“And who is my neighbor?”

     Jesus answered the lawyer’s question with this story:

     A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. The road between the two places was rough and dangerous. Great big caves and rocks on the sides of the road made good hiding-places for robbers and other wicked men. From caves wicked men could rush out and rob people passing by.

     This often happened, and as this man was passing along the road, the robbers rushed out to attack him. They fought with him and robbed him of everything he had. They robbed him of his clothes, too. Then they left him, cut and bruised and almost naked, lying half dead by the side of the road. There the poor man lay, not able to do anything to help himself.

     In Jericho there were a lot of priests of the Children of Israel, and soon one of them came along the same road. This priest was probably on his way to or from a service at the temple. He could not help seeing the wounded man. But when this priest saw the injured man beside the road, he passed by as if he had not seen him. In fact, the priest crossed to the other side of the road, and kept going. He did not even give the hurt man a look of pity.

     Soon another person came along. He also helped in the temple service, and should have been willing to do God’s work wherever he found it. But he, too, saw the man in trouble. But, after looking at the injured man for a minute, he kept going just as the priest had done, without trying to do anything for the poor man, although he knew that the wounded man might die if someone did not help him.

     Before long a man from Samaria came riding by. As he drew near he saw the man lying there by the side of the road, helpless. The Samaritan knew that the injured man was of the Children of Israel. He knew that he probably hated his race. But, the Samaritan felt sorry for the injured man because he was in such trouble.

     Going up to the place where the injured man lay, the Samaritan put some oil on his cuts and bruises and bound them up as best he could. Then he put the man on his own mule and walked beside him till they came to a house where they both could get shelter. The Samaritan took care of the injured man that night. Next morning the Samaritan had to go away, but he left some money with the man who kept the house, saying ...

“Take care of him, and if you need to spend more money than this I will give you the rest the next time I come along.”

     Then the Samaritan went on his way.

     Jesus told this story, and then turned to the lawyer, saying ...

“Which now of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”

     The scribe answered ...

“He that took pity on him.”

     Then Jesus said ...

“Go and do the same.”

     If the lawyer had asked the question because he really wanted to know the answer, Jesus would have been glad to teach him. But Jesus knew what the lawyer wanted, and that is why Jesus told the story instead of answering him.

     Two or three miles outside of the city of Jerusalem was the village of Bethany, and here lived a family who loved Jesus, and of whom Jesus was very fond. In the family were two sisters, Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus. They were very glad to have Jesus make His home with them whenever He could do so.

     Martha was the housekeeper. She wanted to keep everything very nice when Jesus was there. So, she went about her work, and did not take much time to talk to Jesus. But Mary was different. Mary was so fond of hearing Jesus talk, that whenever He was in the house she dropped her work and sat at His feet. She didn’t want to lose a single word Jesus might say.

     One day Martha was tired and became upset with Mary because she wasn’t helping with the work. Martha went into the room where her sister Mary was sitting, and said ...

“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do the work alone? Tell her to come and help me.”

     Jesus did not send Mary away, but said to Martha ...

“Martha, you take too much care and fret yourself about many things that are not important. There is only one thing that is really needful, and Mary has chosen that one thing that will never be taken away from her.”

     The one thing was loving to be near the Christ, and to learn of Him.

     As Jesus and the disciples were walking about Jerusalem one day they saw a man who had been blind ever since he was born. There are a great many blind people in those hot countries, more than in our cooler climate, because the heat and the brightness often bring on a disease of the eyes. There were no schools, or homes, where such blind people could be taught to work so that they could earn a living. There were lots of very poor people there. Most of these very poor people, some of whom were sick, or lame, or deformed, sat and begged for money by the sides of the roads. Even today, in some places, blind people still do this. This man that Jesus saw was one of those who begged in Jerusalem. This man had begged for so many years that everyone in the city seemed to know him, and they looked for him in his usual place.

     As they passed by this blind man, the disciples asked ...

“Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

     They asked this question because many people thought that blindness, or any sickness, or trouble of any kind, was a punishment from God for somebody’s sin. The disciples wanted to know if this belief was true.

     Jesus answered ...

“It was neither his sin, nor his parents’ that made this man blind. His blindness was not a punishment from God, but the power and goodness of God shall now be shown by giving him sight. I must do the works of God while I can, for the night is coming when I cannot work. As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.”

     Jesus knew that the Sanhedrin would not rest until they had killed Him. That is what Jesus meant when He said, “... the night is coming when I cannot work.”

     When Jesus had finished saying these words He spat on the ground and made some clay. Then the Lord spread the clay on the blind man’s eyes, and said to him ...

“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.”

     The blind man did as he was told, and when he came back he could see as well as anyone.

     When the neighbors of the man, and those who had always known him, saw him with his eyes no longer blind, they did not know whether it was he or someone else. One said to another ...

“Is this the man who sat and begged?”

     Some answered ...

“Yes, it is he.”

     Others said ...

“I do not know; it looks like him.”

     The man himself said ...

“I am the very one.”

     They asked ...

“Then how were your eyes made to see?”

     The cured man said ...

“A man that is called Jesus made clay, put some on my eyes, and told me to go to the Pool of Siloam and wash. I went and washed, and came back seeing.”

     They then asked ...

“Where is he now?”

     But this man could not tell them. He was blind when Jesus spoke to him, and he had never seen the Savior.

     All this happened on the Sabbath day, and the man who had been blind was taken to the Sanhedrin to see what they would say about it.

     Again he told with joy the story of how he had received his sight. The leaders of the Children of Israel were very much troubled. It was a wonderful cure. No one had ever heard of such a thing as giving sight to a man who had been born blind. Some of them even began to wonder if they had made a mistake, and He really was the Christ. Some of them said ...

“But, he is not a good man; if he were the Christ he would keep the Sabbath.”

     Others said ...

“But how could a bad man do such a wonderful deed?”

     Some were almost ready to believe in Jesus.

     Turning again to the man who stood before them, they asked ...

“What have you to say of this man who opened your eyes?”

     He replied ...

“I say that he is a prophet.”

     Many of the rulers would not allow themselves to think that Jesus was actually the Christ. So, as an excuse, these unbelieving rulers began to say that the cured man had never really been blind. In fact, they called in his parents and asked them if he was really their son who had been born blind, and if he was, then how could he now see?

     The parents answered that he was their son. And they said that he had been born blind. But, how it was that their son could now see, they did not know. They said ...

“He is old enough to tell himself, ask him.”

     These parents had a good reason for not wanting to tell all they knew about what had happened. Like all good and faithful Children of Israel they loved to go to the synagogue service. The Pharisees had sent out a notice that anyone who believed Jesus, and said that He was the Christ, would be put out of the synagogue, and would not be allowed to worship there anymore. So, the parents of the cured man were afraid that they might say too much. This is why the parents told the rulers to ask their son what had happened.

     The rulers knew what the young man would say. Still, they called him before them again. This time they tried to make him think it was not Jesus who had given him sight. They said ...

“God gave you your sight, praise him for it. It could not have been Jesus, for we know that he is a bad man.”

     The man said ...

“Whether he is a bad man or not, I do not know. This one thing I do know, that once I was blind, and now I can see.”

     The rulers then asked the man ...

“What did he do to you?”

     Pleased as the man had been to answer this question the first time it was asked, he would not answer it now. He said ...

“I have told you already what he did, and you would not hear; why do you want to hear it again? Will you also be his disciples?”

     The Pharisees did not like this answer. They thought of themselves as the great Sanhedrin. They had studied all their lives, who were themselves the teachers of the people. Were they asked to learn of this teacher whom they so hated?

     They got angry, and said ...

“You are one of the kind to be his disciples. We are the disciples of Moses We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where he came from.”

     The man answered ...

“It is a strange thing that you do not know where he came from, when he can do such a wonderful thing as open my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners, but if any man worships him and obeys him, God will hear him. Since the world began no one ever heard of a man who could open the eyes of one who had been born blind; and if this man were from God he could do it.”

     The Pharisees were angry with this answer! What did this man mean by talking to them this way? Raising their voices they called out ...

“Does a man like you, a sinner, try to teach us?”

     They then sent him away with the punishment which his parents so feared. He would not be allowed to go again to worship in the synagogue.

     When Jesus heard what they had done He found the man whom He had cured, and said ...

“Do you believe on the Son of God?”

     The man said to Jesus ...

“Who is he, Lord, that I may believe?”

     And then Jesus told him that he had already seen Him, and was even then talking to Him. As the man looked at Jesus he knew that he was talking with his Savior. He knew that his Savior was the Son of God. The man then said ...

“Lord, I do believe.”

     The man then fell down and worshiped Jesus.

     As they talked together, Jesus said ...

“My coming into the world has done two things; it has made those who were blind see, and it has made those who think they can see, blind.”

     There were some Pharisees standing near enough to hear all that was said, and one of them asked Jesus ...

“Do you mean to say that we are blind?”

     Jesus answered ...

“If your eyes were blind and you could not see, it would be no fault of yours; but it is a sin when your minds and hearts are so blind that you will not let yourselves believe me. If I had come to teach you how to live better lives, you would have had some excuse for your sins. But since you have heard my words and have seen me do things that no other man can do, and yet will not believe me, there is no excuse for you.”