Who Is My Neighbor?

Today I read a short devotional excerpt by Henri Nouwen that jumped out:
"Love your neighbor as yourself" the Gospel says (Matthew 22:38). But who is my neighbor? We often respond to that question by saying: "My neighbors are all the people I am living with on this earth, especially the sick, the hungry, the dying, and all who are in need." But this is not what Jesus says. When Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan (see Luke 10:29-37) to answer the question "Who is my neighbor?" he ends the [parable] by asking, "Which, ... do you think, proved himself a neighbor to the man who fell into the bandits' hands?" The neighbor, Jesus makes clear, is not the poor man laying on the side of the street, stripped, beaten, and half dead, but the Samaritan who crossed the road, "bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, ... lifted him onto his own mount and took him to an inn and looked after him." My neighbor is the one who crosses the road for me!
I admit, this flipped my head upside down. True, over the years it occasionally struck me a bit puzzling that Jesus offered the answer he gave, providing what seems like an answer to a different question: "To whom should I be a neighbor?"
Then I wondered if it was nothing but a clever mental gymnastic: interesting but insignificant. After all, the story has the same conclusion either way.
But what changes is: who am I in the question of "Who is my neighbor?" And there is the rub.
For of course, in my mind I am the potential Good Samaritan. I am the empowered, the resourced. And therefore that this is a story to evoke roughly a 'noblesse oblige' response--the obligation of the fortunate (literally those born into nobility) to bestow voluntary charity on the unfortunate.
But Nouwen is right: Jesus didn't intend this top-down view in his story. Once again, our cultural overlay has tweaked my interpretation.
For Jesus answered the scribe who wished to justify himself by asking, "Who is my neighbor?" with the story of a Jewish man beaten and helpless and then asks: ‘who is this man's neighbor?’ So by telling the story in this way, surely in some measure he wants us too to see ourselves as the one in need, in need of a neighbor like that.
And in terms of an attitude of ministry, that makes all the difference. I am not a beneficent benefactor bestowing blessing from my impenetrable perch, but a fellow traveler, just as vulnerable and needy, with just as much to receive as to give. Today I am the one coming upon a waylaid fellow traveler; tomorrow I may need a fellow traveler to stop and tend to my wounds.
The story ends with Jesus' words "Go and do likewise."
Go, knowing we travel the same path of mottled shadowlands and light. Go, keeping an eye on the ditches for those waylaid. Go, remembering that we each will play both roles in the story, sometimes the helpless, sometimes the helping. (And too often the disavowing passerby in need of forgiveness.) Go, viewing everyone at eye level, the common road our equalizer, replacing "noblesse oblige" with Jesus' paradigm—that of the wounded healer.
Then, when we go, we will walk gingerly, admitting our common need for one another, for Good Samaritans, and for a Good Shepherd.
Cory
7-20-08

What is Eaten in One Week around the World

What is Eaten in One Week around the World
Friends, Here's a different sort of entry without comment... the photos and captions say a mouthful. See this link from a seminarian's blog (whom I don't know at all nor endorse) who has these powerful photos and captions posted... http://approachingnorth.blogspot.com/2008/02/what-is-eaten-in-one-week-around-world_25.html
I hope you'll take a moment to study them carefully & prayerfully. In light of the current global food crisis, it's important to note that those who are eating the least will be the most negatively impacted and least able to afford higher prices for basic commodities.
Finally, please be in prayer this week for the G8 Summit, as the leaders of the wealthy nations discuss global issues, and how they spend their time can have a major impact on "the least of these our brothers and sisters." See the prayer request below for more... Cory
Dear colleagues, The leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK and USA – will be gathering in Hokkaido-Toyako, Japan for the annual G8 meeting beginning next week. The decisions taken between 7-9 July will impact the lives of the most vulnerable people on our planet – those whom World Vision is serving every day – and the actions taken could mean life or death for thousands of children. Therefore, I am calling on the whole World Vision Partnership to join together to pray that the outcome of these meetings will benefit the poor. In particular, pray that the G8 leaders: * Provide a detailed timetable with annual targets to show how they plan to meet their 2005 aid commitments to developing countries; * Support health in developing countries with long-term funding for health systems so the world has a chance of achieving the Millennium Development Goals for health, especially maternal and child health, HIV and AIDS, education and water and sanitation; * Come up with the funding they promised to give to reduce the number of children infected with HIV as a result of mother-to-child transmission and to protect children who have lost their loved ones to AIDS; * Take urgent action to tackle climate change in a way that will benefit the poor. * Act quickly and decisively in response to increased hunger and undernutrition, especially among children, due to the rise in global food prices.