We begin a series entitled: “What does the Bible say about…” We consider that the Bible often has conflicting things, or nothing at all to say about some of the questions we bring to it. Today we consider what the Bible says about our neighbor based on the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Through the story, Jesus teaches a lawyer (and us) that mercy is the heart of God and to find it and live into it (and thus into eternal life), we must come close to each other–even the other we think we have already figured out or the other we have been taught to despise. Jesus teaches us that to work cooperatively, requires us to cross our “hard lines” of distinction, separation and difference. May we continually grow into this life of mercy.

Today’s message is based on Luke 10:25-37.

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Image credit:  The Ploughshare Institute