Outline

Introduction

• It seems to me that our world, and what makes me particularly sad is Christians, are struggling to figure out what it means to love our neighbor in the challenging and often polarizing times we are living in. 
• The conclusion to our politics series

Jesus

• Jesus says that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27). 
• All Christians, and likely many non-Christians, believe it is important to love your neighbor. However, we debate about what it looks like to love your neighbor, who we are to consider our neighbor, and whether there is a hierarchy of neighbors. 
• Someone in Luke actually asks Jesus a very similar question, which we will come back to a little later. 
• First, I want to look at the OT context of Jesus’s statement to love your neighbor as yourself. 

Leviticus 19

• Holy as God is Holy (v. 2)
• Love your neighbor as yourself (vv. 17–18)
  • Fellow Israelite
• The alien/stranger/immigrant (vv. 33–34)
  • Consider also the OT laws concerning sanctuary for runaway slaves

The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30–36)

• Who is my neighbor? 
• Samaritans were different from Jews in almost every imaginable way
  • Religious
    • Worship
    • Cleanliness 
  • Ethnicity
  • Location 
• This parable also fits within the broader scope of Luke’s Gospel’s emphasis on Jesus’s ministry to the poor, marginalized, and outcast. 

Reminder of Jesus’s Table

• Jesus didn’t require repentance enforcing offering a seat at the table. He allowed the table to lead to repentance. 

Conclusion

• This is a difficult teaching to follow. 
• Some might say, “This isn’t practical!” or “What about this? What about that?”
  • Maybe that’s the point?