Monday, February 13, 2012

The "Good Samaritan" revisited - Neighbourliness across Boundaries (Luke 10:25-37)

Jesus had been saying and doing some radical things. And so a clever lawyer thought that he would see if he could trip Jesus up. He would ask Jesus a question and see how far Jesus would drift from orthodoxy. Seeing this coming, Jesus rightly asked the lawyer himself what he thought ... what he thought was the way to eternal life ... what has already been written about this?
And thus Jesus drew out of this lawyer the long held wisdom about the secret of living the way God would have us live – “... love the Lord your God will all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and [love] your neighbour as yourself”. The lawyer was spot on with his answer. But there was a bigger point being made here by Jesus. You could have all the theological theories you like, but where the rubber really hits the road is aligning our daily behaviour with what we claim to be true – “Do this, and you will live”!
This “love God with everything” and “love your neighbour” were concepts that went right back to Leviticus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 6:5, and had obviously already been combined in people’s thinking given the answer of the lawyer. They were quoted separately by Jesus in Mark’s gospel (chapter 12) as the first and second most important commandments, but then were referred to by Jesus quite inseparably as the greatest commandment, well above anything else.
Loving God and loving our neighbour as a joint life orientation is the path to a purposeful, satisfying and God-honouring life now ... that leads toward eternal security. We know that we are saved by God’s grace, but it will be how we act toward others that will prove the reality of our reception of that grace! You might be able to love your neighbour without loving God (which seems to be the story for many passionate and hard-working human aid workers), but you cannot truly love God without loving your neighbours.
It is in Luke’s Gospel that the implications of this “love God, love your neighbour” combination is most dramatically described. Clearly you cannot possibly love God properly or adequately, if you fail to love your neighbour! The lawyer would be agreeing with Jesus up to this point, but it would now depend on a matter of definition – “who [exactly] is my neighbour”? Surely not some of these people this Jesus has been hanging out with (tax collectors – who were seen as traitors, prostitutes, lepers and Samaritans)! So Jesus told a story, probably the most famous parable of all, which not only broadens the definition of “neighbour” as far as you can go, but also casts the ‘ideal neighbour’ as someone normally seen as an enemy.
What do you think it means in practice to “love your neighbour as yourself”?
·        We desire for others what we would desire for ourselves
·        We would not want others to miss out on what we have
·        We would not want bad things to happen to others
·        We would not think of ourselves more highly than we think of others
·        We are prepared to see others as just as deserving as we are
·        We would consider others just as positively as we consider ourselves.
James 2:8-9 says, “You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture [referring to Lev 19:18], ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’. But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” (NRSV)
But there must be limits to this concept of loving one’s neighbour mustn’t there? “There just must be”, thinks this lawyer standing before Jesus. He wants to limit his responsibility here. He wants to “justify himself” (v.29) and probably limit neighbourliness in comfortable terms – pretty close to home and certainly within his own racial grouping. So, in the hope of drawing out some ‘exceptions to the rule’, this lawyer asks for clarification ... “And who is my neighbour”? This is crucial, so we hold our breath for Jesus’ answer!
Jesus starts his story around the well-known possibility of someone being mugged and robbed on the dangerous road between Jerusalem and Jericho. The listener, whether it be the “lawyer” or us, is faced with their reaction to a stripped and beaten man left to die on the side of the road.
Now a “priest” happened to come upon this scene, and we would naturally think that he would help. But alas, the “priest” tried to pretend that he hadn’t seen anything (thus avoid all responsibility) by crossing to the other side of the road and keep moving. There is a sense of shock and dismay at the priest’s actions (and non-actions). Why would he do this?
·        Maybe he thought the robbers were still around hiding somewhere
·        Maybe he thought that this guy might be a decoy, and he himself would be robbed – he may have been watching too much “Today Tonight” and letting (irrational) fear get the better of him
·        Maybe he had thoughts that this guy might only be a ‘gentile’, so it would not be his problem – now we’re getting into the area of one’s mindset
·        Maybe he worried that if he touched someone who may be already dead, that he would be deemed ‘ritually unclean’ and then would not be able to do his job – personal agendas and insecurities thereby revealed.
Next along was a “Levite”, who behaved in exactly the same way as the “priest”. This was understandable in that a “Levite” fulfilled the role of a priest’s assistant, and therefore would have simply followed either what the “priest” just did or what the “priest” generally taught.
But should the listener, whether it be the “lawyer” or us, easily accept that someone is just following a bad example (even though in ways it might be viewed as culturally acceptable or normal). Shouldn’t we always rise to the greater ideal?!? Someone has to break the pattern of bad inter-social behaviour! Can boundaries between insiders and outsiders be bridged? Who will break the cycle of self-interest? Doesn’t knowing Jesus mean that we rise above personal and political agendas! And, isn’t any human fear negated by the powerful presence of God’s Spirit in our lives!
Despite some of the real dangers mentioned earlier, I don’t think Jesus offers any ‘get-out-clause’ (for the “priest” or the “Levite”) in this parable, because the hero of the story did not concern himself with such possibilities. There   was an obvious need that the “good Samaritan” responded to naturally, immediately, wholeheartedly and sacrificially. The others were plainly negligent.
Now, as Jesus continued with the story, the listeners of the day were in for a shock. Animosity and hatred between Jews and Samaritans went way back – it was deep and mutual. The Samaritan people were the result of inter-marriage with non-Israelite peoples eight centuries earlier; and there were also strong disputes between these groups about where God should be worshipped. It would be a challenging enough parable if a Jew was seen helping a Samaritan victim, but a Samaritan hero helping a Jew like this was something way outside the box!
This parable does beg the question as to how we think about other ethnic groups, and then whether we treat them properly as our neighbours!
This Samaritan was “moved with pity”, and far from crossing to the other side, “went to [the injured man]”, and took whatever time was needed to address his needs. The Samaritan likely tore up parts of his own clothing to create bandages, used perhaps expensive oil and wine (bought for other purposes) to treat the man’s pain and wounds; then took a detour to the local inn, walking beside his own donkey, staying over a night, paying for the injured man’s accommodation, and committing himself to returning and paying the cost of any further care required. To be “moved with pity” like this, something that is often said about Jesus in the Gospels, is to actually feel this Jesus-like compassion toward needy others. This means to be ‘moved to the very depths of our being’ – to be ‘gutted’ by what we see.
The amazed “lawyer” before Jesus, had no choice but to acknowledge that this Samaritan had been the good neighbour to the injured man. Yet notice he still had a way to go, because he could not get the word “Samaritan” out of his mouth ... only saying “the one who showed him mercy”.
Jesus’ use of the Samaritan as the ideal neighbour effectively removes any limits placed on the identity of our neighbour – breaking through geography, race, culture, religion, as well as old hostilities and grievances.
Who are some of our neighbours that we should be loving?
·        People who have been oppressed and displaced from their original lands and are seeking a new home
·        People who feel like they are outsiders due to a variety of life issues, e.g. poverty, unemployment, homelessness, disability, mental illness, depression, loneliness.

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