To Justify Ourselves

Luke 10:29  But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”


I find in my life that human nature leads to most people giving a justification for their mistakes. You might hear, "I did it, but" and you can fill in the blank for the but part. Even with the big but people would tell you that they accept responsibility for their actions, but listening carefully you know it isn't true. We humans hate to be wrong about anything and when we are or think we might be we try to squirm one way or the other to spread the blame around. It is never the fault of one person as an explanation for a divorce is one example. What that means is that neither one of them will accept the responsibility for their part.
In the gospel the young man in order to justify himself wants to narrow the definition of neighbor, but Jesus widens the definition with the story of the good samaritan who saves the beaten man on the road. It widens the definition because for a Jew a bloody man would be avoided, but Jesus wants to point out that even the outcast is our neighbor. You can't justify a lack of accepting responsibility because they don't fit your definition of neighbor, Jesus doesn't allow it. So who is your neighbor and how do you show it?