And Who Is My Neighbor?

In the short 6 weeks since our move to our Michigan farmhouse, I have enjoyed taking morning walks down our quiet dirt road. It is quickly becoming a sacred time spent pondering, praying and enjoying nature.

This morning I noticed an older man slowly making his way to his mailbox with the aid of a cane. He was so intently watching the ground with each step he took; I knew he hadn’t seen me, and I didn’t want to alarm him.

“Good morning!” I offered in a tone intended to alert instead of alarm.

He stopped his shuffle and slowly turned his head in my direction. A smile lit his eyes as if we were already friends.

“Good morning!” he offered. “I’m trying to see if there’s a newspaper in my box. Do you walk this road every day?” 

We chatted for a couple of minutes. 

“By the way, my name’s Harold, what’s your name?”

“Want to come into the house and meet my wife?” 

“Umm. She may not be up for an unexpected visitor." I quickly responded, surprised at his spontaneous hospitality. 

“No, no,” he assured me, “walk with me to the house. I want you to meet Betty.” 

If Betty was surprised, she didn’t show it. Harold had already forgotten my name, so I introduced myself to his lovely wife. Within minutes we were talking as if we had known one another for years. She took me on a tour of their home, and spoke of living through the depression. We finished in the kitchen where Harold showed me a couple of old pictures on the fridge of him and Betty from when they had dated. At ninety years old, they have now been married 67 years.

They were beautiful and warm. Kind and real. They shared stories of joy, stories of significant loss, and spoke of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. 

Before we said goodbye, I exchanged numbers with my new friends in case they ever needed anything (and so Harold could remember my name!). 

In the Word of God Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. An expert in the law stands 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?”" (Luke 10:26-29)

At this point, Jesus shares the parable of the Good Samaritan with the man. 

As we read the parable of a man who was stripped, beaten and left for dead along the side of the road, we are introduced to three different passers-by. We meet a priest who saw the beaten man as a problem to avoid. A Levite who sees the man as an object of curiosity. And a Samaritan who sees the man as a person to love.

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36 & 37)

I left my new friend’s home and continued walking down the dirt road toward the farmhouse. 

I had received acceptance and kindness from my neighbors due to no merit of my own. I had not yet showered, looked at my face in a mirror, nor touched a comb to my hair. However, my neighbors saw me as a person to love.

Dirty, unworthy and empty-handed. Precisely what I was when Jesus saw me as a person to love and opened both His arms and the Kingdom of heaven to me. And to you.

Go and do likewise.

Stay the course…

Sheila