Grace to you from the Mystery in whom we live and breathe and have our being. Who is my neighbor?
Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Good Samaritan
If this parable we’re laying on the side of the road, stripped and beaten of its deep message of radical compassion and liberation, I’m afraid I would be tempted to cross to the opposite side.
I’ve always understood this parable as an example of being kind to others and helping them. Being a good Christian so to speak. But when I explore the far-reaching implications, my gut becomes upset. I sense there is more to this parable than being a good Christian. The word compassion in the Greek means to be moved in the bowel. So, I guess my gut feeling tracks with the message of compassion.
For one, knowing the Samaritans were seen as a separated and hated people in their Jewish world, makes naming this parable “The good Samaritan” an insult. It implies Samaritans are bad. It would be like someone referring to me as the good Mexican for so many reasons I won’t get into. You get the point.
The person I claim to follow delivered this parable for the good news to the poor, the captive, the separated and every person I see as on the OTHER side of the road. He also gave us the formula for a satisfying life full of vitality.
Road to Jericho
The treacherous, rocky, one road from Jerusalem to Jericho, made it nearly impossible to avoid predators who so often lurked and took advantage of travelers.
The Samaritan, the Priest (or Senior Pastor) and the Levite (or Associate Pastor) all on that path saw the man lying on the road. Just like I see the arrow of this parable heading for my conscience. Too get out of the path would be to side with the Priest and the Levite.
But the pull in my gut to look at Jesus’s call to action. The charge he gave the lawyer is real. Jesus said to him, “do likewise.” In regard to the compassionate actions of the Samaritan, Jesus said, be that guy.
If I linger with this thought of radical compassion, what would it cost me? Oh, this would open a lot of issues concerning money and time, not to mention the incongruence of my life and claims as a Jesus follower. No wonder only one of the three helped the guy!
compassion
Perhaps we need to see this parable from the perspective of the lawyer trying to justify his zealousness to follow law and encountering a liberation activist like Jesus.
The questioning lawyer said he wanted eternal life. The kind of life he was asking for was a life of infinite vitality. A good life. Jesus answered if you want real life. Here’s a parable. Cross the road away from your theology, ethnicity, and ideological piety. Inwardly, strip yourself naked of your lawyering and respond to those treated as others with compassion, and you will really live.
Theologian Walter Bruggeman describes the “The Parable of the Neighbor” as an example compassion as a cultural critique.
He says… “Jesus in his solidarity with the marginal ones is moved to compassion. Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness. In the arrangement of “lawfulness” in Jesus’ time, as in the ancient empire of pharaoh, the one unpermitted quality of relationship was compassion. Empires are never built and were maintained based on compassion. The norms of the law of social control are never accommodated to people, but people are accommodated to norms. Otherwise, the norms will collapse and with them the whole power arrangement. Thus, the compassion of Jesus is to be understood not simply as a personal emotional reaction, but as a public criticism in which he dares to act upon his concern against the entire numbness of his social context.”
Who is my Neighbor
I hope you will join me in asking yourself, “what is the numbness of our social context today?” Personally, and then collectively.
Jesus was clear about his mission. He delivered his message to the temple one day. He walked in, opened the scroll and read. The spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. – Luke 4:18
So, we ask, “who is my neighbor?” Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez, answers this way,
Who is my neighbor? The neighbor was the Samaritan who approached the wounded man and made him his neighbor. The neighbor is not he who I might find in my path, but rather he in whose path I placed myself, he whom I approach and actively seek.
Amen
Wednesday Respite is a 30-min contemplative service of scripture, prayer, music and a Spirited Touchpoint by Henry Rojas, spiritual director at Spirit in the Desert.
Touchpoint is a reflection on where God’s story touches our life story. It is a short homily based on a biblical story of people in the Old and New Testaments and their relationship with God. Our spiritual ancestors’ experience of God’s grace connects with our lives in the present and our relationship with the Divine. Previous Touchpoints are available as PDFs or on SoundCloud.
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