Today, Jesus is asked the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
How do I live a life that transcends the ages?
How do I live faithfully?
How do I live a life that matters?
Jesus, responds with his own question, “What does it say in scripture? How do you read our tradition?”
The Lawyer’s response is not unusual, he thinks back to the second verse of the Jewish morning and evening prayer known as the Shema:
“Hear O Israel the Lord our God, the Lord, is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
To which he adds from Leviticus, “You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
And that could have ended the discussion right there. Jesus answers,
“Yup. Love is the shape of a human life…
So go on and love God with your whole self and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Everyone gets to go home early!
But, the Lawyer insists upon asking the who question.
“Who,” he asks, “is my neighbor?”
“Who,” he asks, “must I love as myself?”
“Who,” he asks, “must I love to gain eternal life?”
He is looking for the geography of love, borders, sides,
lines compassion ought not cross…
But, when it comes to the question of a life of love
—the question of Christ’s command to love…
we must ask how questions,
not who questions.
Let us pray
Jesus takes this question about eternal life
—this who question
—and takes it out of the abstract
—he solidifies,
“love your neighbor as yourself,” in the form of a story.
After all, “Once upon a time,” is a more effective instructor than, “thou shalt not,” or even, “thou shalt.”
He takes this lofty concept and lowers it onto a road
—the Road from Jerusalem to Jericho.
This road winds and twists, gets narrow, and is an easy place from which to ambush someone.
Travel was a dodgy business back in those days and Pilgrimage to and from Jerusalem was especially harrowing;
the zealots financed their war against Rome with ill-gotten gain from the very people they were said to be protecting…
This road, was a dangerous road, and a deadly place to ponder the meaning of life.
Jesus answers the “who question” the Lawyer had very clearly and very concretely.
-Who? The bloody carcass of a man mangled on a dangerous road—he is your neighbor.
-Who? A man stripped naked, so you can’t tell if he’s your kin or not—he is your neighbor.
-Who? A man without any means to repay you—he is your neighbor.
Acting merciful in the midst of death and danger
—think of those scenes of panic after any number of recent shootings, showing compassion at times of intense need
—that’s how Jesus answers the eternal life question and the who question.
When you can’t even tell who it is you’re helping and you help them anyway
—that’s when you know you’re loving your neighbor. That’s the fruits of a meaningful life.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there.
He then turns to those who ask the who question,
and shows how the who question leaves persons stranded and dying on deadly roads.
You see, the Priest asked the who question,
“Who is that there, is he dead?
Who is he? A Zealot pretending to be hurt, waiting to ambush me?”
The Priest then decides that he’ll go to the other side, to be on the “safe side.”
The Levite asks the same questions—the who questions. And he too decides to go to the other side, in order to be on the “safe side.”
Both these men were people the injured man would have naturally seen as his kin
—as his neighbors,
yet they passed by.
Perhaps both of these men they were simply numb, no longer able to be moved by the horrors of this world.
Perhaps their souls were no longer awake to his humanity, they simply couldn’t see him as a fellow human being.
Then—to add insult to injury—the man who helps the injured man
—the man who doesn’t ask the who question
—is a Samaritan! As close to kin as the Levite and Priest were
—this man was not…
We just can’t hear the scandal of this today—after all we know this story as “The Parable of the Good Samaritan.” But in Jesus’ day there was no such thing as a “good” Samaritan.
The enmity Jesus’ people had toward the Samaritans was old…
In the year 722 the people who would become Samaritan were first introduced to the region of Galilee.
Centuries of festering ill-will…
The hatred Jesus’ people had toward the Samaritans was religious, cultural, and ethnic.
Samaritans were the ancient enemy, the wrong religion, the wrong culture, and the wrong race.
Jesus doesn’t mess around when he tells a story! The hero of Jesus’ story—the one that doesn’t ask who—is a Samaritan.
This Samaritan asks a different question, he asks how.
“How am I going to help this man?”
And his actions answer this question loudly. He becomes personally involved.
He personally binds up wounds, he gives of his oil and his wine, he puts the wounded man on “his own beast” and gives of his own monies.
When confronted by someone broken by the conflicts and snares of this world
—by banditry and by pain
—he did not ask who is that?
Is that person worth helping?
Is he someone of my religion?
From my nation?
My race?
My social standing?
No!
He asked, “How can I help him?
What resources do I have, or do I know of, that can help that person!”
He was not numb, or asleep, or in anyways uncompassionate to this man’s plight.
He was moved! (Literally moved in his inmost parts—physically overcome with pity and empathy).
And once Jesus finished up his parable, he asked another question of the Lawyer. Because the Lawyer was so busy asking who is my neighbor?
So Jesus asked a different question—
“Which of these three was neighborly to the man who fell among the robbers? Which one was neighborly to his neighbor?”
Sheepishly the Lawyer must admit, “The one showing mercy on him.”
That is, the one who is moved in the gut, so that they are forced to move with hands and feet, moved to minister and give aid!
Jesus isn’t concerned with who the neighbor is
—he’s concerned with how we treat the neighbor.
He is concerned with showing mercy in the midst of death and danger!
Concerned that we are awake to our neighbor in need,
Concerned that we are creating a community of love.
Concerned for All God’s Children!
A+A
