Our need for neighbors

This whole question of neighbors has been on my mind a lot lately. I think about all of the debate going on right now around immigration law. To be honest, I haven't given enough time to really looking at the different proposals that have been put forth, so I can't really speak to any of them. But in all of the debates, the question we need to ask ourselves as Christians, is "who is our neighbor?" Jesus was asked that question, and he tried to offer an explanation through the parable of the Good Samaritan. All of the people who were supposed to help out didn't, and it was the "foreigner" who offered the care, who treated the wounded person like a neighbor. In all of the "us" versus "them" language being tossed around, it seems we make immigrants out to be less than human. If we saw immigrants as fully human, we would have to see them as our neighbor. And we know what Jesus said about our neighbors. We are supposed to love them. We need them.

- Melanie