Samaritan neighbors (There goes the neighborhood)
"Who is my neighbor?"
This is a very valid question in today's world. We are aware that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Yet in the confusing matrix of modern society, we often find ourselves drawing away from our neighbors as we try to maintain the safety of our livelihoods. The growing divide in America between the "haves" and the "have-nots" only deepens this rift. Groups view each other with suspicion and mistrust.
That very same question was asked to Jesus by a Jewish lawyer. It is recorded in the book of Luke (ch. 10:25-37), and Jesus' answer to the question is commonly called "The Parable of the Good Samaritian." Now I have always figured that Jesus was simply answering the "who is my neighbor" question by providing an example: the man who was wounded on the side of the road. There you go, that's your neighbor: someone who is obviously in need. Easy answer. I almost want to say, well duh Jesus.
As I have re-read the parable, I don't think that it is so simple. Notice first of all that the lawyer's question was not asked with the purest of motives: he stood up to test Jesus (v. 25) and he wanted to justify himself (v.29). In other words, this man was looking for just the answer that most of us end up finding. Oh sure, just help out the hurting people and you're fine.
But notice who the real characters are in the story Jesus tells: they are the three different folks who relate to the wounded man in different ways. It is in these characters that the detail lies, not the wounded man. The point of the story is to show the differences between the three. Here we have a priest (a representative of God to the people), a Levite (a keeper of the ritual law, a cultural preserver in diaspora Judaism) and a Samaritan (a social outcast, a heretic, and a whole assortment of other nasty things). Certainly in the eyes of the lawyer, the Samaritan was his polar opposite. The Samaritan could do nothing to justify himself (at least in the way the lawyer imagined).
But as we all know the Samaritan is the one who ends up caring for the wounded man. Now Jesus follows up the story with a question, but notice the twist:
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" (v.36)
The man lying on the road is not the neighbor in question. The Samaritan is the neighbor, a fact that certainly had the lawyer gritting his teeth as he answered Jesus: "The one who had mercy on him." To which Jesus reponds: "Now go and do likewise." (I would assume as an answer to the lawyer's original question of what he must do to inherit eternal life)
So perhaps when we ask "who is my neighbor" we aren't necessarily asking the right question. Maybe what we need to be asking is "Am I a neighbor?"
This is a very valid question in today's world. We are aware that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Yet in the confusing matrix of modern society, we often find ourselves drawing away from our neighbors as we try to maintain the safety of our livelihoods. The growing divide in America between the "haves" and the "have-nots" only deepens this rift. Groups view each other with suspicion and mistrust.
That very same question was asked to Jesus by a Jewish lawyer. It is recorded in the book of Luke (ch. 10:25-37), and Jesus' answer to the question is commonly called "The Parable of the Good Samaritian." Now I have always figured that Jesus was simply answering the "who is my neighbor" question by providing an example: the man who was wounded on the side of the road. There you go, that's your neighbor: someone who is obviously in need. Easy answer. I almost want to say, well duh Jesus.
As I have re-read the parable, I don't think that it is so simple. Notice first of all that the lawyer's question was not asked with the purest of motives: he stood up to test Jesus (v. 25) and he wanted to justify himself (v.29). In other words, this man was looking for just the answer that most of us end up finding. Oh sure, just help out the hurting people and you're fine.
But notice who the real characters are in the story Jesus tells: they are the three different folks who relate to the wounded man in different ways. It is in these characters that the detail lies, not the wounded man. The point of the story is to show the differences between the three. Here we have a priest (a representative of God to the people), a Levite (a keeper of the ritual law, a cultural preserver in diaspora Judaism) and a Samaritan (a social outcast, a heretic, and a whole assortment of other nasty things). Certainly in the eyes of the lawyer, the Samaritan was his polar opposite. The Samaritan could do nothing to justify himself (at least in the way the lawyer imagined).
But as we all know the Samaritan is the one who ends up caring for the wounded man. Now Jesus follows up the story with a question, but notice the twist:
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" (v.36)
The man lying on the road is not the neighbor in question. The Samaritan is the neighbor, a fact that certainly had the lawyer gritting his teeth as he answered Jesus: "The one who had mercy on him." To which Jesus reponds: "Now go and do likewise." (I would assume as an answer to the lawyer's original question of what he must do to inherit eternal life)
So perhaps when we ask "who is my neighbor" we aren't necessarily asking the right question. Maybe what we need to be asking is "Am I a neighbor?"