Neighbours

Today Neighbours is celebrating its 30^th birthday.

I’m of an age where I associate Neighbours with the likes of Scott and Charlene, Des and Daphne, Jane, Mike and Mrs Mangle. It all seems like quite a while ago .

The whole idea of ‘Neighbours’ isn’t a new idea. As far back as the Old Testament book of Leviticus the Bible talks about neighbours. In chapter 19 verse 18 of that book we read: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’  

But for a long time the question rumbled around – who exactly is my ‘neighbour’ and what does it mean to ‘love them’? That’s the question a young man asked Jesus in Luke’s gospel (10 vs 29). In reply Jesus told a story. Set on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho the story (found in Luke 10 vs 30-37) has become known as ‘The Good Samaritan’. In this story Jesus explains that our neighbour is anyone who we might bump into. It’s the family down the street, the colleague at work, the person even who we would normally want little to do with. What does it mean to ‘love them’ – it means to be willing to go to where they are. Not to look the other way. To help, to get involved, to give of ourselves. That is when good neighbours can become good friends.

For those in nostalgic mood the BBC have produced a ’30 memorable moments’ from the show over the years which can be viewed here.