The situation was this: A young Jewish lawyer wanted to reassure himself that he was doing the right thing. To help him, Jesus took the opportunity to tell him a story. The story was designed to set the young man straight.
The story begins the way a lot of stories begin. "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho" (Luke 10:30). At this point, we aren't told anything about the man. Not his nationality or even his name is revealed to us. He was simply a man traveling down the road.
The road the man was traveling on remains, to this day, as one of the most dangerous roads in the world, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. In a little less than eighteen miles, the road drops from 2,500 feet above sea level at Jerusalem to 770 feet below sea level at Jericho. For as long as anyone can remember, this road has been noted for being one not everyone should travel on, at least not alone, and certainly not at night.
Why the man was there all by himself, we can only surmise. Perhaps, he was with some others when the robbers fell upon him, and the others being faster, got away. We just don't know. What we do know is that the robbers stripped him, beat him, and went off, leaving him half dead.
Now this is an interesting predicament that Jesus has slipped into the story. The rules then and now are fairly clear about what to do with the living and the dead. We pretty well know how we are supposed to treat others; as we would like to be treated, right? We know how we are supposed to look after the dead, and if we don't, the funeral director and the minister can quickly fill us in. But what about the half dead? What about all those situations that are in between, that are on the borderline, gray, not black or white, the ones not easily found in the textbook? It was not just a coincidence, I think, that Jesus pointed out that the man was half dead. It raises all kinds of questions about how we are to react in situations where we are not sure what to do.
But in the characteristic way of telling a good story, Jesus first shows us some ways not to do it. The first way involves the religious community and one of its head leaders, a priest. "Now by chance," Jesus tells us, a priest was going down that same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side, evidently trying to avoid contamination by coming into contact with a dead person. This means that the priest must have assumed that the man was dead. At any rate, the priest did not get close enough to see what the real condition of the helpless victim was, for we're told that the priest passed by on the other side. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, has eloquently described it. "There is a gulf to be bridged, a wound that will not be healed until we have seen that it is bleeding."1
How many of us when faced with a situation that we feel might involve us deeper in matters than we want to be involved in at the moment, opt to pass by on the other side? We say to ourselves, "I think I'll sit this one out. I'll let someone else deal with it." Or as my parents' generation used to say, "Let George do it." We have other pressing concerns to take care of. No doubt the priest was on the way to a church meeting that couldn't possibly go on without him. We all know about that. But Jesus won't let us off the hook, will he?
Once when a pastor was visiting the hospital and standing by the receptionist counter, a group of ten to fifteen burly men came in together. They were dressed in black leather jackets, had long hair, and they were dripping to their waists in chains of one size or another. The pastor's first reaction was that of the priest's. He wanted to get out of there as fast as he could. For some reason, the pastor felt threatened. How the elderly lady at the receptionist desk must have felt can only be imagined, both of them were outnumbered. But then the pastor noticed that one of the men had a bouquet of flowers in his hand. They had come to the hospital for the same reason the pastor had come, to visit one of their friends! But because they looked different than the pastor did, he wanted to pass by on the other side.
Then, Jesus tells us that a Levite came by. That is, a kind of assistant priest. He also came upon the place, saw the man, and he, too, passed by on the other side. Probably, because he had been taught by the priest what to do, or perhaps, he was close enough to observe the priest and follow his example. The point is that the two who might have been expected to do something chose not to. Neither the senior minister nor the associate seemed to want to be bothered. They had more important things to do. They were probably on the way to a meeting to figure out how to help needy people. They couldn't see the opportunity before them. But then, can we? That's the question Jesus leaves us with, isn't it?
"But a Samaritan!" And with those words Jesus turns the tables upside down. Jesus knew that this was the least acceptable individual from the young Jewish lawyer's point of view. Samaritans were outcast, despised, and considered subhuman. Everything about them was detestable even the way they worshiped, especially. They even went to the wrong church! But "a Samaritan" is just the one Jesus centers his story around to show us what we ought to do in these half dead, ambiguous situations that life continually confronts us with.
What's simply amazing, when you look at it from the Samaritan's point of view, is that he would have been brought up to be just as prejudiced as the priest and Levite and the young lawyer. The Samaritan also would have been trained in the law. He also would have known how to use the same scriptures to justify his position. Had he chosen to pass by on the other side of the road like the other two did, it would have been understandable. No one would have thought much about it, least of all the priest and the Levite. In fact, they might have respected him for it. For after all, the man was living up to the religious principles of purity he claimed to believe in.
But, as the story tells us, this is not what happened. No, "this Samaritan," who was also on a journey, came upon the battered man by the side the road. When he saw him, he was moved to pity, or "had compassion," as another translation states it. Evidently, the Samaritan had allowed himself to come close enough to find out that the man was still partially alive. And having determined that, he then went over to him, bandaged his wounds, and poured oil (which was to encourage healing) and wine (which was believed to relieve the pain). Then the Samaritan set the man on his own beast. Notice that little word, "own." He didn't call a cab or a camel, but put him in his own car and took him to the local Motel 6, and made provisions for him there.
The next day, the Samaritan took out some money from the ATM machine and paid the innkeeper to take care of the man until he came back. As he's leaving, the Samaritan says to the manager of the motel, whom he may have known from previous associations, "If it takes more than that, I'll take care of it when I return. You have my word on it."
This Good Samaritan is not only good; he's amazing! "Good" is not a good enough word for it. Not only is he the least likely one to offer help — remember, he, too, had to overcome his own inner resistance to do it, for he, too, had been carefully taught what to do and not to do in these situations — but somehow — we call it the grace of God — this man had learned to rise above his restrictive upbringing and see that some things were not as simple as he had thought they were. This was a real person lying there in the ditch; someone who needed help. It didn't matter who he was, what color he was, how much he made or didn't make, what gender he was, or what sexual orientation he might claim. The only fact that mattered at the moment was that the man needed help.
We face the same dilemmas every day, don't we? With many issues from birth to death and before and beyond. Genetic malformation, stem-cell research, cloning, abortion, homosexuality, AIDS, to extend life or terminate it. It's not always crystal clear what to do in these half dead or half alive situations. "What would Jesus do in these borderline situations?" we ask ourselves. The parable of the Good Samaritan answers clearly and unambiguously: Jesus would offer help!
So how did the Samaritan take care of the man? If we can determine that perhaps we can find out what we ought to do. First, he used what he had. He dipped into his own resources, the oil, wine, money, even the donkey he was traveling on, and graciously — there is no better word to describe it — used it all for the one in need.
But he did not let it go at that. He saw that the man would have what he needed when it came time for him to leave. In other words, he saw to it that there were others who could pick up where he had to leave off. Since he was not able to stay with the man until he was brought back to health, the Samaritan did the next best thing. He wrote a check to the innkeeper to cover whatever the man needed. And if, as it turned out, that was not quite enough, he would settle up when he returned. Then the Samaritan went on his own way to take care of whatever it was he had to take care of, confident in his own heart that he had done all that he could do. That's a good feeling, to be sure. It's one of the best there is in these kinds of situations. It is satisfying to feel that you have done all that you could possibly do.
That was the situation and how one man chose to respond to it. But what about today? What is our situation today? Anything like that? If you're beginning to think that there are more problems like this that we have to deal with every day, you're right. Recently, there have been more disasters, both natural and human. Sometimes they seem to come at the rate of one or two a day. The truth is, we have more opportunities all the time to try to be a good neighbor by following Jesus' example of the Good Samaritan.
In the summer of 2005, the G8 Economic Summit was held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Hundreds of thousands of protestors gathered to express that the starving in Africa and India must be addressed. The fact is, the United States is the nation giving the largest amount of money, but the smallest percentage of aid. Even before the summit began, there had been some overtures of help, such as the move to cancel some of the debts incurred by the poorest nations. Fifty-nine billion dollars in aid to Africa and Palestine was pledged by the G8 nations.
The call is still to be a good neighbor by following Jesus' example of the Good Samaritan.
Whatever we do, we can do as the Samaritan did. We can give out of the resources we have, and then rest in the assurance that someone else, someone in a better position perhaps than we are, will be able to take care of it.
Sometime back, there was a news broadcast in which a reporter in Rwanda was shown on television looking up at the sky. The reporter remarked that he had just spotted the first airlift relief aid to this war-torn country. The only problem with that report was that churches had been working in that area for more than 100 years, day in and day out. No one ever saw fit to take notice of it long enough to flash it on the screen.
But, let's not go overboard, not just yet. For there's still one character in the story that we haven't checked in with yet. And that's the response the rich, young lawyer had after he heard Jesus' story. Going back to the man's original question, "And who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29). Jesus takes a twist on his question and asks the young man, "Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" (Luke 10:36). The man's answer is revealing. On the surface it's right enough. The man answers, "The one who showed him mercy" (Luke 10:37). Nothing wrong with that; or is there?
You see, old ways die hard sometimes. The young man still cannot quite bring himself to say outright, "The Samaritan is the neighbor, for he's the one who took care of him." I can see that word "S-a-m-a-r-i-tan" stuck there, right about where his Adam's apple would be. Yes, let's give the young man credit. He got the right answer out. But he couldn't let himself feel it, not just yet. He wasn't quite ready to let himself be changed by what he had learned. He had learned it in his head, as we say. He just hadn't let his heart find out about it yet. The young lawyer protected himself from really being changed by not giving the credit to where credit was truly due. Make no mistake about it, it was a Samaritan who took care of him.
So, I think the words of Jesus, "Go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37b), must have stung the young man's ears, even as the word "Samaritan" could not pass his lips.
Oh, well. Let's not be too hard on the poor guy. We all have a way to go, don't we? God will not be satisfied until we all become more compassionate. And that's our hope. For when we are compassionate, when we get close enough to feel another's pain, close enough to see that they are bleeding, all these other things have a way of taking care of themselves.
1. Rowan Williams, Resurrection: Interpreting the Easter Gospel (Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 2002), p. 74.
