I’m a fairly practical person and when I have to do something I like to have instructions. So when I’m confronted with a problem or a new situation I like to ask. What do I have to do? I like to follow instructions and I like to follow procedures. Not everyone’s like that. Some are very good at just looking at the situation and getting on with it. I’m like the lawyer in the Gospel reading today. He goes up to Jesus and asks him for the instructions and procedures. What must I do to inherit eternal life? He wants the instructions.
Now, Jesus knows that he is trying to test him. Jesus knows he’s a lawyer so he sends him off to the Law book with all the instructions and procedures. “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” And so he recites it: 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.” Jesus affirms him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” That’s very straightforward for the Lawyer. But now the lawyer wants further clarification and instruction: Who is my neighbor?
Now it gets challenging. Now it moves from instruction and procedure to the practice of it. It goes from theory to practice.
I remember my own experience. Five years studying at the Seminary with all that theory and then your first placement and it’s nothing like what you learnt. In fact many Pastors find themselves in deep water when they get to their first Parish and start to apply what they learnt. They begin to change everything because that’s what they learnt but soon discover that life in the real world is nothing like the theory they learnt. And so today, the Lawyer, is given a life lesson. Yes, he knows the written law but does he know the life application. What it truly means to love God with all his heart and his neighbour as himself. To go and do likewise as the Good Samaritan did who looked past his personal likes and dislikes and saw a neighbour in need. Who did not discriminate against those who discriminated against him. The Priest and the Levite did not do that. Even though it was one of their own people – the rule book said they could not touch a dead body and serve in the temple because they would become unclean. So they crossed to the other side because they didn’t know if the traveller was alive or dead. And Jesus life application – go and do likewise as the Good Samaritan did.
We too are asked, like the Good Samaritan, to go and do likewise. To look for opportunities to help those in need. To not turn a blind eye or cross over to the other side when we see someone in need because it might inconvenience us. This is the Law of Love at work which is not followed by the letter of the law as the Lawyer sought to do but as we read in Jeremiah: The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant. It will not be like the covenant made with their ancestors declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
In the parable that Jesus told, the priest and Levite, according to their written law, were not allowed to touch a dead body.
They thought the traveler was dead and chose to observe the written law of Moses and ignored the heart law of loving God.
And since the traveler is created in the image of God they ignored love of God with all their heart by ignoring love of neighbour. Jesus intentionally used a Samaritan as the example of love to pierce their hearts. And remember, the traveler he helped was not a Samaritan but a fellow Jew to the priest and Levite. The parable of the Good Samaritan challenges our excuses to justify why we might sometimes turn away. Or sometimes we might not turn away but intentionally ensure we don’t go to places where we might encounter the need to help someone. Sometimes we ‘cross the road’ very early before we even see the problem. We don’t have to travel too far from our home to see an opportunity and sometimes we might not even know those opportunities have presented themselves like another parable Jesus told: The righteous will say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
And, as we know, it’s easy to turn that blind eye and make ourselves feel quite comfortable about it: Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. As Christians we have an opportunity to make a great difference in the world by reaching out to our neighbour in need. Who is our neighbour – anyone that God presents into our life that needs help – even our enemies.
That help can be physical help – if your enemy is hungry feed them, Jesus says. That help can be spiritual – as Jesus says – pray for those who persecute you.
In the business world there is a principal known as the 80/20 rule. That is that 20% of the people do 80% of the work.
In the latest census it was revealed that Christians make up 43.9% of the Australian population. Don’t despair. That’s double the 20% that do 80% of the work. That’s a big difference we can make in the world. But not if we turn a blind eye when we are needed. We live in a world where there are needy neighbors at our very doorstep.
It’s very easy to adopt an attitude of – there’s nothing I can do so I’ll do nothing. The Good Samaritan provides us with an example to follow. First, we must see the hurting neighbour. We cannot dismiss this person or rationalize the suffering – for example – they deserved what they got – it’s all their own fault. We must recognise the suffering. This is not easy, especially in today’s world, where we are bombarded by so many images of all types of suffering, including our own.
Sadly we have become desensitized to all the suffering because there is so much of it. We don’t cross the road literally but we – change the channel – delete the emails as Junk Mail, we throw out the letters from charities without even opening them because we know they will just be asking for money. But sometimes it’s not money but prayer that they need. Like Jesus and the Good Samaritan we need to feel the compassion again. We are truly to see somebody in need. Certainly we can’t help every needy person on the planet which is often the reason we don’t help. But there will be somebody with whom we have contact with that we can help. And we will discover that we are the right person in the right place at the right time because God has led us there. And as we help, our hearts become even more aware of the person in need before us.
“Who is my neighbor? will be there before us, as plain as day in the one whom God has put in our path. The question, who is my neighbour, is a question we do not ask. Just as Jesus didn’t ask, whose sins am I dying for. We are all children of God. We are all created in the image of God. We are all neighbours of each other. So in as much as we ignore the needs of anyone then we are ignoring the needs of God in whose image they are created.
