By Magdalena I. García
Scripture Reading: Luke 10:25-37
25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “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.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” 29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
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When you think of a good neighbor, who comes to mind?
For me, one of the good neighbors that comes to mind is Bertica,
a woman who lived across the street from my house in Cuba.
You see, by the time I was 11 years old,
my feet were bigger than my mother’s.
My mom, just like her sisters, wears a shoe size 7 or 71/2,
while I, like my father’s sisters, wear a 9 or 91/2.
Having feet bigger than your mother’s as an adolescent
is usually not cause for alarm,
but in my case it was tragic!
I grew up in Cuba, where in the 1960s
there was a tremendous shortage of shoes.
Back then, I only had one pair of shoes,
and they were orthopedic shoes!
My one and only pair of shoes
were black, bulky, with shoelaces, and heavy soles.
They looked like boys’ shoes.
I wore those ugly shoes during the week with my school uniform,
but on the weekends I borrowed my mother’s pretty moccasins.
That is, until I could no longer bend my toes to get into them.
We were struggling with this shoe dilemma,
which was crushing my toes and my self-esteem as an adolescence,
when Bertica, my neighbor, came to the rescue.
Bertica had big feet like mine,
and she offered to loan me a pair of sandals
which I could wear with my Sunday best to go to church.
Bertica was a good neighbor in a time of need.
Today’s Gospel reading is a familiar story about a good neighbor.
Let’s review some of the details.
Jesus set his story on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.
This is a distance of about 17 miles (or 27 kilometers).
Travel along this rugged road was hazardous,
as robbers had plenty of hiding places.
One stretch of the Jericho road
was known as the “Way of Blood,”
because so many people were robbed and killed there.
Jerusalem was UP on the mountain,
and it’s where the Temple was located.
The priests were the highest class of the Levites.
They were supported by other Levites
who served at lower levels,
doing routine tasks at the temple.
Jericho was DOWN in the Jordan Valley.
The town lies on the West Bank, just north of the Dead Sea,
and it’s the lowest permanently inhabited site on earth.
Although Jericho is surrounded by scorching hot desert,
it is well watered by freshwater springs.
The Hebrew name for Jericho means “fragrant.”
Today it is called the “City of Palms.”
When the priest were not on duty in Jerusalem
they lived or rested in beautiful Jericho.
This is where King Herod had a summer palace.
So priests and Levites often traveled this road.
Jesus’ audience knew all this, so there are no surprises here.
The sequence of the story is very simple.
The first to see the victim is a priest,
but rather than get involved,
he passes by on the other side of the road.
He is followed by a Levite, a temple-worker,
who does the same thing as the priest—he passes by.
But then along comes a Samaritan who behaves as a good neighbor,
and this is the real shock in the story,
because Samaritans were the traditional enemy of the Jews.
In Jewish eyes Samaritans were half-breeds, ethnic traitors, and bad guys.
When the nation was divided,
and Samaria was the capital of the Northern Kingdom,
Samaritans intermarried with other peoples in the region.
Samaritans worshiped at a different site: Mount Gerazim.
Samaritans recognized only the Torah (or the Pentateuch) as inspired.
Jews and Samaritans were hostile to one another.
Therefore, Jesus’ inclusion of the Samaritan is shocking.
By making the Samaritan the hero in the story,
Jesus challenged a long-established religious tradition
and crossed a forbidden cultural boundary.
It’s hard for us to appreciate Jesus’ action
unless we put it in contemporary terms.
Jesus’ inclusion of the Samaritan might be comparable to saying that…
in Jim Crow’s South, a Negro helped a White person (or vice versa), or
in John McCain’s Arizona, an illegal alien helped a citizen (or vice versa), or
in post 9/11 US, a Muslim helped a Christian (or vice versa)…
For the Jews of Jesus’ time Samaritan and neighbor did not add up!
It was unthinkable that there would be anything good about a Samaritan!
For them, the words “good” and “Samaritan” did NOT go together.
But in Jesus’ story, it is a Samaritan—an outcast, an enemy—
who acts as a good neighbor
by going far beyond the call of duty.
He cleans the victim’s wounds and bandages them.
He puts the injured man on his donkey and takes him to an inn.
He promises to pay the innkeeper for all expenses.
This is an exceptional level of assistance
for a victim who is a total stranger and a social enemy.
In this great story of reversals told by Jesus,
the “bad” guy turns out to be the hero.
The Samaritan is the character who understands
that just as the road and the ditch were connected,
his humanity was linked to that of the wounded person’s.
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said,
“An individual has not started living
until he can rise above the narrow confines
of his individualistic concerns
to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
And certainly, in this story, the Samaritan is the bigger person.
The Samaritan was able to “rise above the narrow confines
of his individualistic concerns
to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
And so, with this simple story,
Jesus hooks the lawyer with his own lure.
At the end of the story Jesus asks him,
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor
to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” (verse 36).
And the expert in the law has no option but to respond by saying,
“The one who had mercy on him.”
Then Jesus delivers the punch line:
“Go and do likewise.” (verse 37).
What do we make of a story like this???
RESPONSE 1: PLACE OURSELVES IN THE STORY
Quite often we try to identify with the characters.
Can we see ourselves as any of the characters?
How does it feel to put ourselves in the shoes…
of the priest? the Levite? the wounded person? the Samaritan?
Of course, being devout religious people,
we might be tempted to identify with the Samaritan,
giving at least lip service to the ideal
that we would give unbiased care
to any wounded people along our path.
Or perhaps, we would have the courage to admit
that too often we behave just like the priest and the Levite,
ignoring, looking the other way, playing deaf, or walking on by,
while giving nothing but lip service to the ideal
that we would give loving care
to any wounded people along our path.
Such a reflection is not a bad place to start,
if we have the honesty to acknowledge
that we who are called to “stop by”
have too often specialized in “walking by.”
Such a reflection is not a bad place to start,
if we have the integrity to acknowledge
that we who are called to “stoop down”
have too often specialized in “stepping on.”
What do we make of a story like this???
RESPONSE 2: ASK THE SAME QUESTION AS THE LAWYER
We approach the story by wrestling with the same question as the lawyer.
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Some people still think that this means “earning a place in heaven.”
But we know that when Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God,
or the Kingdom of Heaven (as it is also called),
he was NOT describing a distant place reserved for some,
but an alternative reality accessible to all.
Through stories like this one Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God.
And Jesus makes it clear that the Kingdom of God
belongs not just to the “right kinds of people,”
but to all kinds of people who do good deeds
—that is, who do God’s deeds—
despite their ethnicity, their creed, or any other trait.
In her latest book, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith,
Barbara Brown Taylor,
an American Episcopal priest, professor, renowned preacher,
and award winning author puts it this way:
“To make bread or love, to dig in the earth, to feed an animal or cook for a stranger—these activities require no extensive commentary, no lucid theology. All they require is someone willing to bend, reach, chop, stir. Most of these tasks are so full of pleasure that there is no need to complicate things by calling them holy. And yet these are the same activities that change lives, sometimes all at once and sometimes more slowly, the way dripping water changes stone. In a world where faith is often construed as a way of thinking, bodily practices remind the willing that faith is a way of life.”
Like the lawyer who came to Jesus, we must move beyond
asking the right questions and seeking the right answers
to doing the right things and defending the right causes.
The way to “eternal life”
—which is abundant life here and how for us and for all—
is paved with right doing and not just right belief.
What do we make of a story like this???
RESPONSE 3: JOIN JESUS IN PRACTICING SOME REVERSALS
This is the least common response to the story,
and probably the most scary,
but it is perhaps the most promising.
What would it look like for us to challenge the stereotypes of our day?
What would happen if we let go of the myths
that society—and at times even the church—
have spread about those who are labeled “Samaritans”
(or outcasts, or sinners, or illegals, or anything else)
in our day???
What would happen if instead of perpetuating the prejudices
handed down by religious tradition and cultural boundaries
we risked getting close,
learning their stories,
and caring for their wounds?
Again, someone else said it better than I can.
Anthony de Mello, a Jesuit priest, author of five best-selling books,
and renowned worldwide speaker on spirituality
who died suddenly in 1987, wrote this short meditation
titled “Knowingness.”
Here is what it says:
There were rules in the monastery,
but the Master always warned against the tyranny of the law.
“Obedience keeps the rules,” he would say.
“Love knows when to break them.”
Through the stories like the Good Samaritan,
and the teachings of the Beatitudes,
our Master, Jesus, has given us permission
to break all rules that violate
the supreme rule of love of neighbor.
Fast forward about 25 years from my shoe incident in Cuba.
I’m now in Chicago, and my husband and I have just bought our first home.
At the time, some 15 years ago,
we knew nothing about house maintenance.
And after putting down the 20 percent deposit for the purchase
we did not have a dime to invest in tools.
But along came Dolores, our new across-the-street neighbor,
who had owned her house for over 30 years
and knew how to do everything:
from trimming bushes to cleaning out roof gutters.
Dolores introduced herself, and offered to loan us any tools we needed,
and to even show us how to use them.
Like Bertica, Dolores was a good neighbor in a time of need.
You and I are the across-the-street neighbor
that can make a difference in someone else’s life.
We have the shoes they need and the tools they need.
And in befriending them, we are reconnecting
with our deepest joy and our highest calling.
How awesome indeed to be a good neighbor!
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