WHO is my neighbor??
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All of our scriptures today echo a common theme, “And who is my neighbor?” As simple and obvious as this question may sound, the resulting answer can also be a source of negative, even angry soul searching. Kind and generous souls, know their answer, and don’t give this a second thought.
The rest of us ‘normies’ struggle. We all want to help the ‘truly’ down-trodden. But the word ‘truly’ lends itself to a determined judgement. ‘Who’ is ‘Truly’ down-trodden. I personally struggled through a career as a blue-collar retail butcher. I had to struggle due to ILL-legal immigration abuses in the ‘wholesale’ meat processing plants. Beef, Pork, Chicken and yes Seafood, they were all “GUILTY”. Continuing to this very day. My ‘neighbor’ hurt me! Now I’m supposed to care.?!
First scripture: Exodus 22:20-26, “Thus says the LORD: “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. **You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. **My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans…. When he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.”
Sooo, the answer is a resounding Yes!! In the same way that Jesus expected all of the Apostles to forgive and accept Matthew the tax collector, who had previously been ‘hurting’ them through collections.
Psalm 18:2-4, “I love you, Lord, my strength.” “My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold! **Praised be the LORD, I exclaim, and I am safe from my enemies.
Second scripture: 1Thess 1:5-10, “Brothers and sisters: You know what sort of people we were, among you, for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit. So that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you, the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves openly declare about us, what sort of reception we had among you! How you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
The Thessalonians accepted Paul and then bragged about him so much that other communities, gentiles, even un-friendlies, accepted him as their neighbor, their brother.
Gospel: Matt 22:34-40, “When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. **The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
***The next question from the Sadducees, not mentioned here is, “And who is my neighbor?” I encourage everyone to find this passage in your bible and ‘consume’ it. As Jesus says, the whole Law, and the prophets… and, dare I say, the success of our very own faith lives, depends on it. ***JOY-JOY-JOY… Thank You for your time. Remember to follow me “Pop-up Free”, on FaceBook at BRO BLU & on YouTube videos: BRO BLU. aka: Mark Gates. **”A BLU Collar Spirituality” the book has a webpage… provide by COVENANT HOUSE Publishing. **Here is the link: https://covenantbooks.com/books/?book=a-blu-collar-spirituality **Please visit us.
