Would You Be Mine;
Could You Be Mine;
Won't you be My Neighbor
Ok. Ok. Let me admit part of me really just wanted to post this video for childhood flashbacks, but there's a serious reason for this song. It's surrounded by the element of a being a neighbor. In Luke 10: 25-37 Jesus introduces us to the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
This is a very familiar passage and if you haven't read it before, I advise you to. But to give a brief synopsis:
A lawyer approached Jesus asking him the requirements for eternal life. Jesus cleverly asked the lawyer what does the law state (the Old Testament). The lawyer responded from a passage found in Deuteronomy 6:5 & Leviticus 19:18 which said: "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your might, and 'your neighbor as yourself.'" Then the lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbor was, to which Jesus told him the parable:
A man was walking along a road and was robbed by thieves who robbed him, stripped him, and left him half dead. As he was laying half dead, a priest saw him but walked on the other side of the road, another religious man saw him, looked at him, and then passed on the other side, but, a Samaritan (whom Jewish people hated) saw him and had compassion on him. So, the Samaritan fixed up his wounds and took him to an inn. The next day, the same (hated) Samaritan payed the innkeeper to supply housing for the man.
At the end of this parable Jesus asked the lawyer who was the victim's neighbor to which the lawyer would've reluctantly replied, the Samaratain.
Wow, that was a longer synopsis than I expected, but what really stood out to me was what my Study Bible called: A Collection of Attitudes. This looked at the the 5 characters of the parable and how they reacted to the situation.
To the lawyer, the wounded man was a subject to discuss. This is was just a parable to discover the definition of a real neighbor, the lawyer wasn't there, it was just a topic.
To the thieves, the wounded man was someone to use and exploit.
To the religious men, the wounded man was a problem to be avoided. They didn't want anything to do with the man, they just walked on the other side.
To the innkeeper, the wounded man was a customer to serve for a fee.
To the Samaritan, the wounded man was a human being worth being cared for and loved.
To Jesus, all of them and all of us were worth dying for.
Wow. What a collection of attitudes gleaned from this parable. I'm not here to lecture anyone of the negatively depicted attitudes and neither was Jesus. The who point of this discuss can be found in verse 37 where Jesus tells the man, "Go and do likewise."
Who's our neighbor? Anyone & everyone but especially those that are going through hard times be it finically, emotionally, mentally and any other -lly you can think of. We as believers should be drawn to those that are hurting, not run away from them or just casually walking on the other side. We are called to go. So we should go!
So, Would You Be My; Could You Be My; Won't You By My Neighbor!
