by Rev. Dr. Jim Warnock
Lesson passage: Luke 10:25-37
This is a fascinating exchange, begun by a lawyer who questions Jesus. There is a lot going on behind the scenes here, as Jesus has been teaching his disciples and others. A lawyer, in this case, is someone expert in both religious and civil law, so he will know the biblical texts. Luke says that the lawyer stood up to address Jesus, which would ordinarily indicate that he intended to recite an answer for the teacher.
Here the lawyer wants to test Jesus, presumably asking about Jesus’ earlier summary of the Law, to love God and one’s neighbor. The question isn’t about obeying God though, which would have been a typical question for Pharisees. Rather the lawyer asks how to inherit eternal life. It’s an odd question, since inheritance, even of eternal life, is a gift that cannot be earned.
One suspects that it is insincere, though possibly not. Jesus turns the question back at the lawyer, who responds with the classic summary of the Law. This was a much discussed topic in Jesus’ day. The lawyer has combined Deuteronomy 6:5 (love God) and Leviticus 19:18 (love your neighbor).
This is the essence of the law, and also Jesus’ summary of it (Luke 6:31). Jesus tells the lawyer, “Do this, and you will live.” The trick here, of course, is that no one can do this for any length of time, which is why salvation cannot be earned. This is where the lawyer asks the crucial question.
The definition of neighbor has been debated by theologians. I will briefly summarize the main points:
- Leviticus 19 uses rea The Parable of the Good Samaritanfor neighbor, a word denoting physical, social or ethnic closeness.
- In its original context, it meant the community of Israel which included outsiders only to ensure their fair treatment.
- Other verses in Leviticus extend care to “the poor and the alien” (19:10) and the deaf and blind (19:14).
- This makes it possible to define neighbor so as to include only those you find favorable.
The lawyer may be looking for a manageable definition. It might include fellow observant Jews, and it would certainly exclude Samaritans, as everyone knew that God hated Samaritans. Jesus makes it quite plain that love of neighbor cannot extend to excluding disliked neighbors.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
The Parable of the Good Samaritan follows, and it bears some detailed commentary: Jesus says robbers stripped and beat a man, leaving him half dead. Robbers generally beat people only if they resisted, so this man must have done so. We are to assume that he is Jewish. We might also assume that he is on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, where many priests lived.
A priest sees and ignores him. Priests served in the Temple, were a hereditary guild, and generally were among the wealthiest in Jewish society. A contemporary listener would assume that the priest was riding a donkey and could have given the beaten man a ride. Had the beaten man been obviously Jewish and observant, the priest had a clear duty to help him, as his neighbor.
Note that this assumes the narrow definition of neighbor as one in one’s own community only. By that standard, if he were not Jewish, the priest needed to do nothing to help him. Being naked, however, the victim’s status is unclear. If he were dead, the priest by touching him would become defiled, requiring a trip back to Jerusalem and a week of ceremonial purification. If he did touch him and he died, the priest would have had to rend his garments, which was expensive.
That brings us to the Levite. Levites served as assistants to the priests. This Levite probably knew that a priest preceded him. Perhaps he was the priest’s assistant. In any case, the priest had set the precedent, so the Levite could pass by the man with a clear conscience. By helping him, he could even upstage the priest, which would be a major social gaffe. The Samaritan, of course, is the surprise.
To make the story work, you have to plug in anyone you despise and whom God despises and who you know would never do a good deed for a stranger. The despised Samaritan is moved with pity and in effect administers first aid to the man. Going beyond that, he carries the man to an inn where he could take better care of him.
The inn would probably have been in Jericho, then a Jewish city. The Samaritan would have been smart to leave the man at the gate and disappear. A Samaritan carrying a wounded Jew on his horse would have been suspicious, to say the least. Instead he puts himself at risk and pays two denarii to the innkeeper, enough to cover the man’s bill for a week or two. The story ends there, open-ended, leaving the finish to the imagination of the audience.
The lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” strictly speaking is never answered. Instead Jesus asks him which of the three men was a neighbor to the beaten man. When the lawyer picks the Samaritan, Jesus tells him to “go and do likewise.”
The lawyer is probably not a bad guy. On his own terms, he has every right to challenge Jesus in this way. He, the lawyer, is a scholar of Israel, and Jesus is something of an upstart who might be leading people in the wrong direction. The lawyer has a well-developed theological system which provides all necessary answers for life.
It particularly limits God’s grace to those whom people believe God approves, and that is the flaw. The real question, it turns out, is not about the definition of neighbor. It is more like “To whom must I become a neighbor?” That gets close to the heart of the Gospel, to love God and love one’s neighbor, the latter being defined as anyone with a need, and that basic need is the Gospel.
The questions aren’t much different for us. It certainly bears thinking about in the context of our current debate over immigrants. Here it has at least resulted in the signs we see over the doors.
Our Amos passage teaches something about failure to follow the two great commandments. It’s not that God enjoys punishing people. It’s that bad things happen when we treat people badly. We don’t have to look far to see that reality in action.