Monday, August 30, 2010

who is your neighbor?

"christ told us how to survive when he answered the question, who is my neighbor? in the tenth chapter of luke he tells the story of a samaritan who care for a jew who had been badly wounded by thieves. as we know from the precedign chapter, in which the disciples suggest in effect the firebombing of a samaritan village, the smaritans and the jews were enemies. to modernize the story, then, and so to understand christ's answer, we may substitute any other pair of enemies: fundamentalist christian and fundamentalist muslin, palestinian and israeli, captor and prisoner. the answer: your neighbor is any sufferer who needs your help.

~ wendell berry