Thinking about freedom of religion and where my citizenship really is has gotten me thinking.
...then I watched a baby being pulled out of rubble last night. Buried and, after a couple days, still breathing and alive.
...and I got to thinking, who is my neighbor? The New Testament is littered with "love your neighbor" passages. Then, in Luke 10 we see some hotshot lawyer asking Christ who his neighbor really is. So, Jesus provides us with the parable of the good Samaritan. A parable that many are familiar with. In fact, we even have "good Samaritan" laws and those are not named coincidentally.
We have a man being robbed, beaten, and left for dead. We have a priest and a Levite (who were of the priestly line) both seeing him and quickly moving on. Then we have a Samaritan. A man who is culturally different. Who is usually despised by Jews. Who in NO way needed to feel any obligation to help this man. Yet he did anyway.
What is Jesus' point? When we talk about "love your neighbor" we are not talking about the people who live next to you. In fact, one could argue that it is anyone that you see who is in need. I am not naive. I know how hard that can be in our day and age. It's hard to know if the guy on the street needs money for food and to get home or to go waste it. I hate having to make that judgment but dishonesty of some has created a problem for many. At the same time, I hear of earthquakes half-way around the world and I wonder what we can do to help our neighbor.
I also wonder what religious freedom has to do with loving ones neighbor. I then answer that wondering with a resounding "Nothing!" It is simply irrelevant. Remember that Christianity wasn't even a legal religion until the 4th century when Constantine made it so. Christians were always the persecuted underdogs. That did not invalidate the commands of the Bible or the command to love ones neighbor.
No law that the United States can pass will ever remove the "love your neighbor..." commands. They will not just apply to Christians and you might even say that they specifically don't apply to Christians. That man on the road was not a Samaritan, but the Samaritan was a neighbor to him. May God give us the strength to be the same.
To God be the glory.
...then I watched a baby being pulled out of rubble last night. Buried and, after a couple days, still breathing and alive.
...and I got to thinking, who is my neighbor? The New Testament is littered with "love your neighbor" passages. Then, in Luke 10 we see some hotshot lawyer asking Christ who his neighbor really is. So, Jesus provides us with the parable of the good Samaritan. A parable that many are familiar with. In fact, we even have "good Samaritan" laws and those are not named coincidentally.
We have a man being robbed, beaten, and left for dead. We have a priest and a Levite (who were of the priestly line) both seeing him and quickly moving on. Then we have a Samaritan. A man who is culturally different. Who is usually despised by Jews. Who in NO way needed to feel any obligation to help this man. Yet he did anyway.
What is Jesus' point? When we talk about "love your neighbor" we are not talking about the people who live next to you. In fact, one could argue that it is anyone that you see who is in need. I am not naive. I know how hard that can be in our day and age. It's hard to know if the guy on the street needs money for food and to get home or to go waste it. I hate having to make that judgment but dishonesty of some has created a problem for many. At the same time, I hear of earthquakes half-way around the world and I wonder what we can do to help our neighbor.
I also wonder what religious freedom has to do with loving ones neighbor. I then answer that wondering with a resounding "Nothing!" It is simply irrelevant. Remember that Christianity wasn't even a legal religion until the 4th century when Constantine made it so. Christians were always the persecuted underdogs. That did not invalidate the commands of the Bible or the command to love ones neighbor.
No law that the United States can pass will ever remove the "love your neighbor..." commands. They will not just apply to Christians and you might even say that they specifically don't apply to Christians. That man on the road was not a Samaritan, but the Samaritan was a neighbor to him. May God give us the strength to be the same.
To God be the glory.
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