Who Is My Neighbor?

6 · Robinson exposes the lawyer's motives and rhetorical strategy

A young lawyer comes to question Jesus Christ. He is not much in earnest. In fact, he wants to increase his reputation as a scholar at the expense of a dull Galilean peasant. He wants to sharpen his intellect on the razor strap of argument. So he has the whole conversation mapped out in his notebook at home. He knows how he will begin and imagines how Jesus will answer and has already thought through his reply. And so he begins his conversation with one of the greatest questions that mankind has ever faced. 10,000 philosophies lay strewn along its path. He begins in verse 25 by saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

7 · Robinson notes that Jesus bypasses the theological contradiction in the lawyer's question (doing vs

It's interesting that Jesus does not catch him in his words. Jesus does not say to him, that's a stupid question. You're talking about inheriting eternal life, and then you're talking about doing something. And the very nature of an inheritance is that you do nothing to get it. But Jesus doesn't bother with that. Instead, the Lord responds, you're a lawyer. You know the Old Testament law. What do you think that teaches?

8 · Robinson captures the lawyer's frustration — Jesus has reduced what the lawyer hoped would be a sophisticated debate to a simple catechism question

And I think that this young theologian was deeply disappointed at that response. Here he had come hoping for theological dialogue. Jesus was treating him like Ned in the first reader. Just about anybody who was brought up in the midst of the people of God would know the answer to that question. And so he blurts out his reply. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and strength and soul and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said, that's a good answer. You do that and you'll live.

9 · Robinson interprets the lawyer's internal realization that his rhetorical strategy has backfired

Suddenly this young theologian recognized that he had sprung his own trap. It was like a schoolboy allowed to write out his own examination. And then he had proceeded to flunk it. Oh, he had no problem with that bit about God because everybody in town knew how religious he was. But it was that second question, that part about his neighbor, that got under his skin about that he was not quite so sure.

10 · Robinson identifies the lawyer's evasive maneuver — asking for a definition — and names it as a universal human tactic to avoid obeying clear scriptural commands

And so he did in his day what you and I may have done a hundred times in ours. Face to face with a clear requirement from God, he asked for a definition of terms. He says in verse 29, seeking to justify himself, he asks, who is my neighbor?

11 · Robinson moves from exegesis to direct accusation, naming the congregation's shared tendency to prefer theological debate over obedience

We've done that, haven't we? Again and again we come face to face with a clear requirement of the word of God. But instead of obeying it, we would like to get a discussion group started, because if we can talk about it long enough and in just the right way, instead of bending our lives to fit the Scripture, we may be able to bend the Scriptures to fit our lives.

12 · Robinson contrasts what the lawyer expected (abstract theological discourse) with what Jesus provided (a narrative)

And it was in that spirit that the man asked his question, who is my neighbor? And Jesus answered in a rather strange way. He doesn't tell him that there are three Greek words for love. He doesn't give him an abstract theological response. Instead, he tells them a story.

13 · Robinson warns the congregation that the familiarity of the parable is deceptive

It's one of those stories that lies like a booby trap on the pages of the New Testament. You pick it up and it looks like a child's toy that you've played with many times before. But as you turn it over and look at it closely, it has a way of exploding and tearing you apart.

14 · Robinson summarizes the parable's action and Jesus's counter-question, which reverses the lawyer's original question

He tells them the story of the Good Samaritan, the story of that Jewish traveler who is on the way to Jerusalem, and muggers beat him up and left him by the side of the road half dead. The story of a priest and a Levite who came and saw his predicament and passed by, and of a Samaritan who saw his need and ministered to him. And at the end of the story, Jesus says to this lawyer, tell me who proved to be a neighbor to that man in need? And he responded, the one who showed mercy.

15 · Robinson identifies Jesus's method: He moved the lawyer from the abstract world of theological debate into the concrete world of human suffering and emergency response

And in that familiar story, there is the answer to the question, who is my neighbor? And to get the answer to the question, Jesus took this man out of his world, his world of theory and theology, and took him into another world, into a world where people get robbed and raped and mugged and murdered, into a world known to ambulance drivers and police sergeants and people who work in emergency rooms at hospitals. And it was in that world that he got the reply.

16 · Robinson signals a shift in the sermon's structure, indicating that interpretation depends on identifying with the correct character in the story

Now, if you and I are going to find the answer to that question, one of the things that is absolutely essential is that we have the right point of view.

17 · Robinson uses Helmut Thielicke's illustration of a child discovering his reflection to argue that correct Bible reading requires recognizing yourself in the text

It was Helmut Thielicki, the noted German theologian, who said that when you study these corking good stories that Jesus told, one thing is absolutely essential, and that is the viewpoint to illustrate what he meant. He told of a time when his son was just a babe in arms. And he held that youngster up in front of a mirror, and the youngster moved, and of course, the reflection moved. The child waved, and a reflection waved. And then suddenly the youngster's face lit up and he recognized it there, there in the mirror. That's me. And now and Then that happens when you read the Bible. You pick it up and it looks like black print on a white page. It looks like a story that took place 2,000 years ago. And the long ago and far away, there's a way for that print to fade. And suddenly in its place, you see a mirror. And there on the page of the scripture, you discover you have met yourself. The viewpoint is everything.

18 · Robinson explores the first possible viewpoint — that of the wounded man — and observes that from his position of need, 'neighbor' means anyone willing to help

The question is, who is your neighbor? Well, if we're looking for viewpoints, perhaps one point of view we might take is the viewpoint of that wounded traveler, that man who had been set upon by robbers. Imagine that we were to go up to that man lying there by the side of the road and say, pardon me, sir, but we're taking a religious servant. And I wonder if you would mind telling us that from your point of view, that down there by the side of the road, who is your neighbor? I suspect that if he had strength to answer, he would have told us that his neighbor was anybody willing to help. Anybody coming down that road who would stop and be involved would qualify completely. And you can sympathize with that, can't you? That is when you're on the highway and your car chugs to a halt and there's something wrong and you can't get into the trunk to get at the tools and you're stranded. Your definition of neighbor is as wide as the world. Just about anybody coming down the highway willing to lend a hand qualifies completely. It's when you're driving the car and the other man's by the side of the road that you can define neighbor with all of the preciseness of a shyster lawyer.

19 · Robinson shares a personal anecdote about his son's interpretation of the parable, which captured only the wounded man's perspective — a self-centered reading

I remember when my son Tory was a lot younger than he is now. We were coming home from Sunday school one morning and I asked him what he had learned. He told me that he had had the story of the Good Samaritan. And then he gave me a blow by blow description of what had taken place on that highway. And when he was all through, I said to him, now, son, what was the spiritual lesson behind the story? It was obvious that I had caught him off base. And he thought for a moment and said, well, that story teaches that whenever I am in trouble, you've got to help me. And while that's not the totality of the story, it does indicate that they're in that Sunday school class. He had gotten one point of view, but of course, the center of the stage is occupied by the priest and the Levite.

20 · Robinson sets up the priest and Levite as the ideal candidates for neighborly action — religiously trained men who quoted the very commands Jesus is teaching

These men came down that road, and I suspect that if this wounded traveler were making out a list of candidates for neighbor. These two men would have been at the top of the list. Tradition tells us that before they left their homes in the morning, these men quoted those two great texts of scripture. You. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul and strength and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. So who better in all the world to qualify as a neighbor than the men who knew those two great truths? And yet Jesus tells us that when the priest came down the road, he looked at the man and then passed by on the other side.

21 · Robinson anticipates the congregation's defensive distancing from the priest's behavior by citing contemporary examples of bystander indifference (Kitty Genovese-type incidents), then ironically noting that the congregation sees themselves as different from both the priest and these modern examples

It's a little hard to identify with him, isn't it? It's hard to understand how you could look at a man in such great need and just pass him by. Certainly doesn't seem like our kind of folk, the people we know. Oh, he's a lot like those folks up in Queens, New York, who looked out of their window one night and saw a young woman being beaten to death and didn't even bother to reach over to pick up the telephone. He's a lot like the folks up in Chicago two weeks ago who were on an elevated train and saw a man being robbed and beaten and didn't even cry out in protest. He's a lot like the folks in New York and Chicago, but not our crowd, not the people we know.

22 · Robinson enters the priest's mindset imaginatively, reconstructing plausible biblical reasoning (Leviticus 21 on ceremonial defilement) that the priest may have used to justify passing by

But I think the reason we feel that way is that we're still on the outside looking in. Because I'm sure that that priest had some good sound reasons, or at least reasons that sounded good for doing what he did. And I suspect that they may have come from the Scriptures. For back In Leviticus, chapter 21, the Scripture said that if a priest touched a dead body, he became ceremonially defiled. And perhaps this priest looked at this man and said to himself, well, he may already be dead for all I know, I'll pick him up and he'll die in my arms, and then I'll have to go back to the temple and there'll be the rites of cleansing, and people will ask questions, and it'll all be difficult to explain, and I just better pass him by and let somebody else take care of him.

23 · Robinson moves from the priest's hypothetical reasoning to direct accusation of the congregation's actual practice

Now, I confess I don't know that he thought that way. But I do know that whether he thought that way or not, we often do. There has been in the church of Christ a doctrine that has been called the doctrine of separation. And in its most insidious form, it goes something like this. As Christians, we want to live lives that are clean and pure. We want to be separate from sin and evil. And yet all around us there are people who are doing things that we do not approve of. They use language that we do not like. They have a lifestyle that seems to us to be unchristian. We feel that if somehow we get involved with those people at some point of need, that we will hurt our testimony, whatever that may be. And often, in the name of holiness, we have passed by the very people who are in desperate need of our help.

24 · Robinson examines the Levite, noting that he at least stopped to look (suggesting some moral awareness) before passing by

Second man down the road was a Levite. If the priest was like the elder at the temple, then the Levite was like the deacon. And the intimation of the text is when the Levite came down the road, he stopped a moment and looked and then passed by on the other side. Can't imagine what went through his head. Perhaps he thought like elder, like deacon. I mean, if the elder can't stop, I'm busier than he is. I can't see that I can stop either.

25 · Robinson offers an alternative reconstruction of the Levite's reasoning — ministry priorities that value the large-scale (speaking to 300 people) over the individual

Or perhaps, perhaps he thought, I'm on my way to Jerusalem to speak at the Temple. I've got to give my talk on Neighbor love to 300 people. And so what I'll do is jot this man down on a 3 by 5 card and use him as an illustration. Maybe I can challenge the young people to start a Jericho Road missionary society and come back and help people like this again. I do not know that he thought that way. But whether that was his psychology or not, it is often ours. Because there is a kind of numbers racket that was spawned in the counting rooms of hell that we easily fall into. And that is that emphasis that is so interested in reaching the world that we miss the individual so concerned with touching the masses that we miss the man so eager to cross continents or cross oceans in order to make converts, that we never quite make it across the street to the man who lives next to us or across the way from us so interested in the large and in the impressive that we miss our own neighbor on our own Jericho road.

26 · Robinson contrasts the Samaritan — culturally despised, the least likely candidate — with the religious professionals

The third man down the road was a Samaritan. If the priest and Levite were at the top of list of candidates for neighbor, then the Samaritan was at the bottom of the list. Well, the Samaritans and the Jews hated each other. In fact, whenever a Jew talked about a Samaritan, he would just call him a dog. And everybody knew exactly who was meant. Just as people here can talk about someone as a coon and we know who was meant. Yet the scripture tells us that the Samaritan saw The man and got down by the dirt of the road and got his hands dirty and bound up the wound, pouring in oil and wine to cleanse it, and then took the man and put him on his donkey and brought him to a hotel and sat up with him through the night. And the next day he gave the room clerk what it cost to rent the room, and he became surety for anything else that would be owed.

27 · Robinson delivers the sermon's central answer to the lawyer's question

In the light of that. Jesus says to this lawyer, tell me who was the neighbor? The one who knew the Bible verses or the man who helped? And that man, not willing to take the name of Samaritan on his lips, said the one who showed mercy. And out of that story, Jesus answers the question, who is my neighbor? And the answer is as simple as it is profound. For Jesus is saying that my neighbor is anyone whose need I see, whose need I am in a position to meet. It is as clear and as obvious as that. Your neighbor is anyone whose need you see, whose need you are able to meet.

28 · Robinson systematically eliminates the qualifications we typically impose on neighbor-love

There are some things that we often put into the definition of neighbor that Jesus obviously excludes. For example, your neighbor may be somebody you do not know. There's no intimation that the Jew or Samaritan had ever met each other before. And one of the marks of the love of Christ in his church has been its missionary concern, where people have given their funds and their sons to go to distant places, to touch people they do not know with the language they cannot speak. But they go because they're in a position to meet a need. Your neighbor may be somebody who is unfriendly. The Jews and the Samaritans were enemies. Your neighbor may be somebody who talks about you behind your back or slams the door in your face or does not appreciate what you do. Your neighbor may be unlovely. There's nothing particularly attractive about a man lying in a pool of blood by the side of a dirt highway. When you meet your neighbor, he may not be an attractive person. It's very easy for us to be interested in people like ourselves, for folks whose cut of clothes is very much like our own, for folks whose length of hair is what we approve. But when folks vary from that, we may find ourselves uninterested. But your neighbor may be unlovely. Your neighbor may be unrewarding. There is no intimation at all that this Jew ever paid the Samaritan back for what he did. Yet too often we can be involved with people not because they have needs, but because we have needs. The budget is large and the Church has to carry it, and the more people we get, the lighter the load. We often find that it is a kind of religious ego trip to find more and more people attracted. So let's attract them. But your neighbor may be somebody who does not stroke you in return and who cannot pay you back. Your neighbor is simply anyone whose need you see, whose need you are in a position to meet.

29 · Robinson identifies time as the first costly ingredient of neighbor-love

In fact, as I look at the story, Jesus intimates at least certain ingredients of being a neighbor. One of the things he tells us is that being a neighbor means that I have to get involved with some people, but I have to give them time. This Samaritan was not on the Jericho road for a Sunday afternoon excursion. This highway was known in antiquity as one of the most dangerous paths a traveler had to follow. He was on it because he had a destination. My wife and I have enjoyed 19 happy years of marriage, and 19 out of 23 isn't bad. But we've had times along the way when Xi has been totally unreasonable. You men will understand what I mean when I say that we have problems when we take trips. That is, when you get in a car, the purpose is to get there. 600 miles a day is a perfectly reasonable number of miles to cover. She likes to look at historic markets. She enjoys stopping for the scenery. Now I stop gas stations, Howard Johnson. But the rest of it isn't important. And there are times, because of her silly fixation, that we have had a bit of conflict in our marriage. This Samaritan was on his way, yet he stopped and gave time. Like you, I live in a hectic, hurried Harris world. It's far easier to throw a check in the plate and hope that somebody else will do it. But to give time and involvement is often the most difficult thing I have to give.

30 · Robinson identifies money as the second costly ingredient of neighbor-love, providing economic context (two denarii = two days' wages) to show the Samaritan's sacrifice was substantial

It also cost him money. He took out two denarii, two pence, the King James says, and paid that for the room rent. One denarius was equal to one day's wage for a manual laborer. So he was paying a high rate of rent, and he became surety for anything else. Any other bill, this wounded Jew ran up. Sometimes being a neighbor costs you money. But he was willing to give money. He was willing to take time for a man that was unknown, unlovely, unfriendly, unrewarding, simply because your neighbor is anyone whose need you see, whose need you are in a position to meet.

31 · Robinson exposes the 'hook' in the definition: 'whose need you see

And there's a hook in that, isn't there? There's a barbed wire in that definition. It says that your neighbor is Anyone whose need you see, whose need you are in a position to meet. And it's in that phrase, whose need you see. Because it is clear as you read this parable that all three of these men saw exactly the same thing. Verse 31, it says that the priest, when he came that way, when he saw him pass by on the other side. And verse 32 says the Levite, when he was at the place, came and same word when he saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him. So all three men saw exactly the same thing. A man who had been beaten up by robbers and left to die by the side of the road. But then again, they really didn't see the same thing. One man may have seen a ceremonial defilement. The other may have seen a sermon illustration. Only one of these saw a neighbor, a man in need, a man who could use his help. You see, the difference was not in what they saw. The difference was in what they were.

32 · Robinson universalizes the principle that character determines perception, using the art museum analogy to show how the same object is seen differently by people with different capacities

One of the things that Jesus is saying in this parable is that what you are will determine what you see. That's true in all of life. You and I go to an art museum. You know and appreciate art, and I do not. So we stand in front of a painting and you say to me, robinson, you see that picture? That's art. When I look at the picture and say, that's art, say picture. Just different people. What we are determines what we see. That is a principle behind this story. In fact, a principle all through the word of God.

33 · Robinson offers a vulnerable personal testimony about his teenage misunderstanding of 1 John 4:20

When I was in my teens, I got involved in a scripture memory program, and somebody convinced me that I should memorize some of those nasty little verses over in First John. You know, the verses that say, if a man says he loves God and does not love his brother, he's a liar. For if you have not loved your brother whom you have seen, how can you love God whom you have not seen? To me, the whole thing sounded like pious nonsense. I could see absolutely no relationship between my love for God and my love for my brother. I had no problem loving God. He was always working my side of the screed. He was always kind, always gracious. There was no problem. My brother, that was something else. I mean, when I had a roommate in college, he would turn the radio up loud when I was trying to study. He would say things about me behind my back. He had a personality problem. It was always disturbing me. God said that if I Don't love him. I don't love God. And that just didn't seem to watch.

34 · Robinson delivers the theological core linking the parable to 1 John

I discovered over the years that John was right and I was wrong. Because you see, as you study the New Testament, you discover that Christian love is not objective. Christian love is subjective. The Christian love does not reside in the person out there being loved. It resides in the person in here doing the loving. And that it was a figment of my imagination that I had no problem loving God. For by nature, the heart is a rebel. By nature, the heart wants to do its own thing. The heart wants to go its own way. And by nature, when God is in this direction, I go in the other direction. And the only way I can ever come to love God is having come to know God through trust in Jesus Christ. The love of the Spirit of God himself is shed abroad in my heart. And I am enabled to love God because God's love in my heart is. Can be returned to God. But the same love that enables me to love God in heaven enables me to love my brother in the family of God on earth and enables me to love my neighbor who is next door to me. That Christian love does not reside in the object and the person being loved. It resides in the Christian doing the loving.

35 · Robinson synthesizes the sermon's argument into a propositional chain: what I am determines what I see, what I see determines what I do

So that what I am will determine what I see, and what I see will determine what I do. And that's the principle of life. And that's what this lawyer had missed. You see, he was sure that because he knew all of the verses and could recite the doctrine that he passed with flying colors he had got in a box, he didn't have to worry about God. Jesus is saying to him. But if you're asking for nice, neat definitions about who your neighbor is in order to exclude some and include others, if that's the attitude with which you come to me, then that attitude that speaks about your brother tells me a great deal about what you know about God. And that if you do not love your brother whom you have seen, that tells worlds about your love for a God whom you have not seen. That is pious nonsense to talk about loving God in heaven and not loving your brother in the church, your neighbor in your community on earth. What you are will determine what you see. That's the truth of life.

36 · Robinson uses the children's rhyme about the pussycat visiting the Queen as an extended illustration of the principle that what you are determines what you see

Remember that poem that some of us learned when we were children? How did it go? Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? Been to London to see the Queen. Pussycat, pussycat, what saw you there? I saw a wee mouse sitting under her chair. Of all of the cities in the World that I have ever visited. I think that London is perhaps the greatest. There is the Tower of London with the blood of history soaking its bricks. There's the Westminster Abbey, cradling its historic dead. There's the Buckingham palace and the Changing of the Guard and the residence of the Queen. Here's a cat who's been there. Now she's back home showing her slides. And everybody is eager to know about the trip. And they say, pussycat, did you get to the palace? Oh, yes, I was at the palace. In fact, I got inside. Well, pussycat, did you get to the throne room? Oh, yes, I was in the throne room. Well, pussycat, was the queen there? Oh, yes, she was there. What does he look like? I mean, how is she dressed? How does she wear her hair? Is she tall? Is she short? Cat says, I didn't notice. Didn't notice? What in the world did you see? And she says, well, underneath her chair was one of the nicest little mice you'd ever want to see. Why? Because she had a pussycat heart. And when you've got the heart of a pussycat, mice are infinitely more important than queens.

37 · Robinson applies the theological core to the congregation: transformation through Christ and the Holy Spirit's indwelling love is the only means by which we become people who see needs and respond

It is only when God, through faith in Jesus Christ, has changed us. It is only when the love of God, through his Holy Spirit, is shed abroad in our hearts that we shall be perceptive to needs and responsive to those around us. For your neighbor is anyone whose need you see, whose need you are in a position to meet.

38 · Robinson closes by returning to the opening questions, now loaded with the sermon's argument

So let me end where I began. Do you love God? Do you? Then do you love your neighbor? Because it is pious nonsense to talk about loving God whom we have not seen, when we do not love our neighbor whom we do see.

39 · Robinson offers a closing prayer that concretizes the sermon's abstract application

Shall we pray, Father? As Christians, we have no need that anyone teach us to love. Because your Holy Spirit himself has taught that to us. We know deep down inside that you want us to be loving people. And we thank you for the enabling power of your Holy Spirit which enables us to see the needs of people around us. And for some of those people, enables us in a peculiar way to meet those needs. There are some friends whose deepest, most desperate need is to have a personal relationship with you through faith in Jesus Christ. They have tried in vain a thousand ways their fears to quench, their hopes to raise. But what they need, the Bible says, is ever only Jesus. And there are others who are part of the family of God who have personal needs. There are people in our own midst who are hurting. There are people who are lonely. There are people who are in desperate need of a listening ear. Father, there are people in our own families, perhaps, who are really our nearest neighbor. A wife who needs our love. A husband who needs to know how deeply we care. Parents who need to know of our affection and our concern. Children who need a chunk of our lives. And so we come, our Father, asking that you would touch our hearts and touch our eyes. And may we be easier to live with tomorrow as a result of having been here today. And now, Lord, dismiss us with your blessing, for Jesus sake. Amen.