06/15/2026
As we learn from Jesus’s parable of The Good Samaritan, selective compassion is antithetical to the way of Jesus.
Choosing the degree to which we would show mercy, compassion, and love is not how you love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.
The lawyer’s question “And who is my neighbor?” In the parable was seeking to be selectively compassionate. It sought to limit what obedience looks like and what love requires of him.
In the way of Jesus, there is no such thing as a non-neighbor. There is only one decision: Either to help or to ignore, to love or to hate, to pray for or to tear down, to empathize or to villainize.
This is where it gets uncomfortable. Because it’s all too easy to love the idea of unconditional compassion and love more than the inconvenience of doing it. It’s easier to prefer compassion in theory but not in traffic, in the comments section, at the family gathering, or with “the other side,” “those people,” “that family member,” “the right,” or “the left.”
It’s easier and more convenient to justify who doesn’t qualify as a neighbor than to wrestle with the truth that everybody does. If for no other reason, they are human.
Regardless of their theological views, political leanings, or their faith background, Jesus isn’t asking us to agree with everyone categorically. But he is commanding us to see the humanity in everybody. As followers of the way of Jesus, his question challenges us to be the ones who…
Lead with love. Model mercy. Choose compassion.
My ability and even desire to apply this kind of mercy and compassion grow exponentially greater when I see Jesus as my Good Samaritan, and I’m the one lying in the ditch. He saw my need, paid the price, gave his life, and showed me a new way. Your desire and capacity grow when you see it the same way.
If you missed Part 1 of our message series “Questioning Jesus” this past weekend, have questions, or want to learn more, let us know!
