From the Daily Lectionary for Thursday in the Twentieth Week after Pentecost
Luke 10:25-37
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 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.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 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.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
A famous story this. It only appears in Luke’s Gospel. Here Luke is taking a jab at the Temple establishment. The priests maintained not just the authority of the Temple, but were commissioned to exercise broad civil authority as well. The Levites were also officials of the Temple by virtue of their birthright. Both priests and Levites were in the upper crust of a rigid caste system that characterized the ancient Mediterranean world. The priest and Levite in our story exemplify the lack of compassion so prevalent among the elite. To make matters worse, the wounded traveler is also a resident alien, a Samaritan among Judeans. It was a hallmark of Torah that one attend to the needs of the resident alien in the midst of the people Israel.
This story is introduced in the context of the so-called “Great Commandment,” that one must love one’s neighbor as oneself. The operative question is, “who is our neighbor?” And the answer is not, “all neighbors matter” …the answer is that our neighbor is the one whom we would least likely choose as our neighbor. Indeed, there was racial bias among Jews against the Samaritans. They were considered “half-breeds,” a people who for centuries had intermarried with people from the east and north, the Persians and the Assyrians. Luke is holding up before us our fear of the other, the stranger, our xenophobic tendencies against which the writers of Hebrew scripture persistently warn us as the chief evil in the undermining of community.
This is a parable for our time, is it not? Clearly, racism, classism, social superiority, privilege, impede our capacity for compassion and empathy. Our xenophobic predisposition is perhaps the greatest single factor contributing to our unhappy and destructive divisions in which we find ourselves.
The remedy, I think, is to “practice” our way out of our self-absorption and indifference. That is to say, that to practice empathy is to become empathetic; to practice compassion is to become compassionate; to practice commitment is to become committed. That is a description of faith, in short… to act “as if”… to act as if God’s vision of humanity, a people made in God’s image, is true. If ever there were a time to act as if…. Now is the time.
A Prayer for Social Justice (BCP p. 823)
Grant, O God, that your holy and life giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
