Recently, in a class I’m taking at Corban University, the
professor asked us to look at Luke 10:25-37, the parable about the Good
Samaritan, as if we were reading it for the first time. As I attempted this,
unexpected thoughts came flooding in.
I was raised by a lawyer, entertained going to law school myself,
but have instead worked in government for over 26 years. I understand, have written,
and enforce statutes, rules, policies, and procedures. So for the first time, I
somehow related to the lawyer, maybe I never have before because I know we
typically want to point our fingers at him to condemn him as arrogant and
bigoted; he’s the guy we don’t want to be. Could it be, however, that we all
have a little bit of this guy in us?
Insecurity or More?
I’ve read commentaries that state his question about “who’s my
neighbor” reveals insecurity. They’re probably right because the commentators
are smarter than me, but could it be that the guy was really confused and
scared that all he knew could be wrong? Yes, he's testing Jesus, and
traditional thinking suggests he's motivated by wanting to make Jesus look bad
so that he can look good to the religious leaders. But consider for a moment
that he could also have a deeper desire to know what is truly right and wrong;
and his position allows him access to Jesus to pose such questions. Maybe he’s
a bureaucrat that really wants to do the “right thing” but Jesus is clearly
revealing that “right” is different than what he’s ever known. If so,
insecurity seems too simplistic a description; maybe he really wanted to know
the truth but when the truth was revealed it over-amped his ability to process
it immediately. As the parable progresses, it only adds to his confusion, but
if he’s willing, it will also illuminate within him a deeper understanding.
Then there’s the record itself. A “certain man” goes from
Jerusalem to Jericho. I think by implication we can assume he’s a Jew. He gets
robbed and beaten up pretty badly. This is an ugly scene, but hopefully the
“good guy” will come along to help this poor soul. Well, culturally, the good
guy does indeed come along, in fact, he comes along in two ways—a priest and a
Levite—and neither one stops to help. In fact, each goes out of his way to
avoid helping what we assume to be a person just like them. So who does help
him, the culturally prescribed bad guy—a Samaritan. Jesus has completely
reversed the stereotypes of that day. Frankly, he’s also reversed the
stereotypes of our day as well.
The Dawning
The record ends with the lawyer admitting that the one, the
Samaritan, “who showed mercy” was the neighbor to the one that had been beaten
up. Even though the lawyer wasn’t quite able to say the word ‘Samaritan’, he at
least seems to grasp the teaching—a neighbor, a person helping another
person—isn’t based on heritage or status, but on need. To “go and do likewise”
is to recognize that God is not responding based on culture or social status,
but on need and we’re called to do the same. To be like Jesus we need to be
prepared to enter into the other person’s world with a heart of compassion, not
judgment or condemnation. As we do this, we’ll begin to better understand that
God is the God of all humanity, not just the God of our church, or race, or
country. And remember, God states very clearly in Genesis that we are all made
in His image. And Jesus, God in the
flesh, served those in need, Jews, Samaritans, and even Gentiles.
