Who is my neighbor?

Several weeks ago, I heard a pastor preach on the story of the good Samaritan. It was an excellent sermon, but not the point of today's post. It simply put the question of "neighbor" in my head.

Today, I woke up feeling like crapola. My neck is torqued and painful. My hands and arms numb. My feet and legs achy. And sleep? Well, that was crap too. How rough is it to have a debilitating medical condition? It sucks!

And yet, God is good! Even as I struggled to put my shoes on, I knew that my life is blessed. Even as I strained to put the dog's leash on, I knew that my life is good. Even as the dog's movements sent waves of pain up my arm and into my neck, I knew that I am so very lucky.

I have a wonderful home. I have a wife and large extended family who loves and cares for me. When I feel like this, I can take it easy because I don't have to work.

There are many people who are not so lucky. There are people who daily risk their lives and even break laws simply to have the hope of a life like mine. They are illegal immigrants. And make no mistake, they are your neighbors. Here in the US, millions of Christians are clamoring for tough laws against immigrants. We don't want amnesty. We want walls. We don't want hope. We want presumed safety. We want to rest assured that we are justified in our hypocrisy. And while the immigrants may break our laws, it is we that are the voice of the devil. It is we who want our houses built cheaply and our produce out of season. We tempt them with cheap labor and then we call them criminals for coming to get those jobs that we don't want.

Christ broke the sabbath more than once for the sake of people. He knew that God's law was for God's people, not the other way around. If good men, women and children are willing to risk so much, what are we willing to risk to help them. It's not enough to put up walls. We have to, instead tear down walls.

A just and equitable society starts with being kind to your neighbor. And our neighbors are from places like Mexico, Cuba, and Haiti. And what of rules and punishment? Ask yourself that simple bumper-sticker question: What would Jesus do?