Rev. Aaron Long: Who Is Our Neighbor?

Jesus tells us we have to love our neighbor. The Old Testament tells us we have to love our neighbor. The Bible, over and over again, reminds us of this command. But the question always comes up: Who is our neighbor?

In the Gospel of St. Luke, Jesus is asked that very question. Who is my neighbor? Jesus, being Jesus, answers with a story.

In short, Jesus says there was a church member walking down the road, happy as a pig in slop. All of a sudden, some thieves jump him, beat the tar out of him and steal everything he has — money, cards, everything. The poor fellow is left lying on the side of the road, whimpering, wounded and slowly dying.

After a while, a deacon from the church comes walking by — rich, powerful and respected. He looks down at the injured man, decides he has more important things to do and keeps walking.

Then the preacher comes along, nose in the air and head in the clouds, and doesn’t even notice the man lying in the ditch.

Finally, the town drunk stumbles along — the one everybody looks down on, the one folks say is lower than dirt. But he sees the wounded man lying broken and bleeding. The drunk picks him up, cleans him up and takes him to the hospital. He makes sure the man is being cared for. Before leaving, he tells the doctor, “If he needs anything, let me know and I’ll pay for it.”

After telling the story, Jesus asks the crowd, “Who was the neighbor to the man who was beaten?”

The answer is clear. The one nobody respected — the drunk — was the only one who loved the wounded man the way God calls us to love others.

Y’all know I love the church. I love church members and even other preachers. But I’ll tell you a hard truth: sometimes the church can be its own worst enemy.

Too often we forget how to love our neighbor the way we should. We turn the church into a Sunday morning social club. We stand guard at the door, making sure the people we don’t want never come in. We argue over contemporary worship or traditional worship. We create dress codes that make people feel uncomfortable when they walk through the doors.

We send thousands of dollars overseas to support missions far away while ignoring the greatest mission field of all — the one right outside our doors.

So who is your neighbor?

Your neighbor is the elderly man living next door with no family to help him. Your neighbor is the single mother struggling to feed her children after her partner walked out. Your neighbor is the troubled kid down the street whose parents are abusive or absent.

Your neighbor is the quiet, hurting person you pass in the grocery store. The coworker you barely notice. The student who sits alone at school.

These are the broken people Jesus calls us to help. These are the people we are called to love and lift up.