Luke 10:25–29 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

An ongoing advertising campaign for an insurance company claims that they will there for you“like a good neighbor.” They have a spokesman, Jake, who assures you that they will treat you “like a good neighbor.”

Good neighbors are important. You know this to be true if you have ever had a bad neighbor. Social media is full of videos of neighbors treating each other horribly over trivial things. But a good neighbor makes your life pleasant and easier.

In the reading above, the expert in the Law correctly summarized God’s Law as telling us to love God and love our neighbor. Jesus told him to do that, so the expert, perhaps trying to find a loophole, asked “Who is my neighbor?”  The following verses contain the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-36). Jesus explained in this parable how to be a good neighbor. He also showed us how to be a good neighbor by the way He lived.

Love for you neighbor is important. And Jesus explains that we should view everyone else in the world as our neighbor.

This past Saturday I joined hundreds of other people in Denison, Texas for “The Big Event.” We worked in groups to do clean up projects for people all over town who were in need of assistance for various reasons. It was a joy to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this way, even though I didn’t know the people whose yard we were cleaning up.

I want to do things like this because I know the love God has shown me in Christ. I have been given life and forgiveness I do not deserve instead of the condemnation and death I do deserve. With that certainty my life, I want to be a good neighbor to those who are in need. That is what the followers of Jesus are called to do.

Romans 13:10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 15:2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

Lord, help me to be like a good neighbor today and every day.