Love your enemy

"but you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus answered the question who is our neighbor, by telling the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 29-37. The road between Jerusalem and Jericho was a very dangerous road to travel during the time of Jesus and it was known as the "Way of Blood". The man that was robbed and beaten half dead was probably from Jewish descent. He was left next to the road to die by his assailants. We read that first a priest came by and after seeing the body next to the road decided to walk on the other side ignoring the dying man. The levite did the same thing as the priest and walked by on the other side of the road. They probably had good reasons for not stopping and helping the dying man. They probably thought he was already dead and that the robbers maybe hiding in the bushes. Maybe the man is faking his injuries and waiting for someone to help him and then rob them.

Then came a Samaritan man, the Samaritans were hated by the Jews. On the other hand the Samaritans hated the Jews. They were each others worst enemies. In modern day terms we can compare the relationship between the Samaritans and the Jews, with the relationship between the United States and Al Qaida. So imagine with me, a young American soldier lying next to the road, just been passed by a pastor and worship leader, left to die. The next person to come by is a Al Qaida "terrorist" and he stops to help the American. This is what Jesus means when He say's love your neighbor, He meant for us to love our enemies. Imagine for one moment that Israel understands the truth of this story and starts loving the Palestinians. I may be a dreamer, but so was Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Jesus, they loved the very people who killed them. It is time we stop and love the people that we consider our enemies.

Love your neighbor