Neighbors

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as if they are your own self. (This is a paraphrase of Luke 10:27.)

The lawyer who was speaking to Jesus in this passage, goes on to ask him, "Who is my neighbor," and the Lord begins to tell the story we know as "The Good Samaritan."

After Jesus finished telling the story, he asked the lawyer, "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." (v.36, 37)

In essence, the Lord ignored the lawyer's question in order to convey the greater principle. It is not a question of who is your neighbor, but rather who are you a neighbor to? The neighbor, Christ showed us, is the one who showed mercy. Therefore, we are to be the neighbor, showing mercy and compassion, to all.