“Who is My Neighbour?”
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The lawyer was not satisfied with the position and works of the
Pharisees. He had been studying the scriptures with a desire to learn
their real meaning. He had a vital interest in the matter, and he asked
in sincerity, “What shall I do?” In his answer as to the requirements
of the law, he passed by all the mass of ceremonial and ritualistic
precepts. For these he claimed no value, but presented the two great
principles on which hang all the law and the prophets. The Saviour’s
commendation of this answer placed Him on vantage ground with the
rabbis. They could not condemn Him for sanctioning that which had
been advanced by an expositor of the law.
“This do, and thou shalt live,” Christ said. In His teaching He
ever presented the law as a divine unity, showing that it is impossible
to keep one precept and break another; for the same principle runs
through all. Man’s destiny will be determined by his obedience to the
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whole law.
Christ knew that no one could obey the law in his own strength. He
desired to lead the lawyer to clearer and more critical research that he
might find the truth. Only by accepting the virtue and grace of Christ
can we keep the law. Belief in the propitiation for sin enables fallen
man to love God with his whole heart and his neighbor as himself.
The lawyer knew that he had kept neither the first four nor the
last six commandments. He was convicted under Christ’s searching
words, but instead of confessing his sin he tried to excuse it. Rather
than acknowledge the truth, he endeavored to show how difficult
of fulfillment the commandment is. Thus he hoped both to parry
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conviction and to vindicate himself in the eyes of the people. The
Saviour’s words had shown that his question was needless, since he
was able to answer it himself. Yet he put another question, saying,
“Who is my neighbour?”
Again Christ refused to be drawn into controversy. He answered
the question by relating an incident, the memory of which was fresh in
the minds of His hearers. “A certain man,” He said, “went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of
his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”
In journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho, the traveler had to pass
through a portion of the wilderness of Judea. The road led down a
wild, rocky ravine, which was infested with robbers, and was often the
scene of violence. It was here that the traveler was attacked, stripped of