This coming Sunday we consider our seventh Core Value: We love God by wholeheartedly helping those around us.
Our passage is Luke 10:25-37
This is the famous story that Jesus tells, often titled "The Good Samaritan."
It takes some work to understand the context in which Jesus answers the lawyer who tests him with the question, "Who is my neighbor?"
I will do my best to bring this to the forefront, because that is where we find the shock value of Jesus' story of neighborly love. For starters, it will help us to know that, according to the Jewish people, there were no good Samaritans. They were a hopeless case. They were confused in their worship of God. They were "secular Christians." They were a people to be avoided, for they had strayed far from God's heart. To make matters worse, the Samaritans thought they were right. The Samaritans thought that the Jews had it wrong.
Can you think of a person who you believe is a hopeless case? Can you think of a person who is confused in their worship toward the Divine? Can you think of another Christian who thinks they're right but with whom you very much disagree?
If you can, you are closer to feeling the tension of the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Jesus' last words in this story are, "Go and do likewise." I pray this story moves us beyond talk to action.
