“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

To that excellent question, Jesus affirmed the answer from scripture: “Love God and love your neighbor.”

However, the lawyer asked a follow-up question: “And who is my neighbor?” This is because Jesus is suggesting a contract here: if you love God and love your neighbor, then you will gain access to eternal life. Definitions are important in contracts and so the man wanted to know exactly who we should consider as our neighbor.

Who do you consider to be your neighbor?

And are you a good neighbor?

Jesus provides a story that has become one of the most quoted, most inspiring, most impactful stories in all of human history. We call it: The Good Samaritan. It’s interesting that Jesus’ response to the question here is not about neighbors, which is what the question called for. It’s about being a neighbor.

That stretch from Jerusalem to Jericho was a known trade route and, therefore, was a treacherous one to travel upon. Robberies and assaults were commonplace and so seeing a beaten, near dead person lying by the side of the road might not have been an unusual site in those days.

So, maybe the Levite and priest simply passed by without even truly noticing the victim. Ironically, it was the Samaritan who noticed as the people of that age who heard this story would have immediately understood Samaritans as enemies, as the unclean and false descendants of Abraham.

Yet it was the Samaritan who is long remembered has having been “good”. He interrupted his trip, took a risk stopping to help a man on a dangerous roadway, tended to him, brought him to an inn, paid for his care, promised to return to check back in, and, according to Jesus, was the one who treated him with mercy.

Fr. James Keenan defines mercy as “willingly entering into the chaos of another”. I really like this because it suggests that when we are merciful, we are willing.

Chaos is not pretty, it is not pleasant, and it may not even be safe. We typically do well to avoid it. Yet, we’re called to enter into the chaos of another.

Isn’t that exactly what Jesus did? He stepped into our chaos? He entered into our pain, our disappointment, our abandonment, our suffering… and amazingly, he did all this willingly.

Does the Heavenly Father want us to be merciful so that we can help care for his children in need? I’m sure the answer to that is a solid yes, but I also believe there is more to it than that.

When I think about this, I can’t help but remember my own mother-in-law, Joan, who was in her final days and who told me that the thing she wanted most of all was for her children to remain close to each other, to care for each other. This was a dying mom’s last wish and, as a parent myself, I get this instinct completely.

But I think there is another reason Joan wanted this for her kids because she understood that someone who cares about others is more likely to live a better life and experience more joy, more meaning, and more purpose. It’s a well documented fact that when we become overly focused on ourselves, we more easily become robbed of these things… joy, meaning, and purpose. That’s because these come from being part of a caring community, of belonging, and from the connections we make with each other. 

After all, we never know when we’ll have get the chance to be a Good Samaritan… or could find ourselves as the person lying injured by the side of a road and in need of one. 

To gain all this, we need to give something of ourselves.

The Levite and priest may well have been good people. Perfectly good people, in fact. But it was the Samaritan in this story who was the good neighbor… who willingly entered into the chaos of the victim.

And who chose to orient his life toward another.

Who do you consider to be your neighbor?

And are you a good neighbor?