Who defines our neighbor

If we listen to politicians they will tell us that the illegal alien, the Moslem or the unborn baby are not our neighbors. But we let Jesus define our neighbor not politicians. We are willing to love our neighbor as long as it is not an enemy. We put boundaries on who is our neighbor. Jesus puts no boundaries on neighborliness. We want to do missionary work within our own towns, but not in another state or another country. Yet, the Gospel must go in word and deed to the whole world. We want to limit our responsibility to others but our responsibility has no bounds. The Greek word plésion means someone near but as Jesus explains (Luke 10:25-37) it also means any person “irrespective of race or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet”.