When we read the gospels, we quickly discover how religious leaders were always laying various traps for Jesus, hoping to get Him to incriminate Himself, so that they could get rid of Him. Why? Because He was a threat to their system. They had a religious-legal system in place that worked for their benefit and He was undermining their authority and shaking up their system. Today's passage begins with a religious expert introducing just such a test. Let's listen to that conversation:

One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” (Luke 10:25-28)

His answer sounds simple, right? But in the following verses, this "expert in religious law" followed Jesus' statement with a second question: "But who is my neighbor?"  Luke then tells us that the expert was only "trying to justify himself." In verses 30-37, Jesus launches into the familiar story we usually call "The Good Samaritan," about a man who was ambushed along a road, robbed, stripped, and left to die. He was bypassed by two religious leaders and was helped by a Samaritan man, someone the Jews of Jesus’ day considered unclean, both religiously and ethnically. Many years ago, I was teaching a Senior High Sunday School class and the class read this passage together. After reading, we discussed it and most of the kids were talking about who their neighbor might be. Suddenly though, the light came on for one of the kids. She said, "Hey—this passage isn't about who our neighbors are—it's really about how to BE a good neighbor!"

And that was the rub for the expert in the law, loving others as you love yourself. This world can be a bad neighborhood, but you and I are called to be good neighbors. We can demonstrate God's relentless, redeeming love to those we think deserve it—and to those we don’t think deserve it. That's how Jesus loves you and me. That's how we can be good neighbors...and that is very Good News!