And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10: 25-37
Many of us are familiar with the Parable of the Good Samaritan, taught by Jesus in Luke 10. There are many lessons to be taken from this Parable. A lawyer questions Jesus on what he must do to inherit eternal life, and when Jesus asks him what he thinks he should do, the man says that he understands the two greatest commandments, to love God and love our neighbor. Like many people in the world, he knows the answers but doesn’t know how to apply them. So when he asks Jesus for further clarification on just what does it mean to love a neighbor, i.e. who is the neighbor I am supposed to love, Jesus tells him the parable of the Good Samaritan.
In the parable, the man who is beat up by the robbers is Jewish. How do we know this? Because the first people he encounters after the attack are a priest and Levite from his temple. These men should have been the first to run to his aid. They probably know him. However, they are too busy and distracted and pass by on the other side of the road. The one who comes to his aid is a Samaritan, a sworn enemy of the Jews. The lesson of the parable is that our neighbor is everyone, even our enemy.
The meaning of the parable goes deeper. The oil and wine used to tend to the man’s wounds represent Holy Unction and the Eucharist, two sacraments used for healing in our church. The inn where the man is taken represents the church. The innkeeper is the priest. The Good Samaritan is the good steward, the man who provides the means for the injured man’s healing. He provides time, changing the course of his day to tend to the man. He provides talent, in that he knows how to use oil and wine in a medicinal way. And he provides financial resources, giving money to the innkeeper to take care of the man because he must continue on his journey.
There is more application to this parable. Because the wounded neighbor isn’t always so obvious. If we saw a person bleeding on the side of the road with no one tending to them, most of us would at least call 911, that would be the obvious thing to do. Imagine if you sat with a group of 15 friends who you were out with on a Friday night, or a group of co-workers in the lunchroom at work. Imagine if everyone wrote down on a piece of paper, one stressor they were carrying, and then put it in a basket, and everyone drew a paper from the basket. They would know the stressors that were being carried in the room, though they wouldn’t know who was carrying which one. What kind of stressors might be on that list? Exhaustion, anxiety, marital problems, children doing poorly at school. Many of us have no idea the kinds of pains people right next to us are carrying. Maybe that is because people don’t feel comfortable sharing them, or think no one would help them, or that they would be judged. Maybe it’s because we are not asking or creating an environment where it would be safe to share a burden.
The truth is that everyone will get kicked to the side of the road at some point in life. We will all be the man who has gotten beaten up in some way. Will we let others know that we need help? Will we accept help? There are some people who think they have to carry the burdens of life alone. They have a hard time either admitting they need help (pride), or asking for help (humility), or accepting help (they don’t feel worthy). Part of this commandment to love our neighbor involves letting our neighbor love us, and allowing our neighbor to serve us as well. There are people who run to help, but who are slow, or even unwilling to accept help. We will all take a turn as the man kicked to the side of the road. We have to allow our neighbors to love us in these moments.
Everyone will meet people who are kicked to the side of the road, and those aren’t even going to be people who have been robbed and beaten, or even strangers. The people closest to us will all get kicked to the side of the road at some point in life. The priest and the Levite should have been the first people to run and help the man from their own temple. We need to be running to those we know and help them.
Our “neighbor” is the person in closest proximity to us at any given moment. Most people think of the neighbor as the one who resides next to your house. But it is whoever is residing closest to you at a given moment. It could be the person in the next office at work, or sitting next to you in the pews at church, or driving next to you on the road in the morning.
Finally, when Jesus asked the lawyer which person acted like a neighbor to the man who had been beaten, the man answered that it was the one who had mercy on him. Mercy is when we give something to someone who doesn’t deserve it. A sworn enemy certainly didn’t deserve help. Yet the Samaritan showed mercy in crossing the line of animosity in order to show love. We won’t always be called upon to cross this particular line but there are other lines we will be called upon to cross, the most prevalent is the “I’m too busy,” line. Mercy is going out of the way to do something, not because it is deserved, or easy, but because it is hard, and love involves not convenience, but sacrifice.
Think of some “neighbors” you encounter every day—i.e. the person who works next to you—and think of how you can be a better neighbor to him or her. Also think of the people you live with, our most intimate neighbors, and think of how we can better serve in our own homes.
Lord, the prayer for today is very simple. Please give me eyes to see a neighbor who is in need. Give me a mind to know how I can best serve. Give me a heart that has the desire to serve. And guide my mouth, my hands and my legs, so that I can truly serve, and to serve with love, with mercy and with joy. Amen.
Our neighbor is everyone, and we can be called to serve at any moment.
