BACK TO THE FATHER

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And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."
Luke 10:27‭, ‬29‭, ‬36‭-‬37 ESV

¶Who is it that this expert in the law is being taught to love? Is this just a story about the rightness of rendering roadside assistance? Is it even a story uncovering our biases toward those like Samaritans who are different from us? Did the lawyer, when he commended "the one who showed mercy" realize he was ultimately describing God Himself, who shows mercy not only to the poor and broken ones, but to the outcast and the outsiders? When Jesus adds "and your neighbor as yourself" to this passage quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, He is not changing the command in the least. He is linking us, and the way we live our lives in our world today, back to the origin of all mercies, the faithful covenant "hesed" love of God.

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