Sermon Title: “Who is My Neighbor?” note: the following is not a transcript.
It wasn’t unusual for a robust debate about the applications of the Commandments. There are more than just the 10 Commandments; there are 613 of them listed in the first five books of the Old Testament, which in Judaism is known as the Torah. Torah means the Law. Even though the two commandments that are cited in this story, You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might”, which is in Deuteronomy 6, and the other Love your neighbor as yourself which is in Leviticus 19. Although these Commandments are not explicitly listed in the first 10, Most would agree that they do correspond with the 10 Commandments. The first four commandments are really about our faithfulness to God, and the last 6 Commandments are about our relationship with and to other people.
Jesus and the legal expert agree that these two commandments are the greatest.
But then, the legal expert asks a question: “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus, in response, tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. At the end of the story, Jesus asks, “Which of these was a neighbor to the man who was beaten and left for dead?”
The legal expert replies, “The one who showed mercy.”
Mercy means compassion. The person who showed compassion. I think we know how to show compassion for our family and our friends, but
Sometimes, we fail to fully appreciate who our neighbors are and who we consider our neighbors to be.
Reinhold Niebuhr, one of the most influential public theologians in the United States in the 20th century and a member of the United Church of Christ, wrote a book titled Moral Man and Immoral Society. In this book, he talks about these very things. Why can it be hard for us to imagine who our neighbors are? He says this is part of human nature. We are self-interested beings. We look out for ourselves, number one. And then family, then friends, then people who look like us and talk like us and have similar views like us or live close to us, and those who do not. Picture concentric circles: in the middle is self, and then family, and then friends, people like us, and then people not like us. And as the further we away from the center, we feel less responsible. We tend not to see those further away as our neighbors.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus criticizes this phenomenon.
Jesus instead offers neighbors an expansive and all-inclusive. The parable highlights this: The road to Jerusalem was dangerous. The man was robbed and left for dead. A priest walked by, saw the injured man cross the road, and continued on his journey. Then, a Levite, Levites are people who assist priests. He, too, saw the man and crossed the road to the other side. I’m not sure what it means that the parable points out that it’s two religious leaders that walk on by. There are a lot of pastors who need to read this parable.
Then the Samaritan comes by. Samaritans as my study bible writes, “Luke’s readers knew Samaritans could be unfriendly to Jews and fail to show hospitality,” Instead, the Samaritan stops and has compassion for him and then he takes him into an inn, gives the innkeeper some money to take care of him until the Samaritan can come back and tells the innkeeper to invoice him to repay whatever more support the man needs.
The Samaritan went outside of his social and religious group—to the people not like him, and he helped the injured man. He did something.
The story emphasizes that true compassion requires extraordinary action. We know how to show compassion,
So, let’s be clear: who are my neighbors? I am your neighbor. You are my neighbor. We are all neighbors in this place.
My neighbors are my family and friends, those who look and talk like me. But my neighbors are also those who live in Milwaukee, in the county, in the state, across the United States, and around the globe. My neighbors are people who vote for Democrats, Republicans, Independents, or choose not to vote at all. My neighbors are Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, J.D. Vance, Jill Stein, and Cornel West—political figures we see on screens or meet in person.
My neighbors include the people living in my apartment building, those on my street, and those in my community. My neighbors are police officers, firefighters, nurses, McDonald’s workers, and CEOs.
My neighbors are those advocating for Civil Rights. Black individuals who are against the odds building restorative communities
My neighbors are those who came to this country by boat, plane, or on foot. My neighbor is someone who overstayed his visa, a parent crossing the border with their child, or a child who made the journey alone.
My neighbor is a child with PTSD after a school shooting, a teacher afraid for their student’s safety. My neighbors are the parents who send their kids to school. My neighbor is a hungry student struggling to learn.
My neighbor is the motorcyclist on the side of the road with a broken motorcycle. My neighbors are victims of a car crash.
My neighbors are people afraid of others simply because they are different.
My neighbor is a disabled persons navigating an inaccessible building—as place that by law should be accessible.
My neighbor is someone denied healthcare, a person fighting cancer who must fundraise to cover their medical bills, a transgender person trying to live authentically, and an LGBTQ person facing danger abroad.
My neighbors include the 17% of people in Milwaukee County living in poverty and the parents working three jobs to make ends meet. My neighbors are people living on minimum wage.
My neighbors are farmers unable to compete with large agricultural corporations.
My neighbor is a Palestinian kid starving in Gaza. My neighbor is a kid living in Israel, afraid of another terrorist attack.
My neighbors are political prisoners in Venezuela. People living in slums in India.
There are more that should be on the list, but we do not have time to list them all. So when you think of one, add them to it.
Jesus says these are our neighbors.
He calls us to be compassionate to those who are close to us and people who are further away than us.
Jesus says, “Go forth and do likewise.” Amen.