Home | FAQ | Message Boards | Site Map | Subject Index | Other Resources | We Believe...
Perilous Times | Unitarian Christology | Logically Speaking | Sacred Names | Faith-Doctrine

Whose Neighbor Are We?

by Phil Maxwell 12/02

Seeking to justify himself, a lawyer / theologian once sought to justify his discriminating application of the first and greatest commandment to love his neighbor by asking Yahshua, “who is my neighbor?” Yahshua’s answer came in the form of the familiar Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which He spoke of a man who ministered to a stranger who’d not only been beaten, robbed, and left half dead by some robbers, but had been left to die by a priest and a Levite who, like the lawyer, felt the commandment to love their neighbor surely didn’t include this stranger in need. (Lk 10:25-37) On the other hand, the proverbial Good Samaritan distinguished himself by being a neighbor to the man based on nothing more than his dire need, and in so doing, he saved himself.

In the end, the commandment to love one another does not judge who our neighbor is, but, rather, it judges whom we are neighbors to. It’s a subtle twist, but the former makes NOT loving others the default, aligning with the self-righteous lawyer by only showing love to those who love you. Yahshua said, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. …Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” (Lk 6:32-33, 38)

I’m not saying there aren’t those who we should distance ourselves from, but this should be an exception, not the rule. As it is written, “Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Heb 13:1-2) Even more to the point, how we respond to strangers should be as though to Yahshua Himself, for that is exactly how our judgment before His throne will be measured out. He is looking for those who will be a neighbor to Him when He comes as a half-dead stranger in our path or someone who otherwise doesn’t fit our prejudicial estimation of who is our neighbor.

Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'

Then He will answer them, saying, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”(Mt 25:44-46)

Home | FAQ | Message Boards | Site Map | Subject Index | Other Resources | We Believe...
Perilous Times | Unitarian Christology | Logically Speaking | Sacred Names | Faith-Doctrine