AND WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR? - PART 7

SATURDAY 03 MAY 2025

His briskly eagerness, quickness of mind, and promptness of determination in dealing with the man's unfortunate situation can be rated as a superb performance. I mean the Good Samaritan's practically attained intervention and his tactical supportive assistance. More below!

Reference: Luke 10:29 New International Version (NIV)

"But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, 'And who is my neighbour?"'

After sharing the parable with the expert in the law, Jesus asked him a question:

"Which of these three passersby do you think proved himself a neighbor to the man who encountered the robbers?" He answered, "The one who showed compassion and mercy to him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and constantly do the same"' (Luke 10:36-37 AMP). In other words, Jesus said to him, "To make viable sense of the lesson you've grasped from the parable, go and apply the Good Samaritan's form of active response in a practical and habitual manner, whenever situation arises."

Pay attention to this: Apart from the good Samaritan, why did the first two persons [the Priest and the Levite] perceive and respond to the same situation differently?

Firstly, the situational analysis revealed their expression of "lack of sensitivity" in dealing with a dire condition of extreme physical attack, clothed in catastrophic or devastating effects - which bigly required their immediate action or responsive attention, and this shortcoming is rooted in their personalities, since they consciously displayed traits connected to egocentric indifference.

Secondly, our perceptions of people, things and environments are shaped by our associations, our prior experiences, our interests, the habitual influences evident in our lives, the people we listen to, our mindsets, or how we mindfully process information. All of these factors can serve as a programmatic attention effecting one person to perceive the exact same victim of infelicitous situation differently than someone else. A heartless unbeliever can never bring a life-changing response to an unfortunate person or an unfavourable situation, but a practising born again Christian with a godly mental attitude can heartily ensure that the right and appropriate response is applicable in the same situation.

Two important aspects of the lesson to be derived from this Parabolic teaching are:

1. Hearing the right teaching:

If the expert in Mosiac law had been listening to and following Christ's teaching, he would've gained Messianic principles that speak of better things than Mosiac law. So it matters the voice that claims your ardent attention. For instance, when he answered the Lord Jesus, "The one who showed compassion and mercy to the assulted man proved himself a neighbour", and Jesus said to him, "Go and constantly do the same", it implies that Jesus' parabolic homily or informative speech was an explicit factor that had influenced the expert's perception, cognitive territory or his mental origin. Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ (Romans 10:17 NIV).

2. Acting on the right teaching:

When Jesus said to the lawyer [an expert in Mosaic Law]:

Which of these three passersby do you think proved himself a neighbour to the man who encountered the robbers?", and he replied, "The one who showed compassion and mercy to him", what else did Jesus instruct him? Jesus said to him, "Go and constantly do the same." In other words, take action accordingly. Yes, the right teaching approach conveys divine wisdom and knowledge in a meaningful interpretation so you can understand and respond appropriately. So its one thing to gain access to notable insights that fully deepen and activate your spiritual understanding, and its another thing to responsibly action the spiritual understanding you've gained, as a "Phronimos."

To that effect, the Lord Jesus says, "Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is WISE, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock" (Matthew 7:24-25 NLT)...Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:1-3; Luke 11:28; James 1:22.

Exuberant Declaration:

As a wise man, I pay fervid attention to the words of Christ and I graciously act on them, which denotes the consistency of building my house on the rock. Praise God!