While many of Jesus’ parables are familiar to every student of the Bible, I’m afraid that this familiarity often causes me to take His Words more glibly than I should. Unless I miss my guess, I am certainly not alone.
If you also have this familiarity problem, let’s wrestle through the topic which Jesus addressed after He sent His disciples out. Namely, who is my neighbor? Put yourself in the shoes of the people who saw and heard Him by traveling back in time with me.
You are a journalist for the Jerusalem Times, and you learn from a secret source that the man named Jesus is coming to town.
“This could be my big break!” you think. “I’d sure like to get in good with the boss. He never gives me a raise.”
So you try unsuccessfully to get to the specified location before anyone else. It is hot and dusty on that desert road, but you wait for hours without air conditioning, just to get a glimpse of this mysterious rabbi.
When you finally see someone who fits His description, you jump out of your car and inch closer. An unbelievable crowd has formed, but you just have to get that interview.
The humble, peasant-like Nazarene has a group of ragtag followers that He instructs. You can just make them out as you squint through your binoculars.
Then a few people leave, and you are able to come a bit closer. You can barely hear Him, but it sounds as though He has commissioned His disciples to go ahead of Him on some kind of mission.
The crowd is spellbound as a young man comes out of nowhere, and brusquely elbows his way up to Jesus. You can tell he has something urgent on his mind, so you lean forward to catch everything he says. Without an Internet connection, you have to furiously scribble down notes by hand as the action unfolds.
Then you get a clearer view, and recognize Jesus’ questioner. You’ve seen him before on the street corner, always talking about everything he has done for God in a self-righteous manner. As if that weren’t enough, he’s always thumping his Bible, claiming to be an expert in the Jewish law. Now he stands toe-to-toe with the charismatic would-be savior.
“This is better than any interview!” you say to yourself, so you listen closer.
“Teacher,” the young man demands in a saccharine voice, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replies. “How do you read it?”
With his nose in the air, the young man answers, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. And also, love your neighbor as yourself.”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replies. “Do this and you will live.”
Longing to to justify himself in front of a captive audience, the young lawyer asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

We are all familiar with the beautiful story which follows as Jesus addressed the lawyer’s question, but for our purposes we won’t discuss the Good Samaritan today. Instead, we need to compare our half-hearted brand of Christianity with the all-consuming love for God which the Bible promotes.
One man, Wilbur Rees, shows us what this love is not in the quote which follows.
“I would like to buy $3 worth of God please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 dollars worth of God please.”
The lawyer who came to Jesus in our opening story also wanted $3 worth of God. Like most of us, he wanted a comfortable cushion of eternal life, without the cost of loving his neighbor. However, the apostle John asks, “How we can say we love God, if we don’t display love for our fellow man?”
This is a life-long journey, but when you face difficult situations, ask God to fill you with His love. Then, show someone that love, remembering that when you do something for one of the least among us, you do it for Him.
Thank you for reading this, and may the Lord give you a wonderful week! We are trying to reach people who are hurting, so if God lays it on your heart, please consider becoming a partner with us. If you would like to make a donation, please visit www.hcmachaplains.org and click on the Donate Now link. You can also send donations by mail to HCMA (Healthcare Chaplains Ministry Association). Our ID number is 560. The address is 101 S Kraemer BLVD, Suite 123A, Placentia, CA 92870.
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If you have questions, comments or prayer requests for Timothy or Stephanie Burdick, please call 507-369-6861.