There is a familiar story in our bible, in the gospel of Luke, called “The Good Samaritan,” but calling the story “The Good Samaritan” is a little deceptive because it puts our focus on the Samaritan who helped, instead of on the person needing help on the side of the road. It causes us to want to identify with the Samaritan and leads us to lessons about helping those less fortunate than ourselves. It’s deceptive because Jesus was talking to his own people who were people of the Jewish faith. The people to whom this Jewish audience would have related are the Jewish people in the story, everyone but the Samaritan.
If you are unfamiliar with the story, I encourage you to read from Luke’s gospel (Luke 10:25-37). The parable follows an interaction with a lawyer who is questioning Jesus. The final question, before this parable is, “And who is my neighbour?”
I’ve been reading a book called, “Short Stories by Jesus.” It’s written by Amy-Jill Levine who brings a very different perspective to the stories of Jesus as she is a Jewish scholar whose specialty is the Christian scriptures. In her book, she applies her Jewish lens to some of the parables that Jesus shared that have, in some way, some anti-semitic tendencies. Using this lens, she opens up this story and sheds a new light on it. One of the stories on which she focuses is this story of the Good Samaritan.
First, she writes about the words neighbour and evil and how, in the Hebrew language, they share the same consonants, but have different vowels. In ancient Hebrew texts, words do not have vowels though, so both words would have been written identically. So when we read in the Hebrew scriptures, especially in the Torah, (The Law or the first five books in the bible), that we should love our neighbour, maybe it’s much more than loving those people who love us or who are like us, but also includes those we see as enemy.
Jesus tells this story of Jewish people, the man who was beaten and left for dead, the priest and the levite. The priest and the levite, respected people in Jewish communities, pass by this man who needed help. Why? Their law is very clear about helping those who need help so why did they just pass him by? Jesus doesn’t say why, but there have been many who have tried and many times the priest and levite come off in a very bad light.
In Levine’s book, she shares a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that gives one explanation. He preached: “I’m going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It’s possible these men were afraid…And so the first question that the priest [and] the Levite asked was, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’…But then the Good Samaritan came by, and he reversed the question, “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’ If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?” The sanitation workers at the time, in 1968, were African-American and were striking, which had brought riots and a state of emergency to Memphis. These words were spoken the day before MLK Jr.’s assassination.
The point is that these two people who pass by the man on the road might be any one of us. There were many who did nothing during the civil rights struggles of the 1960’s. They weren’t bad people, but they were scared, confused, and unwilling to take a risk. Jesus did not say why these people passed by because any one of us might pass a person in need for a variety of reasons. It may have been the wrong decision but how many of us always make the right decision. Painting the priest and the levite as selfish and evil people makes the story simpler but takes away our own responsibility for passing by those in need.
So why did Jesus choose a Samaritan as the one to help this person? The Jewish people and the Samaritan people had been enemies for a long time. At one time they had been one people with one god, but split for variety of reasons, mostly political. Although they followed the same god, they followed that god in different ways, and, of course, each thought their way was the right way. It is the Samaritan though that approaches the Jew, when no one else would, comforts him, tends to his wounds, picks him up off the road, puts him on his donkey, and brings him to an inn, and then pays for his lodgings and any further upkeep. He is generous and compassionate towards his enemy.
There is a story in our bible, from the 28th chapter of the second book of Chronicles, that tells of the Samaritans capturing and bringing to Samaria two hundred thousand Judean women, sons, and daughters and all their booty. A prophet, Obed, speaks up, chastises them for their cruelty and encourages them to think again. In response to these words by the prophet, we hear similar words to our parable. “Then those who were mentioned by name got up and took the captives, and with the booty they clothed all that were naked among them; they clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink, and anointed them; and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kindred at Jericho.”
Amy-Jill Levine, writes, “The cycle of violence can be broken.” She goes on to say, “For the person in the ditch or the listener who identifies with him, 2 Chronicles 28 offers a necessary lesson. Those who want to kill you may be the only ones who will save you.”
Jesus ends the parable by asking the lawyer which of the three was the neighbour to the one on the road and of course, the lawyer responds with, “The one doing mercy for him.” Jesus’ answer is, “Go and do likewise.” If we can do for our enemy as well as our neighbour, there is hope for our world. If we can see in our enemy, a neighbour, there is hope. If one can get past the hate and past hurts to help an enemy in need, there is hope.
Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.” This is what we teach our children. This is what we learn throughout our lives, through our bible stories, through the wisdom of Jesus, and through sharing our own stories and risking community as we grow in wisdom and experience. We are taught to love our neighbour as ourself, but are we taught to also do likewise with our enemies? Maybe we could begin looking at this story through a new light, maybe title it, “The unlikely helper,” or “The Mercy of our Enemy.” What kind of world might we live in if we were all taught to love the neighbour, the stranger, and the enemy? May the Spirit walk with us and give us wisdom as we go and do likewise with our neighbour/enemy. May it be so. Amen.
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