Two weeks ago, the pastors at my church preached on the parable of the Good Samaritan, and I’ve been ruminating on that story and their sermons ever since.
In case your Sunday School lessons have slipped away in the haze of time, the story in Luke 10:25-37 begins with a lawyer coming to Jesus and asking what he has to do to achieve eternal life. Jesus, never one to give easy answers in his parables, responds with a question: what does the law say you have to do to achieve eternal live?
The lawyer, who seems to know his stuff, responded: love God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus tells the lawyer in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
The lawyer isn’t satisfied with Jesus’ answer, though. He wanted some specifics about who his neighbor might be. He’s just like us, really. He’s smart enough to know it’s easy to love people like us but not so easy to love those who are not.
Oh, most of us do okay loving the poor, the homeless, maybe even the orphans and widows. Where we have trouble is with people who are really different from us: foreigners, for example. That was the example Pastor Andy used in his sermon. The Samaritan was traveling in dangerous territory when he encountered the badly injured Jewish man by the side of the road. But he stopped anyway – and after a priest and a Levite, essentially a temple staff member, had passed by their fellow Jew.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was in Jewish-held territory, and the Samaritans and Jews had been enemies for centuries. The Samaritans believed they were the true children of Isreal, but they rejected the tenets of Judaism. Jews believed Samaritans were racially impure because they had intermarried with other groups. They had political differences as well. So, not a set-up for a lot of help-giving, or even a lot of tolerance.
The Samaritan not only helped the man by looking after his wounds, he took him to an inn and paid for his care. He even told the innkeeper that when he returned that way, he would pay for anything additional costs incurred.
So, let me ask: did you see in the news that ICE had detained an Afghan man who had been an interpreter for the American military? A man who defied the Taliban to help Americans – maybe even someone you know from Fort Eisenhower/Gordon. ICE says the Afghan entered the country illegally, according to the New Haven (Conn.) Independent. The paper also reported that the man and his family came here legally and had been approved for permanent residency, which makes sense given the promises the American government made to Afghan translators. In exchange for their help, our government promised translators and their families that they could become permanent residents in America.
Who would you say is the Samaritan in that story?
Debbie Reddin van Tuyll is executive editor of The Augusta Press.
