Jesus in Luke 10:25-36, is asking us "who are our neighbors?" Jesus teaches us not to figure out who are our neighbors, instead we should listen to the call within us, and become a neighbor, be close to our brothers and sisters in need.
We should not see God's commandments as an obligation, because by doing so, we are not loving as God wants.
Love does not consist simply in being moved by another person's distress. Notice how the Samaritan stopped by in spite of it being a dangerous place, how he paid for the expenses and promised to take care of whatever else might be necessary .
Instead of just being "charitable" he took unconditional and uncalculated risks for a stranger.
On one occasion, Martin Luther King pointed out that love is not satisfied with comforting those who suffer: "To begin with, we must be the good Samaritan to those who have fallen along the way. This, however, is only the beginning . Then, someday we will necessarily have to realize that the road to Jericho must be made in such a way that men and women are not constantly beaten and robbed while they are travelling along the paths of life."
With this example, Jesus also makes us see that, many times, those who seem to be religious officials, or who believe they fulfill the law, are incapable of loving. It was a Samaritan, considered a heretic by the Jews, who took care of the wounded man.
For the Jews, neighbors were the members of Israel, their own people, dignified by sharing the same religion; in fact, this familial relationship came from "flesh and blood." For Jesus, true love leads one to give up any discrimination.
In our daily immersion with our brother and sister-Imuseños, we at CDAO are challenged to take the challenge of being good Samaritans to them in many ways.
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