The Good Samaritan redefines who are our neighbor is, but it also warns us that if we can’t see “the other” as our neighbor, then we may be left alongside the road to die!
—
As you may have noticed, one of the major themes these last few Sundays have revolved around the question of what it means to be a part of God’s family.
Two Sundays ago we looked at the epistle to the Galatians (click here to read). There, we saw that family was defined as our trust in the faithfulness of God’s anointed Messiah, Jesus.
The Law may have said that Jews couldn’t eat with Gentiles, but St. Paul effectively argues that faith in the Messiah overrides the Law. Now, we all sit down together, at one table, and this is a sign that the family is much more inclusive than we imagined.
Last Sunday we saw how the Law attempted to keep Israel pure by cutting out the maimed and sick (click here to read).
We were told a story of a woman who had a flow of blood that made her ritually unclean. This prevented her from being a full member of the family. But we also saw how Christ healed her so she could “come home.”
Contact with Christ cleanses us of our sins, makes us ritually pure, and allows us to approach the holy – and to be a holy people called to serve God.
Now, in today’s gospel lesson, the rubber meets the road. We again come face-to-face with the Law and its narrow definition of who’s in and who’s out.
But the confrontation isn’t just a matter of who you eat with, or whether you’re sick or healthy, but a matter of action. Will you treat the people around as if they are a part of God’s family, or will you look for an identity marker?
As we’ll see, in the Law, “neighbor” was defined as anyone of your kin – a narrow definition. But Jesus tells a story of a neighbor, a Samaritan (non-kin), helping a Jew (kin).
This radically redefines God’s family.
Inheriting Eternal Life through Love of God and Kin
The story of the Good Samaritan begins with an innocent question from a lawyer:
“Teacher,” [the lawyer said], “what should I do to inherit the life of the coming age?”
Jesus asked him to recite the Law, which he does brilliantly.
“You shall love the Lord your God,” he replied, “with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.”
This, of course, was the right answer. But the lawyer was set on winning the argument; he really hadn’t come to learn from Jesus. So he challenges Jesus as to who his neighbor is.
He was expecting an answer according to the way the Law was traditionally interpreted. A neighbor was a fellow Jew – someone who was part of the family.
You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin… You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:17-18 NRSV)
In fact, we even run across this idea in other places in the New Testament:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’.” (Matthew 5:43 RSV)
But this isn’t the definition Jesus gives.
The Good Neighbor As Samaritan
Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan, which many of us can recite backward and forward.
There was a Jew – a member of the family – going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he gets beaten up, robbed, and left for dead.
Along comes a priest and a Levite. Our modern sensibilities are shocked when they don’t stop to help.
But guess what? They did exactly what they should have.
Even though they were all Jews – all members of the same family – what was expected was what happened. They were following the Law.
The Jewish man along the road was left for dead and priests and Levites were forbidden to come into contact with death and uncleanness, lest they be cut off from Israel.
“He who touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days; he shall cleanse himself with the water… Whoever touches a dead person…and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel.” (Numbers 19:11-13 RSV; see also verses 14-19)
In fact, they were even forbidden from burying all but their closest relatives (Leviticus 21:1-3).
So, when the priest and the Levite walked by, they were obeying scripture. They were called to be holy and they couldn’t do that by touching an unclean man.
The Samaritan Shocked Everyone
Then, as we know, along comes along a man who isn’t an Israelite – a Samaritan: someone who wasn’t considered a member of the family by Jews.
Now, you may be thinking, he could help because the Jewish Law didn’t restrict him. But you’d be wrong.
Surprisingly, the Jewish Law made even outsiders unclean when they touched a dead body.
And this shall be to the people of Israel, and to the stranger who sojourns among them, a perpetual statute. “He who touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.” (Numbers 19:10-11 RSV)
The Samaritan Law is only slightly different than Jewish Law, so he’d be unclean by his standards too.
So, the shock is twofold:
- The Samaritan willingly took on uncleanness to help the beaten man, and
- The one who helped the Jew was a non-family member, a Samaritan.
Yet, the one who was the neighbor of the beaten Jewish man was the one who had mercy on him, the Samaritan.
LAW DIVIDES, BUT LOVE UNITES
So, this is a story of how the Law once again divided the family.
It prevents the Jewish priest and Levite from helping one of their own, and it prevents the stranger from helping.
Yet, astonishingly, when the stranger takes on uncleanness to help, Jesus says he had fulfilled the Law of loving your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus effectively highlights an inconsistency of the Law, one that fails to fulfill the intent of the Law.
At the same time, he lifts up that aspect of the Law that not only shows love and compassion but that part of the Law that brings people together – making them one family.
Being Good Samaritans in our World
There are several ways we can understand this passage today.
On the theological level, we can argue that this is a passage about communion. Through our trust in the faithfulness of the Messiah, Jesus, we all come together as one family.
Indeed this is very true and accurate. In our own parish we have people from many different roots: western European backgrounds, as well as from Greece, Syria, Romania, Russia and elsewhere; yet, in Christ, we are all Orthodox Christians and commune together. We are one family.
Yet, there’s also the practical level. Our God is the one who created the world and all people – of every background – and, so, this story highlights that we all belong to God.
But not everyone has gotten the message.
I’ve noticed, this week alone, there’s been a wide variety of hate and discrimination spread across our country; hate that separates us from one another. Hate that divides the family and leaves people “laying along side the road to die.”
In Presvytera’s home state of Minnesota, high school kids of Maple Grove showed up to school on Wednesday to find racist remarks scrawled on the bathroom wall.
Latinos, Hispanics, women, and Muslims have all been taunted and subjected to discrimination this week. Hate groups are openly marching in the streets, putting the African-American community in danger.
But these minorities are all our neighbors and, unfortunately, they have been left for dead alongside the road.
The bright spot is that there are Samaritans out there.
In the Maple Grove school, some students lined the halls to welcome everyone to school. They also left positive, uplifting messages for one another.
The principal, Bart Becker, gave a message that couldn’t be more Christian. He said,
“Be about love. Be about respect. Be about empathy, kindness, inclusiveness, gratitude, patience, selflessness, humility, compassion, resolve and strength.” He ended his announcement with, “I love you all.”
Yes, there are Samaritans out there, helping those beaten along side the roads, but we need many more.
Christ-followers are the Good Samaritans of Today
This is where we, as Christ-followers, step-up to the challenge.
In Christ, God announces that he is in charge. He, again, is taking control. Through the Messiah, God announces that his grace is for everyone, everywhere.
For God so loved the world – not just Christians – that he gave his uniquely begotten Son to die on the cross (John 3:16).
Now, the Messiah lives in us, we have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:19-20), and so we are called to announce this coming Kingdom.
It’s an announcement that there’s a new way of doing things, one in which love and helping neighbor reigns supreme.
After all, we pray every Sunday, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The ending of today’s Gospel shows us how this happens:
“Which of these three do you think turned out to be the neighbor of the man who was set upon by the brigands?” “The one who showed mercy on him,” came the reply. “Well,” Jesus said to him, “you go and do the same.”
So, the Good Samaritan is a call-to-action of love. But it’s also a warning about non-love.
Notice that it was a Jew who originally asked, “who is my neighbor?” But the story wasn’t about a Jew helping a non-Jew. It was about a Jew in need. It’s also a warning: if you can’t recognize the hated Samaritan as your neighbor, then you’ll be left along side the road dead.
The good news, the gospel you see, is a story of how God loves you and how he loves the world he created and the people in it. It’s a story of how he loves you so that you can truly see your neighbor and love them; then, no one is left alongside the road dead.
P.S. You are my neighbor and I’m yours!
I now invite you to enter deeper into the mystery of Christ with the Orthodox Church!
St. Elias Services
Saturdays, 5 pm (at St. John’s Parish House, 1458 Locust St, Dubuque, IA)
Sundays, 9:30 am (at Hillcrest Chapel, 2001 Asbury Rd, Dubuque, IA)
Or find your nearest Orthodox Church by clicking here