Passing by a Neighbor

It happened again on the way to work today. There I was minding my own business and it just happened. It had been a regular morning. I woke up when my son started yelling out my name. I showered…I ate my breakfast…I helped get my kids up and I was off to work so I would not be late. Then it happened, a simple thing, really. As I was preparing to turn left I saw a guy with his hazard lights on pushing his car out of the stream of traffic to the side of the road.

And I had the chance to put “me” on hold for a few minutes. Although cars were streaming down the road, there were no cars behind me in the turn lane, so as time slowed to a crawl I sat and pondered the choice as I watched this poor fellow push his car to the side of the road.

“Should I help him?”
“I really should!”
“But I might be late to the office…and I’ve got some important stuff to get to.”
“And what could I do to help anyhow?”
“Plus he probably has a cell and just needs to make a call to AAA.”
“So what…why not at least try?”
“But how am I going to cross all that traffic…and my day is busy.”

You’ve had that same conversation with yourself. They are simple little decisions…but in the end they make all the difference, because they reveal our heart. Jesus had a way a boiling the big stuff down to simple decisions.

What did Jesus say was the greatest commandment? To love God with all you’ve got AND to love your neighbor like they are you (Mt 22:37; Mk 12:30; Lk 10:27). You can’t get any simpler than that.

One observant listener quipped to Jesus, “well then who is my neighbor?” And Jesus told a heart-pricking story which gave the answer, anyone whose path you cross who is in need. The question is “am I willing to be neighborly?” Do I have the heart to live out what I say I believe…namely, that I do love Jesus with all of me. Such a heart turns the same energy which is applied to selfish interests towards others in selfless acts. When the opportunity arises, be selfish on behalf of the one in need, for their benefit. But that requires putting “me” on hold for a bit. A simple thing, but it makes all the difference.

So just when I am about to flick on my turn signal I notice another car has beat me to the punch. The driver almost instinctively pulled out of the whizzing traffic, like their kid dropped their favorite pair of sunglasses out the window. They are just as quickly out of the car and walking toward their neighbor in need. Whew…I’m off the hook

I flick on my turn signal and turn away from the car and towards work. And for the rest of the ride I consider how much more I am like the religious leaders in Jesus story who passed by the man in need.

Being neighborly requires interruptibility. How uninterruptible I am.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:3-8