“And Who Is My Neighbour?”

“And Who Is My Neighbour?”
The dictionary defines neighbour as “a person living next door to or very near to the speaker or person referred to.” It may not be wrong to say as it is commonly said that one’s spouse is one’s closest neighbour. Our siblings and kinsmen are more than neighbours to us.
In our right frames of mind, when we are told, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” just like the expert in the law who wanted to test Jesus, we are bound to ponder, “And who is my neighbour?”
According to Jesus your neighbour is not the person living next door to or very near to you as per the dictionary definition. A neighbour is the person in dire need whom you assist and spend for without knowing who s/he is, and doing so unconditionally (Lk.10:25-37).
Ironically the first recorded murder in the Bible was a man killing his sibling. Stories abound of men and women killing their spouses for one reason or the other. Kinsmen and tribesmen killing their own folks is something ongoing. The beastly manner in which we are butchering each other as if we were slaughtering cows send cold shivers down some spines. Yet, not too long ago we thought we were neighbours, brothers and sisters. How pathetic!
It is our Christian responsibility to rise up to the challenge to love our neighbours as ourselves! Let us decry the evil which has engulfed us so that we can be true neighbours, standing by each other and protecting each other!
My friend, your love for God cannot be complete if you do not love your neighbour as yourself! You love your neighbour by being the source of hope and joy to that stranger lying there without hope of life.
You cannot help all who are in need but you can make a world of difference as you help that one person you may not have met. The good samaritan may be a bad economist, but it is good to be a bad economist good samaritan than a priest who passes by a helpless injured person without stopping to assist. Your visa to heaven is not complete without the seal of the consul; and your love for neighbour is that seal!
Weekend prayer: Lord help me to love my neighbour as myself by doing good even to those I do not know. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!