What do you do if your neighbor is homeless? Do you think that can’t happen? Maybe that it could happen, but you know how to “fix” that problem? Or do you believe you’d be OK if that happened? Depending on where you live, it already has happened. In that case, what did you do / what are you doing about it? And why am I asking?
As I said, depending on where you live, maybe you already have a neighbor like this. Or someone even worse off. But then, it’s probably more likely that you either don’t have homeless people near you, or you do have them but just don’t notice/acknowledge them.
Either way, what did/would you do if your neighbor is homeless? Call the police? Have them taken to the poor side of your town? Better yet, in your opinion, take them to a bigger city and let them be someone else’s problem? Continue to ignore them? Help them? But then, what do you mean by that four-letter word “help”? Are you helping them, or just yourself by enforcing the NIMBY rule? If you don’t know, NIMBY is Not In My Back Yard.
What if your neighbor is homeless?
Do you even agree that it’s possible to have a homeless neighbor? True enough, it depends on how neighbor is defined. If you restrict it to people who live in the houses/condos/townhomes near you, then it’s an oxymoron to talk about a homeless neighbor. In fact, even the apartment-dwelling neighbors that some might like to pretend aren’t really neighbors are, by definition, not homeless.
But that’s not what I’m talking about. Let’s expand it a bit. Turn to dictionary.com and we read:
- noun
- a person who lives near another.
- a person or thing that is near another.
- adjective
- situated or living near another
- verb (used with object)
- to live or be situated near to; adjoin; border on.
- to place or bring near.
Even that was slightly abbreviated from dictionary.com because their definition was broader than what I wanted as a starting position. This less than complete definition makes my case, that any attempt to exclude someone based on the type of “home” they have can’t be done within the confines of our generally accepted definition of neighbor. Note – “generally accepted”. As much as we might like to try to redefine and restrict who fits in as our neighbor, that’s just not what the word means. At least not to most people.
What did Jesus say about who is our neighbor, homeless or not?
I’m pretty sure most Christians, even if they don’t like it, remember what Jesus said. For non-Christians, when you judge Christianity, I really encourage you to look at what Jesus said, not just what too many of us do.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
10:25-28 pp — Mt 22:34-40; Mk 12:28-31
Lk 10:25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Lk 10:26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
Lk 10:27 He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’’”
Lk 10:28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Jesus knows this question is a “setup”. So He turns it around. Asks the questioner, what do you think?
Interestingly enough, he answers correctly. At least, he’s got the right words.
Lk 10:27 He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’’”
However, just like us when we define who is our neighbor, we don’t want it to be what we already know it is. So we try to get a better answer, more in line with our thinking.
Lk 10:29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Unlike us, Jesus won’t restrict the meaning of neighbor. In fact, Jesus goes to great lengths to make sure no one is excluded. Even the people we love to hate are included in Jesus’ definition of neighbor.
If you don’t already know, the Jewish people hated Samaritans. They were considered “half-breeds”. The offspring of a Jew and a person from Samaria who married. The original of this goes back to when Samaria conquered them and took many back to Samaria.
Lk 10:30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
Lk 10:36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
How does that response make you feel? You do know the answer Jesus is looking for, don’t you?
Lk 10:37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
The expert in the law, who absolutely knew the right answer, couldn’t even bring himself to say, “The Samaritan”.
Finally, in one of those “drop the mike” moments, Jesus says what few of us want to hear.
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Well, that’s one viewpoint. And it doesn’t look good for us. Honestly, it really doesn’t. Me included. In our world, with so many in need, so much we think the government should do, although many don’t want the government to spend money on this, and so many people willing to sue for good intentions that don’t go perfectly, it is hard. But that’s for another article.
A second view – What do you do if your neighbor is homeless?
But there is another way to look at this. And it’s even scarier than the first. Let’s read a short passage, and see if we can figure out why it’s relevant. And very important.
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
Jn 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Such a calming title – Jesus Comforts His Disciples. How can that possibly be scary? Well, it can. There’s an unstated condition in there. Even in the title! But let’s go through the passage first, and see why it applies to a discussion of neighbors, let alone homeless neighbors.
Jn 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
Ah yes. Comforting. This is one of those verses that I remember even when I was a kid, forced to attend Sunday church service. Something I didn’t have. But that I really wanted. However, trust in God wasn’t exactly forthcoming, and certainly wasn’t easy to attain.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms
Yes, the NIV translates this as “many rooms“. I find that interesting. One commentator, a Pastor at a large, well-off church even says this could mean apartments. It’s fascinating. We talk about God being the great Father who gives great gifts, and yet there’s apparently no problem when someone like this says he’s going to get a downgrade from a nice house to an apartment.
Let’s contrast that with the definition for the Greek word used for “room” in John’s Gospel.
3438 μονή [mone /mon·ay/] n f. From 3306; TDNT 4:579; TDNTA 581; GK 3665; Two occurrences; AV translates as “mansion” once, and “abode” once. 1 a staying, abiding, dwelling, abode. 2 to make an (one’s) abode. 3 metaph. of the God the Holy Spirit indwelling believers. 1Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
So it seems there are many of something that’s probably more than “rooms”, if we assume each room is only for one person. But that’s making an assumption which probably isn’t warranted. Given that the Greek word used is more along the lines of a mansion instead of a room, there are probably lots of rooms for various purposes.
In any case, the point is that there will be rooms for various purposes.
if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
Let’s look at some things that are apparent from what Jesus said so far.
Christ speaks of heaven as a real place, not merely as a state of mind. He pictured heaven as a loving home where the Father dwells. “Mansions” in the Gk. is actually “abiding places,” speaking of the permanency of our heavenly home. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Christ “the Carpenter” (Mark 6:3) is building a heavenly home for all who have trusted Him. 2Wiersbe, W. W. (1992). Wiersbe’s expository outlines on the New Testament (p. 249). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Yes, Heaven is a real place. And it’s the Father’s home. That alone, based on what we read in the Bible, should tell us it’s better than anything we can imagine from this life. I mean, let’s face it, even the homes of the richest people in the world still have some of the same mundane problems the rest of us have, assuming we’re well-off enough to even have them, like air conditioning and heating breakdowns.
But let’s not miss this part: Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Guess what that means. It means Heaven, the place where we’ll dwell with God, is for believers. True believers. Who actually tried in our hearts to follow Jesus’ teachings and commands. It doesn’t say it’s for people who claim to be Christian but show no sign of actually being one. Remember the part about bearing fruit? So here’s the condition I wrote about earlier.
So, when Jesus says, I am going there to prepare a place for you, He’s talking about those who trust, follow, obey, have faith in Him.
Who’s going to be in Heaven?
So who is going to be in Heaven? Who’s going to be in those “rooms”? Here’s a pretty big clue.
The Calling of Levi – Mark
2:14-17 pp — Mt 9:9-13; Lk 5:27-32
Mk 2:13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
Mk 2:15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
Mk 2:17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Yes, the passage is titled The Calling of Levi.
But today, we’re interested in the last part. The part where Jesus says, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”.
Conclusion – What do you do if your neighbor is homeless?
And for our purposes within the context of this article, who are the sinners? Those of us who realize that we fall short on being neighborly.
And who’s among the righteous? Truthfully, of our own power, none are in the category of being righteous. The Bible makes that quite clear.
So what does this mean? The sinners become righteous through faith in Jesus. Those who are self-righteous, in other words, righteous only in their own eyes, are actually the unrighteous in God’s eyes.
We all have homeless neighbors, so what happens?
Jesus was very much a radical. He told us, if we listen, that everything’s different in Heaven from what it is here on earth. Remember, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Those who realize they are not righteous and need Jesus will be made righteous through Jesus. Those who think they are already righteous will find out they are not. The first group will have the price for their sins paid by Jesus. The second group will owe a debt they cannot possibly pay.
So for this discussion, those who think they have no homeless neighbors, or don’t care about their homeless neighbors, are in serious danger of not having a home in Heaven, And those who know they have homeless neighbors and do care about them are likely to be in Heaven.
And in the twist where things really get turned upside down, everyone in Heaven will have a home, including those who may have been homeless here on earth. On the other hand, no one in Hell will have a home like the one in Heaven or the one on earth. No matter how great their mansion may have been on earth. all will be homeless.
One final thought
Did you notice the sign the person was holding in the picture at the top? It says, “once I was like you”. Not literally. It doesn’t mean they lived in a mansion. Or in a home as nice as what some of us have. But it does mean that, through the many varied events that take place in everyone’s life, every one of us could end up homeless.
Now, think about something from above. Something the expert in the law said. Which was actually a command from God.
Lk 10:27 He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’’”
Got it? There’s something in there I may have thought about before. But right now it strikes me as a new thought. Of course, it fits in with treating others the way we want to be treated. But think about this. Love your neighbor as yourself, because you are everyone’s neighbor. And some day, you could be the neighbor hoping someone will care about you.
The roles could be reversed. Every one of us who ignores our needy neighbor today could very well be that needy neighbor tomorrow!
How are your neighbors doing?
Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay
Footnotes
- 1Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
- 2Wiersbe, W. W. (1992). Wiersbe’s expository outlines on the New Testament (p. 249). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.