REFLECTION – Who is my neighbour?
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37
25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.[j] “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “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.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
29 But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
The Good Samaritan!
It seems to me that the name “good Samaritan” is something of an oxymoron. Samaritans were not regarded as “good” people.
So, oxymoron?
The Good Samaritan
– oxymoron (figure of speech in which apparently contradictory
terms appear in conjuction)
some of my favourites are: plastic glasses, work party, taped live, peace force, war games!
And here we have, the ‘Good Samaritan’. This story seems to have been with us all our lives. We all know this story well, so let’s try to find some new perspectives on a familiar story.
The term Good Samaritan, used in a figurative sense, first appears in common usage in the mid-1600s.
What is this Good Samaritan?
We could perhaps define it as a person who does good deeds, out of compassion and not because of any hope of reward.
Good Samaritan has become such a generic term you don’t have to be a Christian or to have read a Bible to know or use the term.
It’s everywhere. The Good Samaritan Hospital, Sisters of the Good Samaritan, Samaritan’s Purse and so on…
We know the term Good Samaritan derives from the parable told by Jesus. In the parable, a Jew is robbed and beaten, then left on the side of the road to die. After the injured Jew is passed, first by a priest and then a Levite, a man from Samaria (the Samaritan), finds the Jew and helps him. This was a surprising and confronting turn of events for the audience, because Jews and Samaritans did not think well of each other – well, that maybe an understatement!
SHORT HISTORY LESSON
At the time of Jesus’ ministry, the land of Samaria was situated between the regions of Galilee in the north and Judea in the south. Jews travelling between Galilee and Judea would take the longer, six-day journey along the Jordan River valley, crossing the Jordan River rather than taking a shorter, more direct route through Samaria.
The Jews studiously avoided the Samaritans because of their bitter history. Hundreds of years previously, following the death of King Solomon, the nation of Israel split into north and south. The northern tribes of Israel were collectively called Israel, and their capital city was Samaria. The southern tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Simeon were collectively called Judah, and their capital city was Jerusalem.
A distance of 50kms separated the cities of Jerusalem and Samaria. That’s how far I travel to visit my daughter on the other side of Melbourne. But, of course, in those days the means of travel were a little different from today
In 586 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians. Many Jews were exiled from their homeland and taken captive into Babylon for seventy years.
The Jews were mostly treated well in Babylon. While some Jews lamented their captivity in a foreign land (see the Psalms), others became established in their new communities. When the Persian King Cyrus decided to allow the Jews to return seventy years later, only the most devout Jews returned to Jerusalem, with the purpose of rebuilding the city and its temple.
In the mean-time, the Samaritans had developed their own version of Judaism. The Samaritans still believed in the God of Israel, but they worshipped at Mount Gerizim instead of Jerusalem, with their own adapted worship practices.
In Jesus’ day most Jews regarded the Samaritans as ignorant, superstitious, and outside of God’s favour and mercy. Not really what you would call good neighbours.
Our story begins, not with the parable but with a discussion between Jesus and a lawyer, someone well versed in Jewish law.
In fact, the story Jesus tells is bookended by his interaction with the lawyer.
In the first episode, the lawyer asks a question,
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus asks a question back.
What’s written in the law?
He responds
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and your neighbour as yourself
Then Jesus says
You have given the right answer; do this and you will live.
The lawyer again asks Jesus a question,
And who is my neighbour?
and Jesus’ response is the parable.
The young man clearly knows what the law says. His problem is, he doesn’t know how to do this.
I know I must love my neighbour as myself…but how can anyone do that?
He cannot see how he can live out his answer; surely there must be a limit to who is a “neighbour”?
The question is –
What would the listeners have understood from this story?
First, notice that the man who happens to be travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho is not given clear definition. Jesus says, ‘A certain man.’ There are no details given. Just, ‘A certain man.’ He could be rich or poor, Jew or gentile, young or old. It could be anyone. Or you or me.
Notice too that this is a chance happening.
By chance a certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
What could happen on the road to Jericho was well known. It was 18 miles from Jerusalem to Jericho and it was a rough, rocky, mountainous road, descending roughly 3,000 feet from Jerusalem (2,500 feet above sea level) to Jericho (846 feet below sea level). (Or if you want it in metric measurements, Jerusalem at 760 metres above sea level to Jericho at 258 metres below sea level). Despite the improved infrastructure brought to Judea during Roman rule, bandits remained a constant threat on wilderness roads.
Jesus’ listeners would have expected that the priest and the Levite would see a fellow Jew who had been injured and would help him.
In their defence, the law for priests and Levites was very strict with regard to becoming unclean by touching a corpse.
So, the reason why the priest and the Levite went by on the other side may not necessarily be because they were indifferent or didn’t care about the man, but that they were observing the law. Possibly!
A Samaritan, was, from the point of view of Judeans, an apostate – one who had deserted the faith as practised by those in Jerusalem. The Samaritans, for heaven’s sake, had established their Temple at Mt Gerizim and followed their own practices, not the ancient traditions. For Jesus’ listeners, the Samaritan was the enemy.
But this Samaritan, when he comes, treats the injured traveller with extraordinary kindness. For him to patch him up and even take him to an inn was good; but then he takes out two denarii and gives them to an innkeeper with a promise to repay whatever more he
might spend. This was beyond all expectations of kindness to someone who was beaten and robbed. He is an extraordinary neighbour.
Jesus told this story in the first century, but the truth of it stands today. How many people today do we find lying by the side of the road – beaten down, homeless, alien, destitute – while the crowds walk by. While we walk by? It’s easy to be neighbourly when we are in a comfortable situation. But what about when the situation is difficult, when we’re short of time, when we are afraid?
Rev Andrew Prior suggests it may be about letting ourselves feel those who suffer rather than looking at them.
Andrew Prior again, asks
Why does the story say of both the priest and the Levite
…when he saw him, he passed by on the other side…
but says of the Samaritan that he
…came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity…
Is there a way of being that does not come near people, and therefore cannot really see them as human? And what is the way of being that comes ‘near’ people?
Because he was the sort of man who came near people and saw them, rather than one who saw people and moved away from them, the Samaritan was moved with compassion.
My favourite biblical storyteller, Tom Boomershine, says
This is a story about the extraordinary grace of the Kingdom of God. It is an example of the extension of care to an enemy. It is not only about the goodness of caring for those who have been hurt, but also the goodness of breaking the cycle of violence, retribution and revenge, that happens in relationships between people who are in conflict with each other. The only way to peace is if that cycle is broken.
That is what the Kingdom of God is all about. A neighbour is one who cares for his friends and his enemies.
At the end of this story, we return to the discussion between Jesus and the lawyer. Jesus’ question to the lawyer at the end is
…which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers
Notice how Jesus changes the lawyer’s question. The lawyer asked
and who is my neighbour?
By his definition, the neighbours of the story would have been the priest and the Levite, members of his group, not the alien and heretical Samaritan. However, at the end of the story, Jesus changes the question by asking
…which of these do you think was a neighbour?
That is, who proved to be a neighbour. Neighbour is not defined by location or group, but by those who need concern and care.
Bruce Prewer suggests
Jesus discards the theoretical question of ‘Who is my neighbour?’ and applies the practical ‘To whom can I be a good neighbour?’ To whom can I be a good neighbour as I travel the road of life? Will I be a person of grace, like the Samaritan?
When I am your neighbour, you are my neighbour. We need not fear each other, instead we can thrive together.
AMEN