Joel M Bradshaw

10…You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God….11…you shall not lie to one another….13“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him…15You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great…16You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD….17“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.–Leviticus 19

1. You adjusted your life in a small way to care for the poor or the sojourner. These would have been in a socially vulnerable position.
2. The other verses dealt with people who were your social peers.
3. All of these rules made sense to the average person reading Leviticus 19. But the words of Jesus?

33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him….36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”…37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”…Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”–Luke 10

1. Neighbors can even be people whom your society ignores or hates.
2. Loving your neighbor means you don’t make excuses to treat them improperly.
3. Mercy means not giving someone what you think they deserve. Samaritans and Jewish people in Jesus’ day avoided each other and even were known to even hate each other. The law expert therefore described the Samaritan in profound terms. I wonder if he felt shame at the two other Jewish characters in Jesus’ parable. He definitely seemed to have felt convicted by the Samaritan’s good example.

Go and do likewise, my friend. Your neighbor is also your spouse, your coworker or your friend on social media who posts things you cannot stand.–JMB