Is Everyone Our Neighbor?

[Lamb]

I was reading a thread from a Lutheran forum and it was on the Good Samaritan and a guy wrote multiple times NOT EVERYONE IS YOUR NEIGHBOR. I thought that a bit odd since as a Lutheran we are taught from childhood that everyone is our neighbor.

I'm not sure I understood completely where that guy was going with his statement but one thing I took away was that he was saying not everyone is a neighbor to us in that they don't treat us well and some hate us as an enemy. Jesus tells us we are to love our enemies. The Good Samaritan parable shows we are to become a neighbor to everyone we encounter who is in need even if they're our enemy, just as Jesus is the Good Samaritan who took our sins to the cross so we could be healed.

 

[Josiah]

IMO, yes, everyone is my neighbor..... (I'm curious how this person thought otherwise).

That said, I think there is a tendency for us to "write off" everyone since I can't do much for everyone.... 7.5 billion is just a lot. I think there may be a special sense in which "neighbor" applies to those around us - friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, generally the people with whom we come into contact, the people with whom our lives "connect" on some level and in some way. IMO, there's a special sense in which we are to be Christ-like to SPECIFIC people, the people God has placed at our doorstep. Does that mean I can care less about some unknown person in some unknown village in Liberia? NO! (Especially if such is a brother in Christ). It's just I'M probably not in a position to LOVE that person (love in action) as much as my co-worker. Make sense?



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