Reflection for the month March
Who is my neighbour?
When I was a child, and that is many years ago, ‘neighbours’ were the people who lived next door, or folk in the house just down the road. I do not recall that people living a little further off, friends of my parents, were considered to be ‘neighbours’. One of the songs which emphasised the distinction was regularly performed on the radio by Billy Cotton – remember him? – it was all about having friends and neighbours to make the world a happier place. Oh, how my little world has changed and grown since then!
Who indeed is my neighbour? An expert in the Jewish Law asked this question of Jesus. He, the expert, had correctly expounded the Law but perhaps was looking for a loophole about who might be the neighbour that he might not need to love as much as he loved himself. We know very well how Jesus replied with the story of the Good Samaritan, who cared for the victim of highway robbery, quite irrespective of who the man was or where he was from.
Today we are not lacking in victims, displaced persons, refugees fleeing from persecution, war, natural disasters and hunger. Worldwide there are probably close to or just more than one hundred million victims, individuals, over 1% of the world’s population. Many are displaced in their own countries, but many more than a few end up on our doorstep. What do we do, let them in to share our community, our homes, our food or ‘build a wall to keep them out’? Most of them cannot go back to where they came from, if we do not make them welcome here what is their future to be?
For many people fear and suspicion of the refugees overcomes compassion for their plight. Serious crimes and even minor misdemeanours of a few receive wide publicity, this to the detriment of the many who are people just like us. Think about it like this – in different circumstances we ourselves might be refugees, we would then very much want the Good Samaritans of this world to come to our aid.
David Peacock