Friends and Neighbors

January 23, 2018

The greatest commandment, Jesus said, is to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength. The second greatest is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Having said this, he was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” to which he answered with the story of the Good Samaritan, at the end of which he turned the question on its head. According to Jesus, the question is not, “Who is my neighbor,” but , “To whom am I being a good neighbor?” We tend to think of neighborliness as the responsibility of someone else. Jesus put the burden on us. I’ve seen un-neighborly people become good neighbors when someone put forth the effort to be a good neighbor no matter what kind of response they received. Had they responded in the same manner as the unneighborly neighbor, no one would be talking to anyone else.

The problem is multifold. Too many Christians are less than neighborly. Pettiness, judgmentalism, and the fear of unchristian behavior somehow rubbing off on them has kept many a Christian isolated from the people who need Christ most. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s the Christian who needs Christ most. 

On the other hand, some of us have more friends than we can handle. Church activities and church friends occupy so much of our time that many of us have few, if any, friends outside the church. Feeling guilty about this doesn’t help. There are people all around us who are so starved for friendship that even small overtures are jumped on like a drowning man leaps for a life ring. It’s sad that even crumbs of friendship are eagerly eaten by so many. 

I am one of the fortunate few who have so many neighbors and friends that I cannot possibly attend to them all as I’d like. I am grateful for them all, and pray that I can recognize and respond to those who need friendship most of all.