Today was all about wrestling with the gospel parable: the famous one about neighbors and a Samaritan. Yet I barely recognize the parable I am familiar with - where Jesus tells a lawyer about a character who has the qualities of being a neighbor we would all do well to imitate. Each time I pin down a momentary meaning today it slips away because of the details in Luke. Or because of our corporate understanding of the parable in this morning's worship. Or because I saw the passage through the filter of this past week's shootings, Reading Facebook reactions that repeatedly refer to this parable as Jesus providing the Christian response to emulate was engaging, challenging and it definitely charged me with understanding this parable in a new way, Others wrote about it too. Nadia Bolz-Weber captures another aspect of this in a recent sermon and Living Lutheran had an interesting article The Scandalous Samaritan God.
The parable, as Luke presents it, is an answer to a lawyer's question "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus responds as he is asked. He starts with the questioner's understanding of the Torah and the world. He teaches him. Jesus by asking "What is written in the law? What do you read there?".
The lawyer answers "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself." Jesus says "You have given the right answer; do this and you will live."
Pastor Michelle pointed out in her sermon that the lawyer then looks for a way to "justify himself" because he knows he is not following the Torah. The definition of neighbor looks to him like a likely candidate for a "minimum threshold". The lawyer looking for that minimum is not surprising. The law normally functions in defining minimums below which the law is violated. The lawyer's answer comes from the Torah so Jesus confirms what he says is correct abut the law. I believe, however, what Jesus is teaching the lawyer is that eternal life goes beyond following the law.
What strikes me about this passage is that the lawyer seems to have no problem with the possibility of loving God with all his heart, soul, strength and mind. Rather than using the Samaritan as simply an illustration of action to be emulated or imitated it feels like Jesus' words teach that, with no limits, following the letter of the law to love your neighbor as yourself is impossible for humanity. Eternal life is beyond the law and beyond any of our actions which the law can govern.
When he is tested by the lawyer Jesus is on the road journeying to Jerusalem. Jesus knows what will happen and is facing that challenge. He tells this story about a man going down from Jerusalem who fell into the hands of thieves. They stripped him, beat him and went away leaving him half dead. I suddenly see the strong parallels between Jesus, about to be crucified, and the man who fell among thieves in a way I had not considered before, Discovering Jesus inserted into that character in this story, like this, was disconcerting. The identity and importance of this half-dead man seems hidden in the beginning of this parable. I did not really see Jesus in this parable until now,
Add this to the corporate understanding of this parable at worship this morning. We were left, I must admit, with a good feeling about ourselves. This comes from a useful understanding of the parable to learn when we are young, namely to help others and be less self absorbed. Lessons to be kinder to people we meet in our lives are not bad.
What happens as we grow older can change make this parable less useful. We may start thinking we, as Christians, are the ones who know who our neighbors are. We may keep expanding our definition of neighbor to be all inclusive and act like the Good Samaritan. We may then feel more worthy and pity the people who "don't get" it like we do. However, merely recognizing this truth and even doing it in some small degree can't be the only thing taught in this parable, at least today. We might learn more about the deepness of God's love for us through the Samaritan's actions rather than what God expects of us.
As I wrote the meaning of this parable and what we, as humans, are to do and feel in our lives is elusive. Change a few details and my response certainly changes immensely. Instead of the man falling among thieves what if the Samaritan merely encountered another traveler on the road and provided the same generosity? What if it was another Samaritan or if they had both been Jewish? Would that change how much of a neighbor one was to the other? What if a likely critical (and sensible) response from the community, perhaps the Samaritan's wife had been included in the story?
We can have powerful feelings when we see a figure with the attributes of a homeless person today depicted in a statue with nail-scared hands or feet. And most of us feel some inclination to help the marginalized when we are directly confronted with their need. At the same time most of us, who have the means, live our lives on the "other side" of the road. We order our lives in such a way as to not be in danger, avoid places where we might have to react to someone who is beaten. Does this affect our eternal lives or as "authentic" followers of Jesus? I don't believe this to be the case.
Yet there is something with how this story intersects with the "real" lives that we actually live that is worth exploration. This parable seems to have something to do with seeing and healing each other. The silent man who fell among thieves is the one who helps us to see and needs to be seen. We do not have the power to see everyone as a neighbor, at least in this way. Perhaps Jesus exaggerates the actions of the Samaritan in story for that reason. Instead, Jesus, or the man who fell among thieves, opens up our opportunity to encounter and see someone on our journey and empathize with them.
There were many memorable moments in worship today. We opened with a powerful litany "A Litany of Grief and Hope in Remembrance of Those Lost" to lament the lives lost in the past week, particularly in Baton Rouge, St Paul and Dallas.
The congregation was treated to David playing piano for the Communion for the first time since he resigned.
Finally, about forty of us gathered after worship to hear a speaker, Ali Houdroge, speak as part of a series Creator is starting based on resources from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services called My Neighbor Is Muslim. A good opener for the rest of the series.
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