“Who is My Neighbor?”
Abby Fry
Jason Dent | Unsplash
This is an age old question that we see a man asking Jesus in Luke 10. In the beginning of verse 29, “but wishing to justify himself,” we catch a glimpse of the “why” behind his question. I don’t know that anyone would disagree that we should care for our neighbor, but how do we define “neighbor”? Is it the people who live in the houses on either side of mine? Is it anyone that I care about? Is it the people who live in my zip code? And can we ask these questions openly, without trying to “justify” our choices? Even with the best of intentions, it can get overwhelming very quickly.
There are a few things that we can consider when thinking about how best to follow Jesus’ command. What does our neighborhood look like? What is the makeup of families on our street? Is it mostly single parents? Are there multigenerational families living under the same roof? Are families on our street all one race or ethnicity? Questions like these can help us understand our neighborhood, and lead us into ways to intentionally love our neighbors.
For some, the definition of neighbor might be broad. It could be the people in our church small group who may live nowhere near us. For others their neighbor may be the older gentleman who lives across the street. I believe that our circles can expand and shrink as we have capacity and as God calls us to love people differently at different times in our lives.
As we try to understand our neighbors and love them well, it’s important to remember that the circumstance we see on the outside is oftentimes only the tip of the iceberg with deeper issues lying underneath.
It’s valuable to learn about the resources available in your community. If you were homeless in your neighborhood, do you know where you would go? What is the first step you would take to obtain housing? If you couldn’t feed your family tonight, do you know where to go or who to call to get food?
Notice where people congregate. Is it your local coffee shop? This may speak to aspects of socioeconomics and employment in your neighborhood. Do kids hang out at the local park late into the evening, even as the weather gets cold? This could be an indication that they don’t have a safer place to be. As we seek to love our neighbors well, as we ask questions with ears to hear and hearts to learn, I believe that we can see our hearts changed and our neighbors impacted for the Kingdom.
Reflection Questions:
How have you defined the question “Who is my neighbor?” in your life right now?
What do you know about your own neighborhood and community? Have you learned anything about your neighbors that has surprised you?
How can learning about our neighborhood and community help us love them better?
