part one

I've been reading the three Johns recently. I finished them up the other day and decided to read them again. I think maybe I shall thrice go through them. But, this morning, some very familiar verses in chapter three stood out to me.

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brothers in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth." (v16-18)

...we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. Who is my brother? I ask this and immediately think of the story of the good Samaritan. An expert in the law asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus prompts him to answer his own question and the man says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,' and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself'." The man then asks Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"

It is interesting that after telling the parable, Jesus asks, "Which of these do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" Rather than directly answering the man's question of who his neighbor was, Jesus turns it around and asks the expert to whom he will be a neighbor. The expert answers, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus says,

"Go and do likewise."

Our brothers, our neighbors, are those who are need of mercy. We are all in need of mercy, are we not? I won’t lie, I don’t really like the definition Jesus gives me. There are a lot of people I can think if right now that I do not want to consider my neighbors. I want to be able to pick and choose who I would like to include in my family. But that isn’t the way it works. I mean, I seriously doubt that the Samaritan was stoked to pick up some bloody, stinking wretch from the side of the road, walk so the stranger could have his ride, and then use his own money to pay for the man’s care.

These are the situations I like to avoid. The really messy ones. “Go and do likewise.” Really, Jesus? Do I have to?

The Samaritan believed something I have yet to fully accept. The battered man was not by any means a friend by societal standards. He was an enemy. He was his oppressor. Maybe directly, most likely, indirectly. Nonetheless, the Samaritan saw past the rigid structure of his culture, past the lies of division and inequality, and straight into the eyes of a fellow child of the Most High. This man knew that God had ascribed value to this man just as God had ascribed value to him.

Who is my brother? Who is my sister? Do I really believe that all people are as valuable as I am? Do I believe that I am valuable?

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.