The parable of the Good Samaritan is probably one of the best-known stories Jesus told. As we make our faith journey through life, this story provides a scriptural GPS, routing us in the only direction God desires for us – the way of love and compassion for all others.
Have you ever met people who become so focused on the law that, for them, the law is ultimate? When focus on the law – the ten commandments – becomes ultimate, the law is no longer received as gift, and then obedience to the law becomes behavioral proof of faith. When this happens, the gospel message is no longer a word of love but one of judgement. When law becomes our focus, then our actions must be justified by our understanding of and obedience to the law as humanly defined. Far too often, this perspective allows us to live with the illusion that we are in control. And, it reinforces the idea that a life of discipleship is a life marked by knowing good from evil, rather than a life of knowing God and God’s mercy and grace. The lawyer who encounters Jesus in today’s gospel reading lives and functions out of this perspective. And, Jesus’ teaching today means that his world, as ordered by his increasingly narrow definition of neighbor, must end. You see, his definition of neighbor has been increasingly defined by the letter of the law and not by the gospel which is all about love and grace.
This lawyer, a religious leader and expert in the Law of Moses – the Torah – is on a fishing expedition of sorts as he comes to test Jesus. He wants to know if Jesus will use the law in a proper way to answer his weighty question when he asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds by answering the question with another question. Jesus asks, “What do you think is the answer? What is written in the law? What do you read there that might address your question?” By doing this, Jesus forces the lawyer to put his cards on the table. When Jesus asks, “What do you think is the answer?” he slowly begins to reel the lawyer in. And, guess what, it is as if this lawyer had been waiting for this opportunity all along. He intimately knows the law and Hebrew scriptures. So he quickly responds by giving Jesus a comprehensive statement of proper ethical conduct as he says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus praises the answer, but he is not yet finished with this lawyer. So, he begins to pull the attorney into deeper conversation. He pulls him in to the place where proper words and proper actions meet. It is here that Jesus offers a surprisingly simple summary statement. "Do this and you will live." Well, the lawyer takes the bait. He is hooked, and he continues his line of questioning by asking, “Who is my neighbor?” Well, never missing an opportunity to teach, Jesus responds with a story.
Now, it is important to remember that Jesus’ stories, or parables, were designed to shatter perceptions and perspectives and shake people out of their mindset. The parables of Jesus were not meant to be comfortable, sweet stories. They were always meant to turn people’s thinking inside out and upside down. In fact, one theologian calls Jesus’ parables narrative time bombs designed to explode people into new awareness.
Anyway, Jesus tells the suspenseful story of a man traveling the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. We can surmise from the way Jesus tells this story that the traveling man was probably Jewish because this was a road going right through the heart of Judea. In his story this traveler is ambushed, robbed, beaten, stripped, and left to die in a pool of blood. And the big question in the story is who is going to stop and help? Two experts in the law walk right on past the beaten, nearly dead man. They know the commandments, to love God and neighbor. They even have them memorized. But, they don’t stop to help a stranger at the point of death. The twist comes with the third traveler. A Samaritan, an outsider, a hated enemy whose religious interpretation and practices make the lawyer’s blood boil and his stomach churn. This reviled, despised Samaritan is the only one who shows the dying man hospitality, kindness, mercy, generosity and love to the extreme. The one who is hated and reviled becomes the hero of the story and Jesus again shockingly turns social norms upside-down and inside-out!
The learned lawyer had requested a definition of neighbor and he receives a scandalous and alarming description of mercy, grace and love, leaving him with the most soul-searching question of all. Of each of the characters in this story, where does he find himself and who is the neighbor?
This story does not bear the impact of parable for us because it is so familiar to us. But, if we were to reinterpret this story and understanding of neighbor for our own time, who are those we would least expect to see and comprehend as neighbor? Who are those who sit on the margins, stereotyped as being “less than” because their religious views, culture, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity is different from us? Professor and author, Amy-Jill Levine, when teaching about this parable and the compassion of the Samaritan, insists,
We should think of ourselves as the person in the ditch and then ask, “Is there anyone, from any group, about whom we’d rather die than acknowledge, ‘She offered help’ or ‘He showed compassion’?” More, is there any group whose members might rather die than help us? If so, then we know how to find the modern equivalent for the Samaritan. To recognize the shock and possibility of the parable in practical, political and religious terms, we might translate its first-century geographical and religious concerns into our modern idiom.
Who is the one who proved neighbor? Who is the one who loved God with heart, mind, soul, and strength and loved neighbor as the self? In a lecture on this parable, before an audience who had experienced the horrors of 9/11 firsthand, Professor Levine suggested the one who proved neighbor was a member of Al-Qaeda. (Feasting on the Word, p. 242.)
So, for us, considering what is happening today in our culture, “Who are the ones who love God with heart, mind, soul and strength and love neighbor as self?” Wham!! Suddenly, for us, this parable begins to bear the perception shattering, explosive nature it did for our learned attorney. As we work on living together in today’s global village, the Samaritan lives among us by many other names, the names of any we consider enemies, any we loathe, any we consider “other”. And, the big surprise is that God shows up and is present in the most unlikely, unexpected places, working through the most unexpected people – even those we may despise.
Now, our definition of neighbor is redefined. Furthermore, consider the idea that each one of us is the person in the ditch, the one who lies helpless and wounded beside the road, the one who needs to be rescued. And, along comes a Good Samaritan, a Good Samaritan named Jesus – despised and rejected – he is the one who comes to save us, speak tenderly to us, tend to our wounds, lift us into his arms, and take us to the place of healing.
Today, with the horrific treatment we see taking place in detention centers at our southern border, we grieve as a church regarding the injustice and inhumane actions of our government. Our country is not practicing love. But, the gospel is love, and that is what we as Christians are called to live. The gospel of love calls us to be present and to show up in the places of pain. It is in those places of pain, under the shadow of the cross, where Jesus promises he will meet us to be present with us through mercy, hope and transformation to new life.
So, again, as we think about what is presently happening in our country, the question for each of us is who is your neighbor and who are you called to serve, to love, and be present to as neighbor? Who has been neighbor to you? Jesus Christ has been neighbor to you. The crucified one has been neighbor to you. Have you felt God’s mercy make your own heart merciful, compassionate and loving? Then in your heart you will know what this means: Go and do likewise!