"Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
He [Jesus] said to him [the lawyer], "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."
"You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
And Jesus replied, telling the story of the good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite, and the traveler who was robbed and left for dead.
v. 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He [the lawyer] said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."
The lawyer was probably thinking to Jesus' concise answer, "Just a minute! You're going too fast here, Jesus. We haven't defined our terms yet. And you know what happens if we don't define things properly. What if I rush out and love somebody, only to find that he isn't my neighbor? The parable and command, are as if Jesus were saying, "Stop theorizing, please; stop your discussions; just go and obey. Whoever is in need is your neighbor, and to meet his need as best you can is to love him."
"In the case of the man who was born blind (see Mark 8:22-26), Jesus healed him by touching him twice. The first time the man saw people like trees walking around, and the second time he saw clearly. Most of us are like that. To see people as Jesus sees them, we need a second touch. We've had one touch from God and we see people like trees. Trees are good for shade, for wood, for fruit; they are useful to us. But it's not until we are touched a second time that "tree" people (who may be useful to us) become people for whom we can be of some use.
"Of course, that begs a question; Jesus isn't here in the flesh anymore. We can't run to Him literally and say, 'Put spit upon my eyes and help me see.' How do we get the second touch?
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.... There are not ordinary people. You have never talked with a mere mortal.... But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.... Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.
" " taken from The Weight of Glory, Loving God With All You've Got, and Luke 10.
