Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

LUKE 10:25-37
ONCE I WAS IN MIAMI AT A CONFERENCE, AND DURING THE BREAKS I WOULD WALK AROUND ENJOYING THE SUN SINCE IT WAS WINTER IN LONGMEADOW. AND I WOULD ALWAYS PASS A QUIET MAN IN A WHEELCHAIR, MISSING HIS LEGS, HOLDING OUT A CUP, NOT MOVING, NOT BLESSING ME, NOT HOLDING UP A SIGN TELLING ME HE WAS A VETERAN. AND I SAW THAT THERE WERE A FEW COINS IN THE CUP, AND A DOLLAR BILL OR TWO. AND AFTER I PASSED HIM FOR THE THIRD OR FOURTH TIME, AND AFTER I HAD RESISTED THE URGE TO GO OVER AND DROP A FEW COINS IN HIS CUP – I SUDDENLY HAD A FLASH – HOW ABSOLUTELY FORTUNATE I WAS, HOW INCREDIBLY BLESSED; AND THEN FOR A VERY BRIEF MOMENT, FOR JUST A FRACTION OF A SECOND, I WAS THE MAN IN THE WHEELCHAIR. ON IMPULSE, I PUT A TWENTY DOLLAR BILL IN HIS CUP AND TOLD HIM I HOPED HE COULD GET OUT OF THE SUN FOR A WHILE. NOW I DON'T MAKE IT A HABIT TO DO THAT; POCKET CHANGE IS WHAT I USUALLY DROP INTO THE CUPS OF BEGGARS, AND MY REAL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE TO INSTITUTIONS WHICH WILL USE MY DONATIONS WISELY, WHERE THEY WILL DO THE MOST GOOD. BUT AS I READ THE STORY OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME, I AM THINKING, MAYBE I SHOULD RETHINK WHETHER I AM A NEIGHBOR.
MOST OF US HAVE HEARD THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN SO OFTEN THAT WE COULD PROBABLY RECITE IT WORD FOR WORD. AND WE THINK WE GET IT. EVERYBODY IS OUR NEIGHBOR. SEEMS LIKE JESUS WENT TO A LOT OF TROUBLE TO MAKE THIS SIMPLE POINT. BUT LIKE EVERYTHING JESUS SAID, THIS PARABLE IS DEEP, AND EVERY TIME YOU THINK ABOUT IT YOU HEAR THE STORY IN A NEW WAY.
PICTURE THE SCENE; JESUS SUMMARIZES THE COMMANDMENTS IN TWO STATEMENTS, AND A LAWYER AGREES; BECAUSE THE JEWS DEBATED ABOUT WHICH COMMANDMENTS WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT, AND THERE WERE MANY JEWS, NOT JUST JESUS, WHO SAW THROUGH THE 613 COMMANDMENTS TO THE FUNDAMENTAL COMMANDMENTS OF LOVING GOD AND LOVING NEIGHBOR. BUT THE LAWYER HAS A REAL QUESTION. IF YOU READ THE OLD TESTAMENT, IT IS CONFUSING; WHO IS YOUR NEIGHBOR? SURE, THERE IS A HINT THAT WE ARE ALL GOD'S CHILDREN. THE PARABLE OF JONAH, FOR EXAMPLE, SUGGESTS THAT GOD CARES ABOUT PEOPLE WHO AREN'T ISRAELITES, SINCE HE SPARES THE PEOPLE OF NINEVEH WHEN THEY REPENT. BUT MOST OF THE WRITINGS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT COULD GIVE SUPPORT TO THE IDEA THAT THE NEIGHBOR OF A JEW WAS ANOTHER JEW, AND THAT GENTILES WERE SOMETHING ELSE; IF THEY LIVED AMONG YOU, YOU TOLERATED THEM; BUT THEY WERE DEFINITELY SECOND CLASS CITIZENS. DID THE JEWS THINK THEY WERE BETTER THAN OTHER PEOPLE? NOT THE THOUGHTFUL ONES; BUT THEY DID THINK THAT GOD HAD A SPECIAL PURPOSE FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE, AND WHILE THAT WAS A PRIVILEGE, IT WAS ALSO A HUGE BURDEN. AND JEWS WERE SUPPOSED TO CONCENTRATE ON THEIR DUTIES TOWARDS GOD, AND NOT WORRY ABOUT THE REST OF MANKIND. THAT WAS GOD'S CONCERN.
JESUS GOES OVER TO THE LAWYER AND BEGINS A STORY. I'M SURE YOU'VE HEARD STORIES THAT START OUT, “A PRIEST, A MINISTER, AND A RABBI WENT INTO A BAR ....” OR “A DOCTOR, A LAWYER, AND AN AN ENGINEER WERE ARGUING...” IN THE SOCIETY IN WHICH JESUS LIVED, THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES, WHO PERFORMED WHAT EVERYONE AGREED WAS A NECESSARY FUNCTION, WERE INCREASINGLY DISTANT FROM THE ORDINARY PEOPLE, AND THERE WAS A LITTLE CLASS JEALOUSY. SO THERE WERE MANY STORIES THAT STARTED OUT “A PRIEST, A LEVITE AND AN ISRAELITE...” AND IN THESE STORIES, THE ISRAELITE ALWAYS SHOWED MORE COMMON SENSE, OR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE LAW, THAN DID THE PRIEST AND THE LEVITE. SO THE LAWYER AND EVERYONE LISTENING TO JESUS SETTLED BACK TO HEAR A FAMILIAR STORY – AND THEN JESUS BRINGS UP THE SAMARITAN. YOU AND I LITERALLY CAN'T IMAGINE THE SHOCK, NOT IN OUR SOCIETY. WE MAY INDIVIDUALLY HARBOR ILL FEELINGS TOWARDS WHOLE CLASSES OF PEOPLE, BUT NOT TO THE POINT THAT WE WOULD WANT THEM ALL DEAD, WIPED OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. NOT TO THE POINT WHERE WE WOULD FEEL SICK TO OUR STOMACH IF ONE OF THEM TOUCHED US. AND TO EVEN MENTION A SAMARITAN IN POLITE COMPANY – IT WOULD BE LIKE TALKING ABOUT YOUR BATHROOM HABITS IN A FANCY RESTAURANT. BUT THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE THOUGHT OF SAMARITANS – NOT ONLY WERE THEY HALF-BREEDS, CROSSES BETWEEN JEWS AND PAGANS; BUT THEIR RELIGION WAS HALF-BREED AS WELL, A BLASPHEMOUS MOCKERY OF THE TRUE RELIGION. AND THEY LIVED RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAND THAT GOD HAD GIVEN THE CHOSEN PEOPLE, LIKE A BIG OPEN SORE ON A BEAUTIFUL FACE.
AND JESUS LOOKS THE LAWYER IN THE EYE, AND THE LAWYER SUDDENLY SEES HIMSELF AS THE MAN IN THE DITCH, THE MAN WHO HAS BEEN BEATEN AND ROBBED AND LEFT FOR DEAD. WHO CAN BLAME THE PRIEST AND THE LEVITE? IT WAS A WELL KNOWN TRICK FOR BANDITS TO HIDE AND ATTACK ANYONE FOOLISH ENOUGH TO LET DOWN THEIR GUARD. AND IF THE PERSON WAS DEAD, NO ONE WOULD WANT TO TOUCH THE BODY, SINCE YOU WOULD BECOME RITUALLY UNCLEAN. AND THE LAWYER, WHO HAS PROBABLY FOUND HIMSELF IN THE SAME SITUATION AS THE PRIEST AND THE LEVITE, WHO HAD STEPPED OVER A BODY ON THE SIDEWALK OR CROSSED THE STREET TO AVOID THE LEPER SITTING IN RAGS, SUDDENLY FELT WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE HELPLESS, TO BE DYING, AND TO BE COMPLETELY ALONE. AND AT THAT MOMENT, THERE WEREN'T JEWS AND SAMARITANS, THERE WEREN'T RITUAL PURITY LAWS, THERE WEREN'T ANY ARTIFICIAL DIVISIONS – NOT FOR THE MAN IN THE DITCH. AND JESUS RUBS IT IN. HE DOESN'T MERELY SAY THAT THE SAMARITAN HELPED THE MAN, HE DESCRIBES IN DETAIL WHAT THE SAMARITAN DID – CLEANS OUT THE WOUNDS, TEARS STRIPS FROM HIS GARMENT FOR BANDAGES, PUTS THE MAN ON HIS MULE AND WALKS THE REST OF THE NINE OR TEN MILES, PAYS THE INNKEEPER, AND PLEDGES TO PAY WHAT ELSE WOULD BE OWED ON HIS WAY BACK. AND JESUS SAYS, “WHO WAS NEIGHBOR TO THAT MAN?” AND THE LAWYER, WHO UP TILL THEN WOULD HAVE READILY AGREED THAT A JEW WAS NEIGHBOR TO A JEW, IS BROUGHT TO A NEW UNDERSTANDING; A NEIGHBOR IS DEFINED NOT BY WHO HE IS, NOT BY RACE OR RELIGION OR SOCIAL STATUS, BUT BY WHAT HE DOES.
ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HEARD JESUS GOT THE LESSON WE ALL GET – EVERYONE IS YOUR NEIGHBOR. BUT I THINK THE LAWYER, LIKE ME AT THAT MOMENT IN MIAMI, HAD FELT THE ABANDONMENT THAT THE HELPLESS FEEL, AND HAD FELT THE RELIEF AND GRATITUDE WHEN THE STRANGER WHO OWED NOTHING STOPPED TO MINISTER AND SAVED HIS LIFE. AND THE LAWYER LEARNED THE MORE IMPORTANT LESSON – A NEIGHBOR IS ONE WHO HAS MERCY. MAY GOD TEACH US ALL HOW IT FEELS TO RECEIVE MERCY, SO THAT WE WILL HAVE MERCY.