Who is My Neighbor?

I’m not sure why we feel the need to keep asking the answered question from Luke. The question of “who is my neighbor” was clearly answered by Jesus Christ. To suggest that we do not have enough information about our “neighbor” is simply just negligent. I believe people ask this question to somehow shirk the responsibility of love that Jesus portrays in the Story of the Good Samaritan. It is not that we do not know who are neighbor is, rather it is “we do not want to show love to people we dislike.”

However by making the love for people conditional we presuppose a number of things from the Good Samaritan.

Were the actions of the Good Samaritan conditional? Did he know who this man was that needed help? If the man would have known something horrific about the individual, would it have changed his response?

The logic of the question “who is my neighbor” seems to answer “Yes” to these questions.

I’m not sure that is a correct response.

How can we be sure that Jesus intended us to define “love” & “Neighbor” outside of the story itself? It would seem as though The Good Samaritan did NOT know the person that needed help (that is, he knew nothing concerning his religious or political views), and yet that did not seem to change his response to the hurting.

Why would we think our response should change? When people hurt, we help. Could it be that simple?