Today's Scripture
Luke 10: 29 – 37 What Does A Neighbor Do?
29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
RJ's Devotion
What the passage says
V. 29. This man is the one who asked how to inherit eternal life. Jesus leads the conversation to share the greatest commandment; ‘Love God and Love your neighbors.’
V. 30 -32 Jesus shares the parable of the Good Samaritan. It starts with a priest and a Levite neglecting a wounded man on the road.
V. 33- 35 The Samaritan is the one who stops and takes care for this man.
V. 36-37 Jesus asks, “which was a neighbor to this man,” which the answer is obvious. Then he says, “Go and do likewise.”
What does the passage mean to me/us?
As a natural response to the love, we have for God, we should love our neighbors.
Not because it is a mandate, it is because God loved the world, and we are following that love.
However, it seems like we lost the notion of how to love God, and as a result, we lost the notion of how to love our neighbors.
We see it from people segregate themselves and push for an agenda to separate them from each other.
We see it from people who seem to only love themselves, instead of loving and caring for others.
We see it from Christians, who are expected to be the ones loving God and therefore should love others, being in the forefront of condemning others.
Loving your neighbor requires ‘giving up’ ourselves.
True love for others is only possible when we follow the love that our Lord showed us.
Who loved us so much, in order to demonstrate that love, who had to die on our behalf.
The real question we ought to ask before we ask who are neighbors are, should be, ‘am I willing to imitate that love in my life?’
Then we will be able to see who are neighbors are.
Prayer
Lord, help us to love you more, and as a result, help us to love our neighbors.
In Christ Name, we pray, AMEN
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