When we don’t help someone, it boils down to a few things: not trusting in the viability of the situation, not trusting the real plight of the victim, or not trusting in one’s own abilities. And there are also the real reasons of being too busy, or just not caring. We’re pretty good at finding excuses and reasons to explain our behaviour.
Here we have one of the parables that is pretty easy to interpret and the message is clear. Our neighbour is anyone we meet who is in need and we are to show God’s grace and extend Christian love in our response. When it comes to respect, dignity, compassion and charity, minor considerations like race and religion have no merit.
The Samaritan is the one who acted as a neighbour to the wounded man. He took time and money to see that he was OK. He had no expertise or training, just a willingness to set aside his own agenda and timeline. Of the 3 passersby, he had the most reason not to stop and help – being so far from home, in a country where his kind of people were treated with suspicion, fear and hatred.
The basic message is simple. Treat others as we would want to be treated ourselves. The details of the entire encounter between Jesus and the lawyer have just as much meaning for us in a changing, multi-cultural world.
The lawyer, the teacher of the Law, after being shown up in a scriptural showdown of Deuteronomy and Leviticus was trying to find a loophole. In wanting to know who his neighbour was, there is an unasked question of who isn’t my neighbour? Who don’t I have to love? Where can I draw the line?, because loving everyone is going to take far too much time, energy and money!...
Instead Jesus answers with the parable praising the efforts and mindset of the Samaritan. The story begins with the Greek phrase anthropos tis, meaning “some guy” was travelling from one city to another. Jesus is generic in his description, deliberately so. When he refers to “some guy”, he means any one. You. Me. We don’t need to know this character’s social status, skin colour, income level, sexual orientation, religious denomination, family connections, or proficiency with a soccer ball. He is deliberately descriptionless because we cannot put limitations or labels on who is our neighbour and who is not.
But that is not how Jesus answers the question. He doesn’t conclude his parable by saying, that poor guy, beaten up on the side of the road is our neighbour and you should help him. No. He instead asks the question, “Which of the passersby acted as a neighbour to this man?”
The emphasis shifts. We can no longer look at people and judge if they qualify to be a neighbour worthy of my aid or not. We have to look within ourselves to see if what we do and say is worthy of being a neighbour to the people know and meet. The onus is not on others to meet our standards but for us to act as a neighbour to others.
That is an important a life lesson as the great commandment to love others as we love ourselves. We can only control who we are, how we are and our own actions. Sure we can complain as much as we want about other people, our neighbours, our rivals, our enemies, but such behaviour only distracts us from the only place where real change can happen: within our own selves.
The Samaritan did not make any excuses, did not dwell on the shortcomings of the man lying injured on the road, but gave of his time and money, and acted like he was a neighbour. Let us go and do likewise.
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