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Now those of you in our live studio audience and those that have been following along at home may have noticed that not only is our text today a familiar one, we just used it three weeks ago. But please don’t worry - I promise this is not a rerun.
When we read this text a few weeks ago, we were in the midst of our Vacation Bible School series on Going Beyond. We focused primarily in that service on the ways in which the Samaritan in the parable went beyond what was expected by not just helping a man in need but by continuing to provide for his care. He didn’t just bandage his wounds and send him on his way; he carried him to an inn, made sure the man would be cared for, and promised to pay back the innkeeper any additional expenses upon his return.
Today, we’re going to be looking at the reason and impact of this story for those that Jesus was dialoguing with. You see the text starts with a legal expert wanting to test Jesus. Some translations call him a lawyer. Others suggest that he was an expert in religious law.
In this story in the Gospel of Luke, this man is trying to test Jesus or to trick him in some way. He is asking questions not out of a sincere desire to know the way to eternal life, but out of a need to prove himself right. He wants to win. So he starts this line of questioning certain that he knows exactly how to come out on top.
But Jesus doesn’t play along quite as expected. Instead of answering his initial question, Jesus turns it back on the lawyer with a question of his own.
“What is written in the Law?”
The question asked by the legal expert and the response given by Jesus makes it clear that this is not a question about civil law. This is not about the laws of those that rule. This is about holy scripture, about religious texts. Just as we would not turn to the Constitution to answer a question about eternal life, Jesus and others would not have been discussing the laws of the Roman Empire in relation to achieving eternal life.
Unlike similar stories in Matthew and Mark, Luke puts the summation of the Law and the Prophets in the mouth of the legal expert instead of having it come from Jesus. In the other gospels, Jesus is questioned directly by other legal experts about which commandment is the greatest. But here it is Jesus asking for a summary and the legal expert that responds.
Love God with all that you are.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
By turning it around in this way, Luke is able to show us that this legal expert truly does understand what is expected of the people of God. He summarizes the entirety of the Hebrew scriptures into these two commands.
Now in some ways, Jesus’ next response here is quite simple. “Do this and you will live.” But unlike the other gospels where Jesus is the one giving the answer to the greatest commandments, here it is the legal expert that has shown he understands what is written there. So Jesus is basically saying, if you understand the text and you are doing what is written there, you have no need to worry.
I think in that moment, the lawyer recognizes he has been bested. But his pride won’t let him lose. He tries once more. The text says he wants to prove that he is right. Other translations say he wanted to justify himself. Most likely, he knows he is not living up to the Law. Perhaps he was questioning Jesus not only to get Jesus to say something against the Law himself, maybe he is also trying to find a way that he can still be righteous even though he himself is not fulfilling the Law.
So he asks a follow up question - “Who is my neighbor?”
Here the lawyer is essentially trying to put a limit on the Law. What he really wants to know is who is NOT my neighbor; who can I reasonably exclude from this command? If my neighbors are only those that live next door to me, those are the only ones I must love as myself. If my neighbors are only those on my same block, those are the only ones I must love as myself. If my neighbors are only those that live in my town. If my neighbors are only those that go to my church. If my neighbors are only those that look and think and act as I do.
You get the picture.
But still far more wise and clever, Jesus tells this parable with which we are so familiar. A man is robbed and beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. It is not specified that he is Jewish, but that is not really important to the point that Jesus is trying to make?
We know how it goes from there. A priest comes along and passes by on the far side of the road. A Levite, a temple servant, also passes by on the far side of the road. His audience would have expected Jesus to follow up with a third Jewish man. But when a third man comes along, It is a Samaritan, and it is this one that aids the man, not only treating his wounds but setting him up to recover in an inn.
The characters in this story are important to the telling. We have a man traveling alone who is set upon by thieves. We don’t know who the thieves are or the identity of this man for that matter, but ultimately that is not really the point. The point is a man was beaten and left for dead by the road. Quibbling about how he got there and who robbed him doesn’t actually contribute to the point Jesus is making.
Then we have the different men that come upon this man on the side of the road. A priest, the most highly revered class in ancient Jewish society.¹ They were the ones considered closest to God with the ability to intercede with God on the people’s behalf. They were experts in the law and led worship in the Temple.
A Levite, perhaps the second most highly regarded class in ancient Jewish society. The Levites also served the Temple. They performed many of the tasks of service - staffing the Temple gates, cleaning the Temple, performing music for worship, and assisting with the slaughter of animals for the sacrifice.
And then there is the Samaritan. As was mentioned last week, Samaria had been a part of Israel. However, when the Northern Kingdom of Israel was defeated by the Assyrians around 722 BCE many of the upper class people were sent into exile.² Those that remained behind in the land continued their religious practice. They intermarried and were eventually influenced by the Assyrians that moved into the area. When the Judeans returned in the 6th Century BCE to rebuild the Temple, they refused to recognize the Samaritans that had been left behind as equals. Their descent as Jews was questioned and their religious practices were sneered at. They couldn’t agree on the best way to show reverence to God, so the Samaritans set up their own holy mountain and place of worship. This ultimately led to centuries of hostility between the groups which led to uprisings not long after the time of Jesus.
So those hearing Jesus telling this story would have heard it with this history in mind. Hundreds of years of hostility and disagreement flavor Jesus' story. For Jesus to name the hero of the story as a Samaritan would have been a shock for those hearing the parable. The Samaritans were pretenders to Judaism; how could they be worthy of a place of honor?
We can imagine the looks on the faces of those listening to Jesus tell this story. And then he ends with a question - “Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man…?” The lawyer’s answer is telling. He cannot bring himself to name the Samaritan. He merely replies, “The one who demonstrated mercy.”
Jesus uses an outsider, an enemy, to demonstrate what it means to love one’s neighbor as expected in the Law. This is what makes the parable so powerful; Jesus tells us there are no limits on who is our neighbor - our neighbor is everyone we encounter along the way, everyone we might possibly encounter along the way, whether we know them or not, whether they are of the same social status or not. Being a neighbor to another does not depend on being the same religion, the same race, the same socio-economic status, or even the same nationality. Being a neighbor simply means demonstrating mercy to all of those we encounter along the way.
Not only is Jesus making a statement about what it means to love our neighbors, Jesus is also making a theological statement here. He is speaking as well to the very nature of God. God does not look at the world and see the same divisions that we do. Jesus is pushing against those boundaries that we get so comfortable hiding behind by connecting the destruction of those walls to our love of God. If love of God and love of neighbor are intimately intertwined, then this story that centers an outsider and enemy of Judaism challenges our very notions of insiders and outsiders, friends and enemies.
Last summer my Annual Conference in Michigan used this text from Luke as our focus text for our time together. For weeks afterward, I wrestled with this text, knowing that I needed to do something with it. Then in rewatching the movie Black Panther, I made connections between the movie and this story. I was able to see in the movie the different views of how to treat neighbors - Okoye, who thought the king should focus only on the needs of the Wakandan people and ignore outsiders; N'Jadaka (also known as Killmonger), who wanted to start a war over the mistreatment others have faced around the world; and Nakia, who wanted to use their resources to create a better world for all those in need.
And it makes me wonder now who the characters in the story would be for us today. As we imagine the man in need lying on the side of the road, perhaps begging for help, perhaps unable to, I wonder what happens if we put a pastor, a deacon, and a Muslim into this story. Perhaps this would jar our sensibilities the same way this story did for those listening to Jesus. ]
Who are those we hold in high regard and what happens if we imagine them ignoring the needs of others? Is that hard to imagine? I should hope so, but I’m not so sure.
On the other hand, who are those we count as outsiders, outcasts, even enemies today? Who are those we societally expect to ignore the needs of others? What happens when we center them as the heroes of the story?
I am reminded of the stories of Muslim communities raising money to help the black churches that were recently destroyed by fire across Mississippi. I am reminded of the Muslim groups who came together to support Jewish communities after synagogue shootings in California and Pittsburgh.
As you think about this, I want you to consider the ways we continue to be surprised by these sorts of actions in our world. We make a big deal of these sorts of stories, creating national headlines and segments on the nightly news. We make note of “Good Samaritans,” especially those that cross social, economic, racial, or national boundaries. But through this story Jesus is making it clear that for God, these boundaries simply do not exist. The boundaries that divide us are ones that we humans have created. And when we, like the legal expert in this story, question who is our neighbor, we are really seeking to place limits on God and who God loves as much as we are seeking to limit our own actions.
When he started to question Jesus, the legal scholar was sure he had all the answers. He was going to use his knowledge of Scripture to prove he is right and Jesus is wrong. But in the end he was forced to admit his own failure at understanding the lengths of God’s mercy, the lengths to which God expects us to act in mercy.
And he was therefore handed an unexpected neighbor.
Who is our neighbor?
Who are those in need in our world today?
How are we demonstrating mercy toward them?
As we consider the neighbors that we have, from the expected to the unexpected, let us consider together the ways that we might be neighbors to them.
May we continue work together to be neighbors to those in need.
May our love towards others serve as a example of God's love for us all.
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- See https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/related-articles/priests-and-levites-in-the-first-century-ce.
- See http://lawrenceschiffman.com/samaritan-schism/.