The Saint 87
clined to be confused about his identity and his mission. He may
also be afraid— Jesus is afraid more than once in the Gospels— that
if he is manifest to others as the Messiah, they will expect what he
cannot deliver and in time turn against him in disillusioned rage.
Jesus is a complex and imperfect fi gure, which can make his com-
mitment to the ideal all the more moving.
We must love our neighbor, Jesus says. But who is our neighbor?
A lawyer asks him this question, and Jesus answers with one of the
most memorable stories in the Gospels. A traveler is beaten and
robbed, thrown into a ditch, and left to die. Past him go two mem-
bers of his own group who see him and do nothing. They simply
continue on their ways. But there comes another man, a Samaritan,
someone from another tribe. He sees the suff ering man in the ditch
and he does not pass him by. He gathers the man up, mounts him
on his own beast, and takes him to an inn. There he binds the man’s
wounds and sees that he is bathed and made comfortable. He gives
the innkeeper money and promises to return to settle the rest of
the ailing man’s bill. Now which of these, the Samaritan or the man’s
own tribesman, was a neighbor to the Samaritan? “The one who
showed him mercy,” the lawyer says. To which Jesus responds: “Go
and do likewise” (Luke 10.37).
Love your neighbor as yourself: this is the central teaching of
Jesus. It can seem hard, almost impossible to do. But Jesus indicates
that it is the way to liberation. Loving your neighbor as yourself can
free you from competition and strife. It can bring you into the com-
munity of men and women and help you feel that you belong. Loving
your neighbor as yourself, or trying to, you can breathe more calmly.
You can feel that you are at home in the world. The great phrase—
love your neighbor as yourself— occurs famously in Leviticus: “You
shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people,
but you shall love your neighbor as yourself ” (Leviticus 19.18). But
here “your neighbor” is one of “your people.” Jesus seeks to expand