Readings for Pentecost 7

Lev. (18:1-5) 19:9-18

Col. 1:1-14          

Luke 10:25-37

Passages for meditation: He 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.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."  But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Luke 10:27-29 

Devotion:  Mr. Rogers sang on a regular basis, “I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.  I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.  So, let's make the most of this beautiful day.  Since we're together we might as well say:  Would you be mine?  Could you be mine?  Won't you be my neighbor?  Won't you please,  Won't you please?  Please won't you be my neighbor?”  And he would conclude his song with a greeting, “Hello neighbor.”

I’ve never met Mr. Rogers.  I didn’t and still don’t live in the “neighborhood of make believe”.  Yet, when he addressed me, and thousands of other through the TV. we became his neighbor.  And I ask you, who wouldn’t have wanted to be his neighbor?  He was a nice guy who wore sharp sweaters and had a toy trolley that came out of the wall that could transport you instantly into another dimension filled with talking animals and purple pandas.  I enjoyed being his neighbor and I believed he enjoyed having me as his.

In sharp contrast to Mr. Rogers, the parable that Jesus tells about a neighbor presents a beaten and bloodied half dead man on the side of a dusty road and a half bred, low life Samaritan (according to the Jews of the time) who actually demonstrates what a true neighbor is.  A true neighbor doesn’t just sing silly songs to you from the comfort of a TV studio or transports you to a land of make believe, instead a true neighbor comes to bind bloody wounds and pays to care for the other.  A true neighbor is one who actively shows mercy and compassion.

Our true neighbor is Christ.  Who sought us when we were lost. Who bound up the wounds of our sin.  Who paid for our salvation with his very life.  In Christ we find the definition of a true neighbor- one who has shown us great mercy and compassion.

From Christ we hear “I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.  I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.”  This is no make believe!  He lives with us by His Spirit, through Word and Sacrament.  This is no make believe- His cross and empty tomb prove it.