Without expectation

Reading this account from the Bible reminded me of how important it is to love and care for people who you have no real reason to care for.

Growing up in New England where having a friendly chat with your neighbors is practically offensive, I think that the idea of ‘neighbor’ has always been rather lost on me. However, in this parable, I think that Jesus is speaking more to the idea of aiding those who you have no obligation to care for, not just your neighbors. If one of this man’s real neighbors had been the one to stop and help him, I think that it would be easy for them to do so with the mindset that someday, this man would return the favor. They might see each other again and would be tempted to remind this man of all that they had done for him.

However, this Samaritan couldn’t have possibly expected to receive anything in return for caring for this stranger. The fact that he did it anyway speaks volumes about the message that Jesus wanted to communicate.

I think that at times the concept of neighbor can be misleading and we could be tempted to limit it to helping those who are likely to do something similar for us in the future. However, the most powerful expression of love is that of someone who is able to whole-heartedly serve others while knowing full well that they will never get anything in return.