Hello, Neighbor

I was thinking this week about Mr. Rogers. I grew up watching Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood on my parents' black and white 13 inch TV. "What does Mr. Rogers have to do with anything?" you might ask. Well, I'll tell you. Mr. Rogers was my neighbor. He didn't live next door to me, or two doors down from me. He didn't even live in my neighborhood. What made Mr. Rogers my neighbor was that he talked to me, told me about his day, took time from his day to hang out with me.

You may be wondering how I can say these things about a man who I didn't know and never met. Mr. Rogers had an unusual gift. He cared about children. He cared about children he would never even see, much less know. Mr. Rogers had a way of letting you know he cared, even through a television screen.

It's easy to care for the people you know. It's easy to care for friends of people you know. But it's hard to care for people you don't know and will never know. People you will never meet. That, however, is exactly the challenge given to us this week. To drink water, and sacrifice your pleasure to help people you will likely never know.

I can almost imagine Mr. Rogers himself drinking water to help children he would never meet. I mean, after all, that's what his show was about - being a neighbor to the neighborless.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

How are your neighboring skills?