Who is our neighbor?
by Pam Sloane
Our Jewish brothers and sisters are celebrating the feast of Chanukah, so it feels appropriate to begin with a quote from Rabbi Hillel in response to the ancient commandment to love your neighbor as yourself: “This is the entire Torah. Everything else is commentary.” And so it is as we fold into the season that gives us God among us, birthed by one of us, forsaking the power of God to enter our limited nature, to prove the love of God for us.
So, who is our “neighbor”?
A small group of us is examining, delighting in, cherishing and marveling in the words of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in his latest encyclical Fratelli Tutti. The title is the story. Brothers ALL. Who is my neighbor? My brother?
The easy answer is the one from the Hebrew Scriptures. My neighbor is my community, my kinsmen, those who live near me, my tribe. But Jesus blew apart this notion when He declared that His disciples were to expand that love for one another to all. ALL. One big family, one big home where everyone is welcome. There are no exclusions. And to illustrate that inclusion He tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Yes, we all know the story. There is a crime. Robbers. An injured man left at the roadside. People pass by. Aha! Yes, they “pass by”. Do they glance and walk off hurriedly? Yes. Do they have more important things to do than to offer help? Why, yes! Many who pass by are, in fact, clergy, people who are devoted to the worship of God. How can one reconcile this devotion with their action, or rather “inaction”, so contrary to God’s message. And who does offer to help? Strangely, someone who is from a disparaged group, a Samaritan, one of “those people” detested by the Jews as being impure and even dangerous.
We explored thru the reading when we have ignored a stranger/neighbor out of fear or powerlessness or embarrassment. When we don’t have a solution, we often avert our eyes. But we don’t necessarily have to provide the solution alone. The Good Samaritan was dependent on the goodness of the innkeeper to see to the injured man when the Samaritan had to leave. The deep ills in our society require broad solutions that we must explore with open hearts and open minds to heal. We are at the beginning of this unveiling in the encyclical.
We can, however, start now to identify the injured neighbors among us. What can we do to ease their pain? These months have shown us that injury comes in many forms: isolation, inability to leave one’s home, fear of being in public places, distress over not being able to hug a friend, uncertainly about the duration of this pandemic, sadness over the sickness and death of someone close to us, loss of income, food insecurity…
Fortunately, we always have love to share. That’s all we are being asked to do, “to love one another.” So how can we do that? We do that by doing what comes naturally to a loving person: we pick up the phone and share our voice, ask how someone is doing. We ask about their family. We listen. No rush. We give them time. We have no agenda but to “be there.” Some neighbors have been offering to shop for others. Some bring non-perishables to the Neighbor-to-Neighbor drive to support the work of delivering food to those in need in our own community. A short hand-written note, a greeting card, an invitation to our Lenten Worship… How will they know we are Christians? They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
