Forbidden FaithSample

Who is my neighbour?

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10: 36–37 NIV)

When you ask Jesus a question, you have to be prepared to get an answer you didn’t expect. Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan to answer someone who asked, “Who is my neighbour?” The man was told that his neighbour is anyone who needs his help – and that really wasn’t what he was expecting to hear. Especially since the person in the story who reached out to help was someone he would have considered his enemy.

So what does this mean for us? Recently some noted Christians have pointed out that if Jesus was telling the story of the Good Samaritan today, he might have told it about the Good Muslim. When we see the repression suffered by the Church in China today, we are moved to speak out. But we are also moved to speak out for all those suffering because of their religion or belief – the tortured follower of Falun Gong, the Tibetan Buddhist monk imprisoned on trumped-up charges. Since 2016, between one and three million Uyghurs - a predominantly Muslim community - have been placed in ‘re-education camps’. Uyghur families are torn apart, as parents are sent to the camps and children are taken away to state orphanages.

Jesus taught us to look after others before we look after ourselves, to love in ways that will be difficult for us, in ways that will involve us giving up our comforts, and making financial and other sacrifices. And we must love others regardless of whether or not we believe the same things as them.

It’s uncomfortable. Jesus knew what he said would be hard for his listeners to hear, but he didn’t leave any room for ambiguous interpretations of his words. He told us that in order to inherit eternal life, we have to love the people we might find hard to love.

At CSW we work for religious freedom for all. That means that everyone is entitled to choose and change their religion – to hold any belief, or none at all. To worship freely, in public and in private. This doesn’t just apply to Christians, and it doesn’t just apply to people who look like us, and those we find it easy to want to help.

Prayer: Heavenly father, please be at work in our hearts and help us to love our neighbour, for every human being is made in Your image and is deserving of Your love.