Join Us for Worship: Sundays at 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM https://www.flourishinggrace.org/plan-your-visit In this powerful message from our ongoing series in the Gospel of Luke, Pastor Benjer McVeigh leads us through one of the most familiar — and dangerously misunderstood — teachings of Jesus: the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). But before we tune out with a “been there, heard that” mindset, Benjer challenges us to slow down, lean in, and let the Word do surgery on our souls. What if we’ve misunderstood this parable all along? What if the point isn’t about identifying who our neighbor is — but realizing we are the neighbor God has sent? This message begins by confronting the deceptively small definition of “neighbor” held by the expert in the law, a man who — like many of us — sought to justify himself by asking Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” But Jesus doesn’t answer with a list of who qualifies. Instead, He flips the lawyer’s question on its head and tells a story where the most unlikely character — a Samaritan, despised by Jews in that time — becomes the model of true neighborly love. As Benjer unpacks the cultural and religious background of the text, he reveals that the priest and Levite in the story weren’t merely callous — they were likely busy with temple duties, constrained by religious expectations. Yet their roles, deeply tied to the law, couldn’t produce the compassion needed in the moment. It is the Samaritan — the outsider, the one least expected — who sees, stops, and sacrifices. He is moved by compassion, not convenience. He loves with open hands, at great risk and great cost to himself. And this, Jesus says, is what it means to be a neighbor. The message digs deeper, applying this radical vision of love to our daily lives. Who have we disqualified from being our neighbor? Who have we labeled in such a way that excuses us from loving them? Whether it’s someone we disagree with politically, someone whose lifestyle we don’t understand, or someone we believe “deserves” the consequences they’re facing — we are reminded that the teaching of Jesus leaves no room for exclusion. We don’t get to decide who deserves love. We simply get to extend it, because Jesus first loved us. And the message gets personal. Benjer shares how a group of teenagers at church camp, willing to sit under the Word of God with seriousness and humility, stirred his own heart. Their willingness to listen, respond, and be transformed by Scripture became the catalyst for this week’s call: to slow down, stop crossing to the other side of the road, and live as the kind of neighbor Jesus modeled. By the end, the parable turns into a mirror. It’s not just a story about someone else. It’s a story about us. And if we take it seriously — if we dare to pray the dangerous prayer, “God, who are you calling me to be a neighbor to today?” — we might discover that Jesus has already answered. He calls us not to love from a distance or with conditions, but to love incarnationally. To see, to stop, to bind up wounds, to take risks, to pay costs, to walk with the hurting until they heal. This is the call to become a people — and a church — marked by the extravagant compassion of Jesus. A church where no label can override the title “neighbor.” A church that reflects the Good Samaritan who saw us lying in the road, broken and far from hope — and didn’t pass by. Instead, He stopped. He loved. And He gave everything.