Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give,” when you have it by you. Proverbs 3:28

Neighbor –  The scribe asked, “Who is my neighbor?”  Yeshua answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan.  But we will miss some of the impact of this parable if we don’t realize the irony that the question came from a scribe.  Why?  A scribe should have known this verse in Proverbs.  It uses the Hebrew word rea’ka.  As any scribe would know, this word is not limited to the one next door, the one of my tribe, the one of my village or the one like me.  The root rea’ is very broad, basically meaning any second party in a relationship.  It is generally applied to anyone who has come into contact with you.  Who is my neighbor?  The one God brought across my path.

Just like the parable of the Good Samaritan, the proverb defines the neighbor as someone in need.  That’s anyone in need.  Not the ones I like or the ones I value or the ones who will be eternally grateful.  Anyone in need whom God sends to encounter me is, by biblical definition, my neighbor.  Yes, I might argue that the fictitious starving child in Mongolia is not my neighbor.  She is a marketing ploy intended to elicit my emotional reaction.  But that doesn’t mean the real child God brings to my attention is not my neighbor just because there are geographical distances.  A neighbor is defined by only two things:  need and divine encounter.  Whenever those two come into contact before me, I stand before the heavenly throne as God’s emissary of goodwill.

As an extension of the previous verse, this proverb does away with the “good intentions” excuse.  There is no tomorrow when need and divine encounter cross paths.  I will either respond to the moral obligation God places before me, or I will allow it to pass me by.  And the train leaves the station only so many times before it no longer will stop here.

We’re nodding in agreement.  Yes, this is the way it’s supposed to be.  Yes, this is how God treated us.  Yes, we know we have an obligation based on His grace.  But I don’t have enough to share with another.  I am barely getting by.  My time is so limited.  I’m doing all that I can now.  We walk away guilty – but we still walk away.  “Come back tomorrow when I will have more.”  How foolish!  You will never have more than you have right now to step into the crossroads of need and divine encounter.  God didn’t bring this opportunity into your life without providing the grace you need to take care of it.  “If it is within your power” means “do exactly what you can do.”  Not more.  Not less.  God does not expect you to do more than you can do, He just expects you to do what you really can do.  The only sin here is to not do what you can when you can.  The circumstances are digital.  You either do it, or you don’t.  God is not grading on the curve.  This is a pass/fail opportunity.

When I withhold benefit by deferring good, I sin.  It’s as simple as that.  I say to the Lord, “Lord, I really don’t believe You govern the universe.  You didn’t bring this person in need before me.  It’s merely an accident.  And since it’s an accident, I have no obligation to act on this now.  I can wait until a more opportune time.  Fate will make it happen again if it’s supposed to be that way.”  In other words, I decide how the universe should be run.

Who’s my neighbor?  The next person I encounter who needs help.

Topical Index: neighbor, help, rea’, moral obligation, good Samaritan, Proverbs 3:28