The World Is Your Neighborhood

The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galatians 5:14, NIV

If our English word neighbor had stuck to its etymological roots, determining who our neighbor is might have been a bit easier. Neighbor is derived from a German word that was a compound made up of “near” and “dweller, especially a farmer.” In other words, in centuries-ago Germany, a nahgabur was someone, likely another farmer, whom you knew because he lived near you.

But when Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, He established a definition that predated Europe’s Middle Ages. Your neighbor is not necessarily someone who lives near you, nor does it have to be someone with whom you are acquainted. According to Jesus in Luke 10:25-37, your neighbor is any person who has a need that you are able to meet. Jesus made the point in His parable that the man the Good Samaritan helped was a stranger—not a “near-dweller.” Yet the Samaritan assumed the responsibility for doing everything he could to help.

Today we think of neighbors as those who live on our street or in our neighborhood. Yet, using Jesus’ definition, we have many more neighbors than those. We need to broaden the boundaries of our neighborhood to include the whole world.

If my heart is right with God, every human being is my neighbor.

OSWALD CHAMBERS