‘Who is my neighbour?’

The legal expert who asked Jesus this question in Luke 10 wanted, we are told, to ‘justify himself.’

Jesus had just agreed with him that the Law demanded that God’s people must love their neighbours as themselves; to be as generous to others as we would want others to be generous to us. But this man wanted to reduce that demand to something manageable, a bar that he could more easily clear.

So he tried to limit the definition of ‘neighbour’. Surely you’re calling me to love those who love me back, Jesus? After all, our world is built on reciprocal arrangements – you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. That’s what neighbourly generosity is, right?

The book of Proverbs disagrees. Here, in three powerful yet simple statements, is a definition of neighbourly generosity that searches our hearts and points us to our Lord.

Neighbourly generosity is just

‘Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.’ - Proverbs 3:27

We might hope that this hardly needs saying. If someone is due something – if you owe them wages, or if you’ve promised them help – then it is a matter of justice that you follow through with your obligations.

But injustice plagues our world and tempts our hearts. Paul had to urge the Corinthians to follow through with the generous gift they had pledged to the suffering saints in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16, 2 Corinthians 9), perhaps indicating that they had begun to get cold feet when their promises turned into payments!

But our God guarantees justice to those who need it, and always follows through on his promises – neighbourly generosity gladly imitates him.

Neighbourly generosity is selfless

‘Do not say to your neighbour, ‘Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you’– when you already have it with you.’ - Proverbs 3:28

Beyond strict justice is swift selflessness. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels the bite of the temptation here: “I can be generous today, I have everything I need to love my neighbour today, but surely it can wait until tomorrow?”

Why would we behave like this? Only if we value our own comfort and ease more than we value the need of our neighbour. The selfless and self-giving character of our God rebukes our laziness and self-serving procrastination.

Neighbourly generosity is relational

‘Do not plot harm against your neighbour, who lives trustfully near you.’ - Proverbs 3:29

Finally, here is a wonderful definition of neighbourliness. Who is your neighbour? One who ‘lives trustfully near you.’

The Lord has put us in a web of relationships with the design that we would do all in our power to increase mutual love and trust between one another; so neighbourly generosity has the goal of deepening that trust. That goal can be advanced through being someone who reliably follows through on our promises (v28) with genuine love for the other which brooks no delay (v29). But it can be destroyed through self-seeking stinginess.

Ultimate generosity

Back in Luke 10, Jesus told the legal expert the parable of the Good Samaritan – a powerful and enduring image of a despised person showing sacrificial love and neighbourly generosity even to his enemy. It undercut the legal expert’s self-justifying question.

But it also points us to the gospel. Jesus was despised and rejected – and yet through that he showed us supreme generosity, treating his enemies as his neighbours, securing justice on the cross, selflessly giving at just the right time and drawing us to trust him for everything we need.

May we be those who imitate such generosity in our world today.

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