How Far Would You Go For a Neighbor



To what extent would you go to help a neighbor or reach a neighbor? Would you go across your town or is just going across the street too far? Consider this example when we think about barriers to being an engaged neighbor.

Tychicus first appears in the Bible in Acts 20:4 at the end of the Apostle Paul's third missionary journey (AD 57). He was preparing to go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) to take money to the Holy City's needy saints.

On at least two occasions, Tychicus accompanied Paul and delegates from the gentile churches in delivering money and gifts to the Jerusalem church.

However, Tychicus may best be known for delivering the letter of Colossians and delivering the slave Onesimus back to his owner Philemon.

On that fantastic journey, Tychicus and Onesimus:
  • Walked the 360 Roman miles on the Appian Way from Rome to the port city of Brundusium and then boarded a ship to Corinth.  
  • Then took a boat that crossed 353 miles of the Adriatic Sea and Gulf of Corinth to Lechaeum, the harbor of Corinth north of the city.  
  • They then walked 8 miles across the Isthmus of Corinth.
  • They caught another ship heading across the Aegean Sea for the port city of Miletus in Asia Minor 250 miles away.  
  • They took a 60-mile ferry ride across the Gulf of Latmos from Miletus to Priene.
  • There, picked up the Roman road through the Meanders Valley to the Lycus Valley and the tri-polis: Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse.  
  • The final leg of their journey was 132 miles. 

This trip took work. Yet Tychicus was faithful to his assigned task.  He walked nearly 500 miles of Roman roads and sailed 600 miles on two seas.  The total mileage for their journey from Rome to the Lycus Valley was about 1,100 miles, all to carry four letters and return a runaway slave who had become a believer (and a letter asking his owner to treat him with grace).

That is a long journey! So what is keeping me from going across the street for a visit? What is keeping me from helping those around me?

I have found the bar of expectations to be set very low. Neighbors do not expect much from us. This is another reason why getting up and reaching out stands out more now than ever. But it does require us to take action. 

I do think in the case of reaching our neighbors, Jesus expects us to take action. He expects us to follow his example too. But that is another blog for another day.

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