We Do Not Set Boundaries on Our Charity

July 13, 2025

We all know this line from Mister Rogers, sung as he introduced his children’s show. It is an act of radical generosity and kindness to invite the world to be one’s neighbor.
   
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is asked by a lawyer, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ response is the Two Great Commandments – “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
   
The lawyer, wishing to “justify” himself, then asked, “And who is my neighbor?” He wanted to make sure that he fulfilled the law but did not want to have to go very far in order to fulfill the law. He wanted to set limits on the requirement to love neighbor.
   
Jesus did not answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?” but rather had the lawyer, and us, ask ourselves, “To whom am I neighbor?” To answer this more challenging question, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan.
   
The man who was beaten, robbed, and left for dead, was a Jew. Those who passed by him were also Jews. They feared that if he were dead, or if they got his blood on them, they would be considered unclean and would be barred from the synagogue or Temple services and could not enter their own homes or visit with their own families until they were purified and made clean again. Those who should have seen the man in the ditch as their neighbor were making excuses why they had no responsibility here.

The Samaritan, one of the most hated by the Jews, would not be considered the man’s neighbor by anyone, including by the victim himself. If he had seen the Samaritan in his own situation, lying in the ditch, he would probably have had nothing to do with him himself.

But the Samaritan, this hated and avoided foreigner, had compassion. He not only poured water and oil on the man’s wounds but also lifted him up onto his own animal, and took him to a nearby town, and paid for the man to stay overnight in an inn.
 
The next day, seeing that the man could not travel, he paid the innkeeper to take care of the man, and said that when he returned, he would pay whatever was owed.
   
Jesus then asked the punchline: “Which of these men was neighbor to the man who had been attacked?” Clearly the answer is that it was the hated and despised Samaritan.
   
There is a natural question that arises in our minds, as well as in those who passed by. Who is my neighbor? How far do I have to go in showing charity to others? Am I responsible for the sufferings of people I do not know? Who live in other countries? Who are my enemies?

Jesus’ answer to these questions is pretty obvious. We do not set boundaries on our charity.
—Fr. Mike Comer