Good Samaritan Primer
A religious teacher quizzes Jesus. He has just heard the 2nd greatest commandment according to Jesus, Love your neighbor as yourself. The religious teacher responds with a question? Who is my neighbor? Is it just the person living next to me? What about the person on the other side of town? What about those who are rather different from me? Who counts as a neighbor? What identifies a neighbor?
The Jewish understanding is that only Israelites or those part of the Israelites are your neighbors. This expands the table to include more than just your neighbor next to you. But what about non Israelites? What does Jesus think?
Jesus answers these questions with the famous parable of the Good Samaritan.
A guy takes the infamous Jerusalem to Jericho byway alone and is robbed, beaten, and left for dead. It’s safe to presume the man is Jewish. Jerusalem and Jericho – these are Jewish towns.
The man is battered and bruised and maybe dying on the side of the road. Two fellow Jews notice him, a temple priest and a Levite, both part of the religious hierarchy. Both pass the severed injured man by.
A third man – a Samaritan – notices the badly hurt fellow. He stops. Finally! He tends to the suffering traveler, caring for him, and eventually placing him on his own donkey, and walking him to a nearby inn.
His compassion doesn’t stop there. He pays for the injured man’s stay at the inn and his healthcare.
Who’s the neighbor in the story, Jesus asks? The Good Samaritan, of course.
To borrow Forrest Gump, a neighbor is as a neighbor does. That is a huge truth the story tells. If someone who lives in your neighborhood ignores your suffering and could care less whether you live or die, are they really a neighbor? Jesus says, no!
Someone on the other side of town, or from a different city or country, if they come to your aid and show you great compassion amid your suffering, they are your neighbor.
Neighborliness defines a neighbor, not citizenship or identity.
A neighbor is not as a person's nationality, language, religion. A neighbor is as a neighbor does.
The identity of a person matters not when it comes to being part of the kingdom. One’s heart and one’s care matters most of all.
This was radical to the Jewish understanding. To Roman understanding, too. Before Jesus, the ethic of loving others only applied to those like you living where you live.
Jesus expands the neighborhood. Jesus universalizes the love your neighbor ethic! Your neighbor can be anyone. Your neighbor can be someone from another neighborhood miles away. Your neighbor can be your enemy from another country. Your neighbor is as a neighbor does.
To most Jews’ minds, you couldn’t get more despised and hated than a Samaritan. Samaritans, the people of Samaria, were the enemy. Think Israelis and Palestinians right now. That’s how deep the animosity went.
Jesus makes a Samaritan, a representative of the enemy, the hero. Just as edgily, he makes Jewish religious authority figures weak and callous characters. Jesus is upending the hierarchy, in other words. Jesus loves that role, the role of upending hierarchy. Jesus was an iconoclast’s iconoclast!Anyway, to close, Want to be a hero – be the Samaritan. Look past differences. See the humanity in every human. Don’t ignore another’s real suffering. Be a helper all people can look to.
The Jewish understanding is that only Israelites or those part of the Israelites are your neighbors. This expands the table to include more than just your neighbor next to you. But what about non Israelites? What does Jesus think?
Jesus answers these questions with the famous parable of the Good Samaritan.
A guy takes the infamous Jerusalem to Jericho byway alone and is robbed, beaten, and left for dead. It’s safe to presume the man is Jewish. Jerusalem and Jericho – these are Jewish towns.
The man is battered and bruised and maybe dying on the side of the road. Two fellow Jews notice him, a temple priest and a Levite, both part of the religious hierarchy. Both pass the severed injured man by.
A third man – a Samaritan – notices the badly hurt fellow. He stops. Finally! He tends to the suffering traveler, caring for him, and eventually placing him on his own donkey, and walking him to a nearby inn.
His compassion doesn’t stop there. He pays for the injured man’s stay at the inn and his healthcare.
Who’s the neighbor in the story, Jesus asks? The Good Samaritan, of course.
To borrow Forrest Gump, a neighbor is as a neighbor does. That is a huge truth the story tells. If someone who lives in your neighborhood ignores your suffering and could care less whether you live or die, are they really a neighbor? Jesus says, no!
Someone on the other side of town, or from a different city or country, if they come to your aid and show you great compassion amid your suffering, they are your neighbor.
Neighborliness defines a neighbor, not citizenship or identity.
A neighbor is not as a person's nationality, language, religion. A neighbor is as a neighbor does.
The identity of a person matters not when it comes to being part of the kingdom. One’s heart and one’s care matters most of all.
This was radical to the Jewish understanding. To Roman understanding, too. Before Jesus, the ethic of loving others only applied to those like you living where you live.
Jesus expands the neighborhood. Jesus universalizes the love your neighbor ethic! Your neighbor can be anyone. Your neighbor can be someone from another neighborhood miles away. Your neighbor can be your enemy from another country. Your neighbor is as a neighbor does.
To most Jews’ minds, you couldn’t get more despised and hated than a Samaritan. Samaritans, the people of Samaria, were the enemy. Think Israelis and Palestinians right now. That’s how deep the animosity went.
Jesus makes a Samaritan, a representative of the enemy, the hero. Just as edgily, he makes Jewish religious authority figures weak and callous characters. Jesus is upending the hierarchy, in other words. Jesus loves that role, the role of upending hierarchy. Jesus was an iconoclast’s iconoclast!Anyway, to close, Want to be a hero – be the Samaritan. Look past differences. See the humanity in every human. Don’t ignore another’s real suffering. Be a helper all people can look to.
Comments
Post a Comment