New Reading

I really enjoy the sermons of our pastor here on the mission field in Arkansas! He is one of the two best preachers I have ever heard, the other being Bruce Van Blair. On July 15 the lectionary reading for the gospels was Luke 10:25–37, the parable of the Good Samaritan. How many times have I heard it? Is it possible to hear it with new ears, a mode that Jesus exhorts his disciples to employ (Mark 4:9, 23)? I'm not sure I heard it completely anew, but I did find in my musings on Steve's sermon a few things I hadn't really considered before.

Try reading that old story again. Were you struck by the irony that Luke introduces at the end of the pericope? The commandment to love neighbor as self seems clear in a collective society, like those in the Roman empire of the first century, in which the individual finds individuality in group identity; there really is no "self" without "neighbor"in the ancient world. Unless otherwise described, the guy in the ditch is "neighbor" to Jesus's listeners because they figured he was a Jew. After all, he was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and only Jews and Romans -- and maybe some other Greeks -- took that route.The neighbor couldn't be the Samaritan because he shouldn't have been on that road. For the listener the fact that he was, would have seemed astonishing enough, but then the Samaritan performed the very service required by the commandment, thus demonstrating that he, as a descendant of apostate Israel, understood the spirit of the commandment better than the priest and Levite.

That in and of itself is ironic. But I think a further irony is in the question Jesus asks and the answer given. "Who is the neighbor?" "The one practicing mercy!" The neighbor isn't the guy in the ditch; it is the guy who practices mercy, the Samaritan! Now the boundary conditions for who is "in community" are re-drawn! The outcast, the apostate is my neighbor! By implication Jesus is saying it is tough enough to show mercy to those who are members of the community, but the commandment is really even tougher. You have to love those who show mercy no matter what group they are from. The irony is that the people of God are made up of those who practice mercy, not just those with whom you readily identify! This is a new feature of the New Creation and a judgment on the intensely selfish cast of modern culture

Upon further reflection it also occurred to me that this ironic understanding of neighbor further enlightens the beatitude in Matt. 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." The apostate Samaritan was merciful! He, not the priest or the Levite, will receive mercy from God. And, if God shows mercy to the merciful, how can I not do so?

Think what that means for social justice issues! Whenever a Muslim shows mercy to anyone outside of the "house of Islam," she is our neighbor! The guy who does me the great service of mowing my lawn in the muggy heat of the day is my neighbor, even though he is Mexican and is quite likely not in the country legally. The whole story would seem to elaborate the notion that being a neighbor is an activity, not a status, and at the core of that activity is "doing" mercy!

It has almost become a ritual tradition in most churches for the pastor to end a sermon with statement like, "Amen!", or "Let us pray!" Sharon will often say, "Amen and Blessed be!" I want to make the case that, in light of the parable of the good Samaritan, that statement should be, "Okay, now what are you (we!) going to do about it?"