Who Is My Neighbor?

By
Luke 10:25-29
A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?”
He responded, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”
But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus,   “But who is my neighbor?”
Who is my neighbor?  It's the question that moves us from thinking to acting, from theoretical to actual.  It's the question that turns us into genuine Christians.
It's easy to say that we know what Jesus teaches us:  Love God and Love Your Neighbor.  Actually living it is a different story.  Jesus answered the legal expert's question by telling a story...the story of the Good Samaritan.  A story so familiar to many of us that we hardly think of it as radical or challenging.  Of course we'd stop to help someone beaten up by the side of the road!  Wouldn't we??
That's not how the story plays out, though.  Two good, upstanding church people (a priest and a holy man) cross to the other side of the road to avoid having to help the battered victim.  It's the Samaritan that stops to help.  Telling Jewish people in Jesus' day that a Samaritan was the one who truly loved God and neighbor was like a slap in the face.  Samaritans were bad, unclean, unholy people (from the Jews' viewpoint).  Yet here is Jesus lifting up the despised person as a hero--the one who truly acted the way God wants us to act.  The perceived dividing line between the Jews and the Samaritans was unimportant to Jesus.  His only concern was that this man behaved in a loving way toward someone he did not even know.
Today has been an interesting day.  We're moving forward on the Navajo COVID Relief project.  Native Grace church council has decided what they want to include in food and supply boxes to be delivered on the reservation.  I'm so pleased that they are taking the leadership and decision-making.  I'm very happy to be the "logistics" person--figuring out how to procure everything needed.  I spent a lot of time on the phone today, and I was humbled and overwhelmed by the generosity I discovered.  I called the Cortez Milling Company to place an order for bags of Bluebird flour.  By the end of the phone call, they had donated 2,000 lbs of flour.  I called Adobe Bean Company in Dove Creek to place an order.  By the time that conversation ended, they had donated 500 lbs of beans.  I didn't ask for donations!  We have money given to us from the Mountain Sky Conference UMC.  We can buy stuff. I didn't ask for donations, but folks generously offered anyway.
These companies likely do not know the people who will be receiving their products.  In this age of coronavirus, too many businesses are actually raising prices on essentials so that they can make more profit.  But today--here in Cortez & Dove Creek, CO--folks offered help even without being asked for it.  God bless them!  I thank God for this beautiful reminder that we can always find humbling examples of loving neighbors--even in unexpected places!.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  And who is my neighbor?  Everyone, everywhere, all the time.  
Prayer Requests: Marshall Roberts has returned home and now faces decisions regarding his medical options.  Please pray for wisdom and grace for Marshall and his daughter Marsha.  Please offer prayer support to Bishop Karen Oliveto, her spouse, Robin, and their whole family--Bishop Karen's mother died on April 19.  
Peace and all good,                                                                                                                     Pastor Jean

Maggie Love and Mike Anderegg call this photo, "Pushing Spring" as they start their garden plants in a sunny indoor spot.  😁

Please continue to send photos of signs of Spring from your home or property!  We all need to admire these symbols of Hope!

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