Parable of the Good Samaritan?

The Parable of the Good Samaritan?  (Luke 10:25-37)

I have been reading and re-reading Amy Jill Levine’s analysis of this all too familiar and domesticated story in her book Short Stories By Jesus [HarperOne, New York:2014, pp 77-115], only to discover that we, the Church throughout the ages and most all of us, have read this story completely wrong – or nearly so. Beginning with the word “Good.” It is nowhere to be found in the story of the Lawyer’s Challenge or the Parable of The Man Left to Die in a Ditch. To say that there is “a Good Samaritan” is to imply that not all Samaritans are good. It’s like saying, “He’s a good Muslim,” (as opposed to all those others who are terrorists), or “She’s a good immigrant,”(as opposed to all those scamming the system), – or as Heinrich Himmler said to a group of SS officers, every German ‘has his decent Jew’ – that is, knows one good Jew – and as far as Himmler was concerned one is too many and might create sympathy. [Levine p 81] And it tends to make the Jewish Priest and Levite who walk by look bad, and therefore tends to make all Jews look bad. Which is not why Jesus tells the story.

It begins with a lawyer who wants to “test” Jesus saying, Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? The word “test” has appeared earlier in Luke – when Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness. That’s when Jesus quotes Deuteronomy saying, You shall not put the Lord your God to a test. This lawyer is depicted as continuing Satan’s work. More importantly, as the Bible contends from beginning to end, there is nothing one can “do” to earn or “inherit” eternal life. There’s no check-list. Eternal life is given. It is an act of mercy. It is as John Newton, former slave trader and repentant priest, wrote, Amazing Grace.

Jesus replies to the lawyer’s question with another: What is written in the law? How do you read? You’re a student of the law. It ought to be very near to you – in your mouth and in your heart. You tell me. The lawyer quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and all your might, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Good answer – and not original. The two verses had long been joined in Jewish thought before the time of Jesus – and so joined they do not mean, ‘Just do a lot of loving and you can forget the rest of the commandments about circumcision, Sabbath observance, dietary regulations and the rest. Rather, the two love commandments are to be the key as to how one understands and observes all the rest of the commandments!

Consider the original context of these verses. Deuteronomy 6 begins, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord alone.” This is part of a text to be recited twice a day, every day. And taught to children. And placed on your door. You are to do these things to remember not just who you are, but whose you are. And Leviticus 19 goes on to say, “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” [Lev 19:33-34] Just as we are, most all of us, aliens living in this land which may have been “made for you and me,” but was made for others long before our ancestors arrived here. And yet, this Sunday, we are sending federal agents out to round up resident aliens throughout the land.

Jesus likes the lawyer’s answer and says, “This do, and you will live.” [Luke 10:28] That is, all this loving and neighboring is meant for living here and now, and not about “eternal life.” Do this, and you live – your life will have meaning. You will be on the right path. Then the lawyer, wanting to look good, and still thinking this is just one thing to be checked off his bucket-list to eternal life, asks, “And who is my neighbor?” Evidently, thinks Jesus, he really has not studied this stuff. So, Jesus tells a story about a man on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho who is beaten and robbed and left half-dead in a ditch. This road is dangerous to this day as it descends from 2,500 feet above sea level to Jericho’s 825 feet below sea level. And it is narrow, and twisting, with deep chasms on either side.

A Priest and then a Levite coming “down from Jerusalem,” ie going home from performing their sacrificial duties. They see the man in the ditch and walk by. It’s been argued that they need to be “clean” to perform their duties and cannot touch a dead body, but they are not “going up to Jerusalem” and so have no concern for being clean and undefiled. And, as it turns out, the man is not dead. And there is no command against helping a half-dead person or touching a dead person on the side of the road, even if it happens to be Sabbath. You are supposed to help. Truth is, we do not know why they pass by, but a good guess was made once by Martin Luther King, Jr: “I’m going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It’s possible these men were afraid … and so the question the Priest and the Levite asked was, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me? … But then the Samaritan comes by and reverses the question, ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’ King went on, ‘If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?’” [Ibid p102] King’s insight begs the question, if we do not help resident aliens, what will happen to them?

Besides, offers Levine, it was common to tell stories in Israel that followed the rule of three where the first two fail and the third succeeds, as in the Three Little Pigs. Or, suggest an obvious third such as “Father and Son” sets up Holy Ghost. Or, Larry and Moe evokes Curly. But in Israel such stories are always about a Priest, a Levite and an Israelite. The name of the longtime enemy Samaritans, who lived north of Judea and disagreed on where to worship, and what is to be included in scripture and so on, would be completely unexpected and capture everyone’s attention! In modern terms, says Levine, it would be like saying, Larry, Moe and Osama bin Laden! [Ibid 103]

We note that this most unexpected of northern neighbors approaches the man, treats and binds his wounds, spends his own money to find lodging for him, and offers the innkeeper a blank check to provide ongoing healthcare for the man who is a complete stranger, and presumably a Jew. The bandits leave him for dead. The Samaritan returns him to life – just like Jesus does with the Lazarus four-days-dead. No doubt the lawyer is shocked, but had he a firm understanding of Jewish scripture he would have known that in 2 Chronicles 28: 8-15 back in the day the Samaritans captured some Judeans and meant to kill some and enslave the rest until Obed the prophet told them to clothe the captives, feed them, put sandals on their feet and take them home – which they did! Sometimes when you find yourself lying half-dead in a ditch it is only those who want to kill you who come to save you.

Besides, our lawyer’s question, Who is my neighbor? is just another way of asking, Who is not my neighbor? Who can I hate instead of love? Who can I avoid “loving?” Once again, he asks the wrong question. At the end of the story, Jesus asks him, “Who is the neighbor to the man in the ditch?” The lawyer cannot get the word “Samaritan” out of his mouth and simply says, The one who showed mercy. Mercy, throughout the Bible, is an attribute of God. The dreaded Samaritan loved the man as God loves us – all of us who are created in God’s image.

“Go and do likewise,” says Jesus. So “neighboring” and “loving” is not about who at all. It is about what – what we are to do – what we are to do for both the citizens of the land and the aliens in the land who are to be loved as citizens and as one loves oneself. It’s a story about love – not love that feels something, but love that does something helpful for others – and not a one-time good deed, but ongoing care for those in need, using our own resources when necessary. For this is how we are to show God that we love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might.

Given what’s to happen throughout the land this Sunday, what might this story mean for us today? And, who will help us awake from our national half-dead stupor to live and love like the Samaritan who helped the man in the ditch? It’s all about love and how to be a neighbor, not defining and redefining who our neighbors are or are not. As the song says, “All these are neighbors to us and you. Jesu, Jesu. Show us how to love, show us how to serve, the neighbors we have from you.”