November 12

Who is my neighbor? — Luke 10:29

Love to our neighbor seems at first an easy lesson to learn. But when we begin to study it, it grows harder. There is more of the lesson than we thought. We like to pick our neighbors, and we are sure to choose people who are congenial.

How to love our neighbor is taught in the parable. It is easy to have a sort of universal love – a love for everybody, a love we can exercise in our quiet home, looking at people in the distance, but not coming near to anyone. It is not just the same, however, when we go down among the people, and find our neighbor in some disagreeable person we cannot like, but waiting for our help, or in some enemy in need. The Good Samaritan found his neighbor in a hated Jew bleeding by the wayside. He had to get down in the dust and stanch his wounds, and then carry the man to an inn and pay the bills. It often costs a great deal to love a neighbor. The lesson is written out in full at the close: “Go, and do thou likewise.”