Who IS My Neighbor?

Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37

This parable arrests 2 issues in the human heart:
1) Spiritual Pride
2) Racism

V 29 - Luke 16:14-15 Now the Pharisees…were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts…

V31-32 – No less than 12,000 priests & Levites lived in Jericho
Deuteronomy 21:1-9
- Official religiousness often kills common humanity.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
- In the priest and Levite the lawyer saw the picture of his own life, for he saw in them those who knew the law, but did not practice it.
- There may have been many excuses for this neglect of the wounded man: danger, hate, dread of defilement, expense, but Jesus does not consider any of them worth mentioning

V 33 – Samaritan – Despised Race –
½ Jewish, ½ Gentile, ½ idolatrous, ½ orthodox

Proverbs 11:17 The merciful man does himself good, but the cruel man does himself harm.
Matthew 25:31-46 (To the least of these)
Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

What is mercy?
eleos, el'-eh-os - compassion (human or divine, especially active)
American Heritage Dictionary
1. Compassionate treatment, especially of those under one's power; clemency.
2. A disposition to be kind and forgiving: