In this week’s Gospel reading, an expert in the Jewish Law tests Jesus with a question regarding how one might live according to God’s ways. His response to Jesus is very traditional: Love God and love your neighbour. Wishing to draw boundaries around this demand, however, the lawyer asks ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Jesus responds by telling a famous parable …
Let me retell this parable … Suppose you are out walking one Sunday morning and get mugged and left half dead in the gutter. You can’t get up and they’ve stolen your mobile phone. You’re in desperate need of help. Two respectable looking people drive by – Christians perhaps on their way to church? – but neither stops to help. Both seem preoccupied with their own agenda and in way too much of a rush to notice you. Then along comes a tough looking African gang member. He stops and bends down – and in broken English – asks how you are. He then lifts you up and carries you two kilometres to the nearest hospital.
Jesus asks one final question: ‘Who acted like a neighbour?’ It turns out that being a neighbour is what counts – offering extravagant and costly love to a needy person, whoever they might be. Jesus then commands those hearing the parable – including ourselves – to go and do likewise – offering life-giving hospitality that breaks down and overcomes all barriers.