But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus,
“And who is my neighbor?”
Luke 10:29
When my kids were young, they loved to watch Sesame Street. To tell the truth, so did I. Kermit’s live news reports, Monsterpiece Theater with Alistair Cookie, and the squabbles between Bert and Ernie tickled my funny bone while the actors, especially Bob, and puppets made Allen and Anne feel like they were part of the neighborhood.
Before Bob introduced children to the citizens of Sesame Street, he sang a little jingle. “Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood? Without missing a beat, my kids would belt out the answer.“They’re the people that you meet when you’re walking down the street. They’re the people in your neighborhood.” Then with rapt intention, they watched Bob walk outside and greet fascinatingly ordinary people: plumbers, garbage collectors, doctors, artists, electricians, moms, and dads.
If Sesame Street had been popular when the lawyer asked for a definition of “neighbor,” Jesus could have used Bob’s song to answer the trick question. But all Bob wanted to do was make children feel safe and secure, while Jesus wanted to expand the traditional definition of “neighbor.” So, instead of singing a perky tune, He told the parable of a man who was robbed, beaten and dumped along the road – the first century equivalent of Sesame Street. When some very religious people walked by, they crossed to the other side and left him for dead. But when the ordinary, every day Samaritan found him on the street where he lived, he showed compassion, bandaged his wounds, and became his friend.
Later this month, when GCC launches its Fifty Day Missional Church Initiative later this month, you’ll be challenged to expand your definition of “neighbor.” You’ll learn to maintain a missional mindset toward the fascinatingly ordinary people on your street: at work or school, club meetings and community functions, on vacation, at the store, in the doctor’s office. You’ll be encouraged to show Christ’s compassion to the people you meet by binding their wounds and becoming their friends. You’ll discover the mission field God has prepared for you doesn’t have to be halfway around the world. It begins on the front step of your house. So get ready to open the door.
