It was a freezing night in November when I was just 9 years old. The blowing wind outside was so severe that I thought the window in my room would break. Unfortunately, my father was on a far-away business trip, so only my mother and I were at home. During my childhood years, I was in poor health and was often sick. And, as you might have guessed, it was on this cold and windy night that I once again became sick, but this time, I was very sick.

Maybe it was because I played all day in the wind, or maybe there were some other factors, but I developed a very high fever at about 10 o’clock at night. At first, my mother tried to cool me using cold water, but it didn’t work. Then, she wiped my body down with alcohol. Although it worked in the beginning, my temperature continued to rise. Because we didn’t have a telephone in our home during those years, my mother couldn’t ask any relatives for help. She began to panic and started to sob loudly.

After awhile, we heard a knock at the door. Not knowing who it might be, my mother became frightened and worried about me even more. But she went to the door anyway and opened it carefully, only to see the face of our neighbor who was very worried about us. He said that he heard the sobs from my mother and came to see what had happened. My mother was still sobbing when she took him into my room, and once he saw how red my face was, he ran to my bedside so he could feel my face with his hands. The moment he touched my face, he said that I needed to be seen by a doctor and that I needed to get to a clinic immediately.

With no car to take us, our kind-hearted neighbor picked me up and carried me on his back to the nearest clinic. Of course, my mother walked with us through the driving wind which blew so strong against us. A single person couldn’t walk easily through this terrible wind, let alone a man with a 9-year-old child on his back. Every step was difficult for him because I could hear him breathing heavily, and yet he continued to carry me toward the clinic as quickly as he could.

We arrived at the clinic and I immediately got the treatment that I needed to bring down my fever. Soon, I came home from the clinic and my health returned. And then my mother asked me to go to our neighbor and sincerely thank him. She said, “A good neighbor is better than a brother far off.”  When my father returned, he asked me to thank our neighbor one more time to show my sincere appreciation for what he had done.

Since that time, I have learned to always keep a grateful heart towards life and recognize the importance of timely help. As long as I am able, I will give a helping hand whenever I see someone in need. I am so grateful for my neighbor who taught me this very important lesson, and for helping me understand that, “A good neighbor is better than a brother far off.”

Additional Comments – Jesus had something to say about being a good “neighbor.” On one occasion, an expert in the Law of Moses began to dialogue with Jesus about the two great commandments, and the expert offered his opinion, saying that we are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” On the one hand, Jesus commended his insight, but on the other, He knew that the expert was struggling with the “neighbor” part of the commandment. Jesus knew that the expert was thinking that his neighbor extended only to other Jews, and surely not to gentiles (all non-Jews) or to Samaritans (Jews who intermarried with gentiles). And it was Samaritans who lived just north of those who thought they were the “righteous” Jews.

And so, Jesus proceeded to tell the story of the Good Samaritan in which a Jewish man was traveling down to Jericho when he was robbed and beaten by thieves and left for dead. Not wanting to get involved or be defiled by someone who was almost dead, a couple of prominent religious Jews (a priest and a Levite) made a point to avoid the man in need and passed by on the other side of the road. However, when a Samaritan saw the man, he felt compassion and jumped off his donkey, cleansed his wounds with oil and covered them with bandages, and then placed him on his own donkey, and traveled the rest of the way to Jericho. Once there, the Samaritan got him a room and gave the inn-keeper some money, asking him to make sure the broken man got proper medical care, and upon his return, he would provide additional funds, if needed, to help cover the cost of his medical care or lodging. 

Jesus told this story because He wanted to make it clear that the “righteous” Jews were failing miserably in keeping both commandments, and that a “despised” Samaritan (in their eyes) was demonstrating what it meant to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Like the Good Samaritan, the neighbor in my student’s story came to the rescue at just the right time. At great personal sacrifice, he hurried to provide the care that my former student so desperately needed.

And so, in answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?”, Jesus tells us that it is simply “anyone in need.” To be a “good neighbor,” we need to ask God to grant us a compassionate heart toward others, and then keep our eyes open for opportunities to help. May we learn from Jesus’ story of the “Good Samaritan,” as well as from the caring neighbor of my former student.