Who Is My Neighbor?
Jesus tells the religious lawyer to "love thy neighbor," and then the lawyer asks a very lawyer-like question: "Who is my neighbor?"
Everybody knows the story Jesus then tells this religious man; it is the story of the Good Samaritan. In this parable, Jesus revealed the ancient Christian truth about humans themselves.
Jesus forever dismissed the notion that we can distance ourselves from anyone who is a stranger to our lives. We have never met a "mere" mortal.
From the workaday hospitality shown to guests in Orthodox countries to the very deep theological doctrines of Christian anthropology, our faith demonstrates this truth by honoring others.
C.S. Lewis said in this vein that if you could see a man near you as he will be in a thousand years, he would either be so beautiful you'd be tempted to fall to your knees and worship him - or he would be so hideous that you would recoil in terror. No, you've never met a "mere" mortal.
That is why it is such a tragedy to see someone living his life enslaved to sin. Just to realize that this person was created free, unique, and unrepeatable is poignantly painful. This person was created to be God's companion. This person was created uniquely to display the glory of God for eternity, and he lives his life either unaware of his own dignity, or he so abuses himself and others that he is nothing more than a shadow of what he could be.
Here's where the Good News of Jesus comes in. We can begin to see others and ourselves as God sees us. Transformed by the Holy Spirit and submitted to His work in our hearts, we can begin to understand that both our neighbor and we were meant to be so much more than what we are now.
That's why evangelism is so important, and that's why I want Come Receive The Light to be in every major city in America . The message of Come Receive the Light - of the Church - is the message of salvation from sin and deliverance from the bondage of the enemy of our souls. We cannot allow the Evil One to dim this wonderful news by convincing us that this job is "too difficult" or "too expensive."
How much is a soul worth?
In light of all of the above, our vision of ourselves and our fellow man must be shaped by the revealed wisdom and insight preserved in our Orthodox Church.
For this reason I am so thrilled to speak with His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP, Metropolitan-Archbishop of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America . He will help us see how we can begin knowing our neighbor as God knows our neighbor. His Eminence has a unique gift in communicating this wonderful message of new life in Christ. I pray you'll listen.
Fr. Christopher Metropulos is Co-Host at Come Receive The Light, a production of the Orthodox Christian Network, is a radio ministry serving faithful in the United States from coast to coast and beyond.
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