We can quote the greatest commandments and still cross the road when love gets inconvenient. Caution dresses itself up as wisdom; clean hands become a moral guarantee. The heart-idol is self-protection — schedule, pedigree, distance — while someone lies broken at our feet.
Jesus will not let the neighbor question stay theoretical. He answers with a story that turns pride cold, then a charge: go and do likewise. Enemy-love spends silver, risks the neck, pours oil and wine, and stays past dark. Forgive the steps that walk away. Put hands in the dirt. Bind the wounds. Not the other side of the road — the ditch, with Him.
Associated Scripture
Luke 10:36-37: "Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, 'The one who showed him mercy.' And Jesus said to him, 'You go, and do likewise.'"
1 John 3:17-18: "But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."
[Verse 1]
I know the scriptures, I can quote the line
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind
Love your neighbor as yourself—the law is clear and sweet
Until the neighbor's lying broken at your feet
I had a meeting scheduled, I had places I should be
It's easy to call caution a moral guarantee
[Chorus]
It's easy crossing over to the other side of the road
Keeping hands clean of an inconvenient load
Looking past the ditch so you don't have to see
The cost of love without a guarantee
Lord, forgive the steps I take to walk away
On the other side of the road today
[Verse 2]
The stranger stopped his journey, threw his schedule to the wind
Didn't check my pedigree, my politics, or kin
Poured out oil to soothe the burning, poured out wine to cleanse the deep
Put me up for shelter when the night began to creep
He spent his silver freely, risked his neck along the bend
Taught me how an enemy becomes the truest friend
[Chorus]
It's easy crossing over to the other side of the road
Keeping hands clean of an inconvenient load
Looking past the ditch so you don't have to see
The cost of love without a guarantee
Lord, forgive the steps I take to walk away
On the other side of the road today
[Bridge]
I asked, "Who is my neighbor that I'm bound to hold?"
You answered with a question that turned my pride cold:
"Go and do likewise... go and take the blow...
Be the neighbor to the broken wherever you go."
[Outro]
Not the other side...
Put my hands in the dirt...
Bind the wounds.
