Jesus taught another parable (a story to help us understand a truth) to help us understand just who our neighbor is. (Hint: it’s more than just someone in our neighborhood.) Jesus had just talked about the importance of loving God with all we are. Then He said we should also love our neighbor as we love ourselves. But who is our neighbor, if not someone who lives across the street? The parable helps us understand.
The story starts with a man traveling. He encounters some bad guys and he’s attacked, beaten and robbed. Two people from his general community who you would expect to help him ignored him instead. But then a stranger from another community, one that didn’t even get along with the robbed man’s community, came along. He helped the man by bandaging his wounds and taking him somewhere safe; he even paid for someone to watch over him. That stranger acted as the injured man’s neighbor, even though they had never met.
As Jesus’ followers, that’s how we are to live—helping those who need help and sharing His love with everyone we meet. We don’t decide whether to treat someone with respect and love based on whether they are popular or a good player or someone we’ve always known. Because we follow Jesus, we are to show kindness, patience, truth and love to everyone we encounter.
Why do you think it feels hard to be kind, especially to people we don’t know?
In sports, how can we give our best but also be respectful to players on the other team? How can we show love to officials? Our coaches? Our teammates?
What does it mean to love others as you love yourself? How would you rate yourself at that?
Lord, I don’t always want to be kind. Please forgive me for that. Give me a desire to help others and to include and be kind to everyone, even those who are hard to like. Thank You for teaching us how to treat others now help us to be like You. In Your name, amen.