A human question, and its answer
Who Is My Neighbour?
After being told to love his neighbour as himself, a lawyer sought to narrow the command with a question. "And who is my neighbour?" Jesus answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan and turned the question inside out.
“But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?”Luke 10:29
Who asked, and why
Who asked, and why. The question came from "a certain lawyer" who "stood up, and tempted" Jesus, asking, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25). He was an expert in the law of Moses, and when Jesus asked what the law said, the lawyer answered rightly: love God with all your heart and "thy neighbour as thyself" (Luke 10:27). Jesus affirmed him, "this do, and thou shalt live" (Luke 10:28). But the man was not finished. Luke tells us plainly that he asked his second question because he was "willing to justify himself" (Luke 10:29). "And who is my neighbour?" was an attempt to draw a line, to define the circle of people he was obliged to love and thereby exclude everyone outside it. If neighbour could be defined narrowly enough, the command might be manageable, and his conscience could rest. It is the question of a heart looking for the limits of love, seeking the smallest circle that will still satisfy the letter of the law. Jesus met that self justifying spirit not with a definition but with a story.
The answer
The answer. Jesus told of a man beaten by robbers and left half dead on the Jerusalem road (Luke 10:30). A priest saw him and passed by on the other side. A Levite did the same. Then "a certain Samaritan," a member of a despised people, "came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him" (Luke 10:33). The Samaritan bound the man's wounds, set him on his own beast, brought him to an inn, and paid for his care (Luke 10:34-35). Then Jesus reversed the lawyer's question. He did not ask, "Who qualifies as your neighbour?" but "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?" (Luke 10:36). The lawyer, unable even to say the word Samaritan, answered, "He that shewed mercy on him." Jesus said, "Go, and do thou likewise" (Luke 10:37). The question was never about who deserves my love; it was about whether I will be a neighbour to whoever lies in need before me.
How Christ answers it
How Christ answers it. Jesus does more than teach the parable; he embodies it. We were the ones left half dead on the road, robbed and helpless, unable to save ourselves. The law, like the priest and Levite, could pass by but could not rescue us. Then Christ came where we were, moved with compassion, and did not pass by. He bound up our wounds at the cost of his own life, paying a debt we could never pay. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8). He crossed every boundary, even the boundary between heaven and earth, to become neighbour to the enemy and the outcast. In him the question "Who is my neighbour?" is answered by a love that recognizes no limits, for "we love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Having been shown such mercy, we are sent to go and do likewise.
Questions people ask
Why did the lawyer ask who his neighbour was?
Luke says he asked "willing to justify himself" (Luke 10:29), hoping to limit whom he was obligated to love. Defining neighbour narrowly would make the command easier and quiet his conscience.
How did Jesus change the question?
He shifted from "Who is my neighbour?" to "Which... was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?" (Luke 10:36). The issue is not who qualifies for our love but whether we will act as a neighbour to anyone in need.
How does the parable point to Christ?
We are like the wounded traveler, helpless and unable to save ourselves. Christ is the compassionate one who came where we were and gave his life to rescue us (Rom 5:8), then sends us to show the same mercy.