Our Defense of our Neighbor

Scripture Passage that Caught My Attention today: Deuteronomy 22:1-3 You shall not watch your neighbor’s ox or sheep straying away and ignore them; you shall take them back to their owner. 2 If the owner does not reside near you or you do not know who the owner is, you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until the owner claims it; then you shall return it. 3 You shall do the same with a neighbor’s donkey; you shall do the same with a neighbor’s garment; and you shall do the same with anything else that your neighbor loses and you find. You may not withhold your help.

Observation: God did not intend for us to look out for only ourselves. We are, at least in some respects, our brother and sister’s keeper.

Application: Once there was a merchant in a small town, the only one of its kind. It was a quaint little business, responsive to local needs of the community and school. Then another small business of a similar nature moved into town. This is where things get complicated. No longer is the question: “should we buy local or from big-box store?” Now, if we do choose to buy local, we have to choose between two businesses.

Some would say that this competition is good. And I can’t say that I completely disagree. At the same time it’s almost as if another has commandeered a neighbor’s customer—which is no less a source of livelihood in this day and age than a stray ox or sheep was in the days of Moses. It would appear that there is a mighty fine line between healthy competition (which makes everyone better) and outright theft (which takes something—whether a customer, spouse, parishioner or whoever—away from a neighbor against his or her will). Who’s to say which is which?

I guess the moral of the story is that, regardless of how savvy we become in our respective businesses and/or professions, there is still the imperative to harbor concern for our neighbor. Later in the Deuteronomy readings for today the farmers were told not to reap the entire crop in order that there might be some left for the poor to reap for themselves. These days leaving a few corn or soybean stalks in the field would be of little use to anyone—they would simply go to waste. But that doesn’t mean we couldn’t all look for more contextually appropriate ways to make sure that there is still something left for those in need.

Prayer: Dear God, I still can’t figure out why we’ve never been able to figure out a system where everyone has everything they need. It seems that, if given opportunity, some of us will always want more. Why is that? Why couldn’t you make all of us more caring, more eager to please and share? Or why couldn’t you at least make us want to be more that way? I’ll be awaiting your reply, at least until I go upstairs and take a good look in the mirror. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: Deuteronomy 22-24 and Galatians 4)