Hey, Neighbor
When I was little and always wanted to go hang out at my friend Jessie’s house, my mom used to quote Proverbs 25:17 to me:
“Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house,
lest he have his fill of you and hate you.”
That’s a pretty savage thing to tell a 10-year-old but, then again, my mom can be quite the Tiger Mom sometimes! I used to retort, “Jessie’s not my neighbor, she lives all the way in Woodbury!” I thought it was a pretty good counter point, but I never won that argument.
Yes, my friend Jessie did not live anywhere near me, but that got me thinking: what does the Bible mean when it says “neighbor”? And how can we be good neighbors [lest they have their fill of you and hate you]?
Hey, Neighbor
Let’s take a step back. The reason why it’s important to understand who your neighbor is and how to be a good neighbor is because it’s literally the second most important commandment Jesus gives us.
In Matthew 22, Jesus is getting questioned by the Pharisees. One of them, referred to as the lawyer, asks him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” His response:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–39).
That’s it. The first is to love God with everything you’ve got, and the second is to love your neighbor. But what about all of those other laws and the commandments, you ask? Jesus says in the very next verse, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:40).
So, who is your neighbor?
A very quick dive into Strong’s Greek Lexicon told me that the word “neighbor” in this particular verse is the Greek word “πλησίον”, or “plēsion” for those of us who don’t read Greek. Again, without getting too deep into the origin of the word, plēsion means something along the lines of any person who is near or who you happen to engage with. Back in biblical times people’s neighbors were indeed people who lived near them or that they met with. They didn’t have the same technology that we have now — technology like social media that connects us with people who may live in another state or even country, even people we haven’t met in person. I think it’s safe to say that even those people can be considered our “neighbors.”
What’s next? If we’ve figured out that anyone we come into contact with could be considered our “neighbors”, how do we go about loving them as we love ourselves? What does it mean to be a good neighbor?
Even the lawyer who asked about the Greatest Commandment wonders what it means to be a neighbor. When he asks, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus responds with one of the most well-known parables in the Bible — the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37).
Jesus tells the story of a man who was traveling to Jericho and was robbed, beaten and left for dead by robbers. A priest is walking down that road, sees the man, and instead of helping he crosses over to the other side of the road and keeps walking. The same thing happens when a Levite comes upon the beaten man. The third man—a Samaritan—came upon the beaten man and had compassion. He helped him, bound his wounds, then brought him to an inn and took care of him. When he went on his way, he made sure to leave money with the innkeeper so that the beaten man would be taken care of. But that wasn’t it, he also told the innkeeper that if the cost to take care of the man exceeded what he left, he would come back and repay him for the extra costs.
When Jesus asks which one of the three men was the neighbor to the beaten man, the man answered “the one who showed mercy.” Jesus responds, “You go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).
The reason why this story is so important is based on the context. The Samaritans and Jews had a long history of animosity, so much so that they were pretty much enemies. It was unheard of for Samaritans and Jews to help one another, let alone do all that the Samaritan did in the parable. To drive the point home even more, neither the priest nor the Levite stopped to help their fellow Jew!
This is why so many look to the Parable of the Good Samaritan to understand how to love their neighbors.
There are three things that we can take away from the parable.
First: Compassion
In my humble opinion, compassion is one of the most powerful emotions we have been given. It’s a driving force that is used for the good of others, and such a beautiful gift from God. It is because of compassion that we seek justice for others, care for them and urge others to do the same.
Compassion is often defined as sympathy for the plights of others. The Good Samaritan displays compassion — in fact, it even says it in the passage: “But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where [the man] was, and when [the Samaritan] saw him, he had compassion” (Luke 10:33, emphasis mine). He saw the man on the side of the road and had sympathy. This compassion drove him to stop in the middle of his journey and take action.
Second: Action
Compassion without action doesn’t help anyone. The Good Samaritan is a wonderful example of this. He had compassion on the man and then stopped. He could have just looked on him with pity and then continued on like the Levite and priest (at best) did. But instead he stopped and helped. And he didn’t just bandage him up, he went the extra mile (literally!)
The Good Samaritan:
Went to him
Bandaged his wounds
Poured oil and wine on said wounds
Lifted the man onto his own donkey
Brought him to an inn
Took care of him
Paid the innkeeper to cover expenses
Paid the innkeeper to continue to take care of him
Promised to reimburse for any additional expenses
(see Matthew 22:34–35)
How amazing! A man who could very well have left a sworn enemy for dead went above and beyond to help him and nurse him back to health!
Third: Fear
If the Good Samaritan had been afraid, he definitely did not let it stop him from helping the man. And there were a lot of things to be afraid of!
First, the road they were all traveling on was dangerous. It was winding and the perfect place for thieves and robbers to wait for their next victim. If I was the Samaritan, I would have been walking as fast as I could to get out of the area just in case the robbers were waiting to jump me next. That’s probably how the priest and Levite were thinking, too!
Second, the Good Samaritan had good reason to be afraid of the Jewish man. Given their people groups’ long-running tumultuous history, he could have feared that the man was pretending to be injured and was just lying in wait to do him harm.
Fear, like compassion, is a powerful emotion. And like compassion, fear can drive action. Fear-driven action is rarely good and can lead to more harm for everyone involved.
But the Good Samaritan did not let fear drive his actions. Instead, he chose compassion over fear.
So what can we learn?
There are a lot of great things we can learn from this parable on how to be a good neighbor.
We cannot let fear determine our actions. Just because we don’t know someone or we have preconceived notions about someone doesn’t mean we can’t help them. If that was the case, we would only help and interact with people just like us. Jesus constantly spent time with people who society considered pariahs or outcasts. He saw their need and knew that he was equipped to love them and help them. Now, this doesn’t mean that we should just willy-nilly go out and helping anyone and everyone regardless of the situation. That can lead to truly dangerous situations, not only for yourself but for your family or other loved ones. Instead we should be trusting the Lord to give us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). We should be wise in our actions, while seeking to have compassion and love others with action. We can’t help everyone, but we should not allow fear alone to stop us from helping someone.
Like the Good Samaritan, our compassion should lead to action. For most of us, this can seem daunting. If “neighbors” can be anyone we interact with or come across, should we constantly be helping others and going the extra mile? It would be exhausting, draining and, frankly, not possible!
With a healthy dose of wisdom and our fear confronted, we should be looking for tangible ways to help others. Prayers are the first and foremost ways that we can be there for others. But then what? So many of us are blessed beyond measure and have the capacity to bless others!
Practically, it can be as simple as paying for the car behind you at Starbucks. It can look like prepping a few meals for a family in need. It can be sending a quick note of encouragement to someone who might be struggling in this season of life. It can be offering a listening ear to a stranger who just wants to feel heard. We all have different gifts and passions, and there are so many unique ways we can use them to help our neighbors.
By being a good neighbor, we can avoid being “that person” who overstays their welcome and is hated. But most importantly, we are loving others the way that we are commanded to and get the privilege to show them Christ.