved watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.  Do you know the song he always sang at the start of every show?  “I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you…”  “Could you be mine, would you be mine, won’t you be my neighbor?”

That’s Jesus, to you—except he’s not a face on TV.  He has come to earth to be your neighbor and to make you his neighbor.

Not only is he our neighbor, he is our KEEPER in life, so that you’re never alone when you’re scared, helpless, alone, afraid, or ashamed.  He holds all your needs and cares in his heart.  He’s with you as you cry your tears; he forgives you when you mess up big time.  He saves you from all the robbers in the world; the robbers being sin and death.

That’s good news for us—and it’s good news for our neighbors—because the robbers have been doing quite a bit of damage lately.  Many lives are laying broken in our neighborhoods—and we’re no exception.  Everywhere there are people in need.  People who are broken and afraid.  People who no know hope whatsoever.  But the robbers don’t run the show.  The neighborhood belongs to Jesus—and he’s going to have the last word. 

So let’s be neighbors to each other—and be the good news we bring.  Let us who are Jesus’ neighbors join Jesus in driving out the robbers for good.  Let us care compassionately, give generously, and love selflessly.  Let us join with Jesus in bringing new life to our neighborhood.  Let us show our neighbors a warm welcome into Jesus’ neighborhood.