Who Is My Neighbor?

June 24, 2016

“So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” (Luke 10:36)

 Jesus was the absolute master storyteller of parables – stories that illustrated His teachings.  A lawyer asked Him the question: “Who is my neighbor?” In response Jesus told a parable about a man who was mugged and left half dead on the side of the road.  When a priest saw him he passed by on the other side of the road and did not get involved.  A Levite, or Temple assistant, who traveled that road did the same thing.  Then a traveling Samaritan came down the road.  When he saw the helpless man he gave him all the first aid he could, put the man on his animal and took him to an inn where he paid for his care.  Jesus then asked, “which of these three was neighbor..?”

This parable presents three philosophies of life.  The mugger’s philosophy of life was: “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours will be mine as soon as I can take it.”  The religious professionals in the story believed: “What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours.”  The philosophy of the Samaritan was: “What’s yours is yours, and what’s mine is yours any time you need it.”  That is obviously the philosophy of life Jesus is teaching us through this parable answer to the lawyer’s question.

May I ask you to get real and ask yourself which of these three philosophies of life and neighbor is yours?  Do you believe people are to be exploited for your personal gain?  Do you not want to get involved?  Or are the people who intersect your life an opportunity for service?

Dick Woodward, 14 February 2012

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A Salty Disciple

March 21, 2012

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness…It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.”  (Matthew 5:13 NIV/NLT)

When Jesus told His disciples that they were the salt of the earth there are several ways to interpret and apply this metaphor.  We find a clue to my favorite interpretation when we realize that our word “salary” is made up of the two root words “salt money.”

Twenty centuries ago the Roman Empire wanted to control the population of the world.  They knew that no human being can live without salt. So, they controlled the salt of the world. They actually paid their slaves in cubes of salt.  This is where we get the expression that a person is not worth their salt.

This means Jesus was teaching that secular people do not have life.  His disciples have life and they are the way the secular people of this world can find that life.

Years ago a missionary statesman said that when missionaries live in a compound in a foreign country with a fortress mentality they are like manure: they stink!  It’s only when God spreads them around that they do a little good.  Similarly, when the followers of Jesus meet together they are like salt in a saltshaker.  The only way they can have a salt influence is to come out of that saltshaker.

One way our Lord brings us out of the saltshaker is that we must make a living.  Be challenged by the reality that your workplace can be God’s way of placing you next to secular people who need life.  Realize that you are not only there to make a living…

You are there because they need the salty impact of your life.   

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Posted by Dick Woodward