Who's My Brother?

June 9

Who is my neighbor? Who is my brother? Questions such as these arise essentially because we’re trying to find some ‘wiggle room’ for ourselves. We don’t want to feel obligated to anyone—especially if it requires an investment of our time or money in their behalf—so we want to be sure we streamline the list of people to whom we’re beholdin’.

A scholar of the law posed the question of just who is indeed his neighbor to Jesus in Luke 10:29. The Lord answered with a parable. He told the story of a traveler who was attacked, robbed, and left for dead along the side of a road. A priest, then a Levite passed by without helping the stricken man. However, a Samaritan stopped to not only help the man but to pay for his on-going care until he recovered. (See Luke 10:30-36).

Jesus concluded the parable with the question, “Who do you think was his neighbor?” Of course, the answer was obvious to His listeners. It was the despised Samaritan who evidenced the role of a neighbor, of a brother, to the bruised and bleeding stranger. Neither the priest nor the Levite (those entrusted with the performance of holy duties) extended any concern for the man.

In I John 2:10, the beloved Apostle affirms the tremendous advantage of being like the Samaritan. Here he says, “Whoever loves his brother lives in the light and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.” When the law of love governs a man’s actions, there is nothing in him that can cause him to fall from the high estate to which he’s been called—called to be like Jesus who gave Himself for strangers and sinners.