He was a neighbour in every sense of the word. He lived about a quarter of a mile away but he couldn't have been any closer. Often he would call in to chat with dad about the price of cattle and to catch up on the news from around the countryside and almost always he stayed longer than he intended, though it was never unexpected. But he never seemed to be in a rush to get anywhere or to do anything. He just made time to spend with his neighbours. When dad needed help, he was there, when we needed to take cattle to market, his lorry was at the gate and when there was a crisis, he would drop everything and be ready and waiting for the call. In fact he was so concerned about being a good neighbour that quite often he neglected his own work in favour of helping others and so he never made his fortune. And it wasn't just the few families in the lane that he considered to be his neighbours, for there were many others, living miles away from his home, who found him to be a willing helper. Indeed distance made no difference for he to him, everyone who needed help was a neighbour, often to the detriment of his own enterprises. He also had a passion for vehicles of various kinds, most of his farming machinery being second or third hand but always in good working order and he owned more cars than I can recall though none of them he kept for any length of time. Most were pretty well worn by the time they arrived at his doorstep so, wisely, he wasn't putting his life savings into something that would depreciate the minute he bought it. In fact it's unlikely that any of his cars had any depreciating value left, so he rarely sold one after he decided to change, for it was much easier to drive and park it along the hedge at the orchard that sat adjacent to the back of his homestead. So after quite a few years, that whole area resembled a car graveyard and I guess any vehicle that he owned probably knew it wouldn't be leaving. And even though at different times, his lorry, tractor and car were not the best risers in the morning, he just seemed to know how to start them when everyone else might have given up hope. Once I remember dad getting a call somewhere around midnight and having to drive twenty miles to lift him when his latest purchase had 'calved' at the side of the main road and ended up in the ditch. We brought him and his fiancee home that night but his car never followed. Still, he was a great neighbour, loyal to his friends and always helpful and I know dad missed him when he relocated to Scotland. Yet all the while he was away, he always came over to see his neighbours a couple of times a year and just recently moved back across the water to live in our province among old friends.
He was a neighbour in every sense of the word. Except he shouldn't have been. He was a Samaritan and the man he was just about to help was considered his worst enemy, a Jew. Other so called neighbours had made no effort to assist the badly beaten body that they passed on the road, even a minister turning a blind eye to the problem. But he wasn't like them and so wanted to help that he realised it was a risk to his reputation, if not his life and certainly he would gain no benefit from his actions, apart form the satisfaction if helping someone in need. It was all about self sacrifice, putting others before himself, using his money for someone else's benefit and really feeling compassion for those who find themselves in such situations. And doesn't it make you think about what a neighbour really is and more specifically, who is you neighbour. It's easy to be there for those who live in the same street, village or lane. Yes it's often self-sacrificial to help them but it's not an impossible task. Yet for many of us, to give the same level of commitment to those we don't know and those that we may not even like is much more difficult. Yet there is no doubt that Jesus told this story to convince us that there are no bounds to the goodness we should show to anyone in need. After loving God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, isn't the second great commandment to ''Love your neighbor as yourself.' And in those very words, Jesus encompasses all those other commandments about lying, murder, adultery, stealing, coveting and honouring others in our family. So who is your neighbour and what have you done for them? Remember, God commands it.
