But wanting to justify himself,  he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’  Jesus replied, 
‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers.   

  Luke 10:29-30

Scripture is powerful stuff.  It has the power to inform and change people’s beliefs, attitudes and opinions.  When it doesn’t When it There are two ways to miss the point of a passage of scripture passage.  One is to not know the scripture passage…the other is to know the passage too well.   The latter is more likely the case with today’s scripture passage - the parable of the Good Samaritan.  We know this one…we know it too well.  And when we know a passage too well we have a tendancy to stop listening
when it’s read:   ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jerico, and he fell among robbers…’  oh right,  the parable of the Good Samaritan,  I know this one.  And we give it only casual attention.

The term ‘Good Samaritan’ has become a coined phrase in our culture.  It refers to anyone who does something good:
  ‘Honey,  I couldn’t get the lawnmower to start today and Len came over with his mower and cut the whole lawn.  He’s such a good Samaritan!’

 ‘Hey,  I won the ‘the Good Samaritan award’ this month at work!  John nominated me because I helped get his computer working last week when it crashed.’

 We’ve domesticated the good Samaritan,  and whenever we ‘tame’ scripture we take away its power to inform and change.  It’s time to listen to it again people.  We need listen to it again for the first time (to coin a Kellogg’s commercial)   Listen to it like it’s the first time you’ve heard it.

The parable is carefully woven into a conversation between Jesus and a laywer …a teacher of the law.  And there is a certain symmetry to the whole conversation…the lawyer asks Jesus a question – and Jesus asks the lawyer a question in return.  The lawyer gives an answer and so does Jesus.  The lawyer asks another question and after the parable,  Jesus asks one too.  The lawyer answers and so does Jesus. 
The whole dialogue begins with the lawyer’s question What must I do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus asks him ‘what does the law require?  What do you read?’  The lawyer sums up the entire law with his answer ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength and mind,  and love your neighbour as yourself.’   Jesus says ‘you have answered right…do this and you will live.’   But the lawyer wanted to justify himself so he asks another question ‘Who is my neighbour?’ and what follows is the parable of the Good Samaritan.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jerico …  it was a long way down.  Jerusalem sits at  2700 feet above sea level and Jerico is about 1000 feet below sea level,  so the road falls more than 3000 feet over the 17 mile stretch.
And he fell into the hands of robbers…    It’s a widey road through hilly territory with plenty of hiding places along the way so anyone walking the road is easy prey to thieves and robbers.
They stripped him and beat him and went away leaving him for dead.’  It’s no wonder this stretch of road was known as the ‘bloody pass’

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.’

 Priests were descendants of Aaron and were in charge of altar sacrifice in Jerusalem.  Levites were descendants of Moses and they interpreted the law for Israel.   So both had temple responsibilities.  If they stopped to help this man they would be ineligible to enter the Temple to perform their duties for more than a week because they would be considered ceremonially unclean.  I say that not to excuse their actions here  but it is important to realize that theirs was a choice between duty and duty.  And how many times have we failed to stop and help someone in need because of other duties…we were in a rush to get somewhere,  or we had to get to work,  or we simply felt overwhelmed by need presented and the limited resources we had to offer?   We have much more in common with the priest and Levite than we like to admit.  And when the priest and Levite are painted in dark colours,  when they are pictured as pious phonies who really just don’t care about others,  what we’re really doing is trying to distance ourselves from them,  so we don’t have to identify with them.  The priests and Levite are not heartless and uncaring – they are people with pressing agendas and a deep sense of obligation to their duties.  Their failure to respond to someone in need has more to do with busyness than hearlessness.  So when we read this part of the parable we ought to feel at least a tinge of guilt because they are a lot like us.

But a Samaritan while traveling came near him;  and when he saw him,  he was moved with pity.   He went to him and bandaged his wounds,  having poured oil and wine on them. 

You need to understand that Jews and Samaritans held contempt for one another.  The Samaritans had collaborated with Israel’s enemies and had escaped exile.  The Samaritans intermarried with Assyrians!  They refused to worship God in the temple in Jerusalem,  opting instead to build their own temple.  Remember the Woman at the Well?  Jesus asks her for a drink and she says ‘How is it you, a Jew,  ask me a Samaritan for a drink?’  Most Jews would just as soon go thirsty as ask a Samaritan for a drink!  And most Samaritans would just as soon they go thirsty as give them a drink!  So to speak of a ‘Good’ Samaritan was a contradiction in terms…there was no such thing…unless …unless you were a beaten, dying man,  lying naked in a ditch without anyone to help.  What else do you call a Samaritan who stops to help an arch rival Jew? 

Then he put him on his own animal,  brought him to an inn,  and took care of him.  The next day he took out two denarii,  gave them to the innkeeper and said “Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.”  

The Samaritan willingly delayed his own journey for more than a day in order to care for this man.  The Samaritan willingly gave of his own funds to tend to the needs of this man…with the promise of more as needed.  Jesus ends the parable by asking the young lawyer  ‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ 

The lawyer responded ‘The one who showed him mercy’.
And Jesus said to him  ‘Go and do likewise

Now, it’s hard to find a modern-day parallel to the Good Samaritan.  I know a lot of preachers have tried -  over the years I’ve heard the the parable of the Good biker,  the parable of the Good Communist,  the Parable of the Good Skinhead, and I’m bracing myself for the Parable of the Good Terrorist.  But they all fall short of the mark because it’s hard to find someone
just like the Good Samaritan:  to do so you need to find someone who delayed their own journey,  extended great energy and risked personal injury to help,  gave generously from their own wallet,  but also someone who was considered ceremonially unclean,  a social outcast and a religious heretic.   

That’s a tall order!  Perhaps we waste of our energy trying to put a new face on the Good Samaritan.  Perhaps the point of the parable is simply to let it challenge our definition of neighbor.  And that’s the real problem anyway, isn’t it?  We have too narrow a definition of who our neighbor is.  If neighbors are just the people who live either side of us then it’s easy to keep the commandment to love your neighbor!  (And if you don’t like one of your neighbors,  well,  you can always move!)  But if neighbor is more than that ….if neighbor is defined as  ‘anyone who is vulnerable,  anyone who needs our help’  then we have a real challenge on our hands ,  don’t we? 

    So who is our neighbor?  One thing is certain…It’s not a question of geography.  Some neighbors are near and some are far.  Hidenwood has made that clear by having a Community Outreach Committee as well as a Mission Committee.   Community Outreach is concerned about neighbors who are near…expressed in things like the tutoring program at Hidenwood school,  the blood drive,  Friends of the Homeless,  and the support of United Campus Ministries at CNU.   But we are also concerned about neighbors who are far – expressed in programs like our Partnership with the congregation at Yolo Sud in the Congo,  Nickel a meal, and the pending mission trip to New Orleans or Biloxi (and I hope many of you people are going to come to the breakfast on the 21 to hear more about this).  In short, Hidenwood has a broad definition of neighbour.  And that’s good because there is always a voice in our culture trying to convince us to narrow our definition of neighbour.  It’s a voice that sounds something like this:  “Well, I don’t think we should be helping starving people in Africa when we have hunger right here in America!  Why are we concerned about refugees overseas when we have homeless right here in our own city?  Charity begins at home!”   There are no shortage of people who want to limit the scope of who is my neighbour…but this church and most others have resisted that voice,  chosing to listen instead to the voice of Jesus who says ‘go therefore and make all nations my disciples…’... Jesus didn’t put geographical limits on neighbour.

    I was working with middle school youth at Montreat back in June.  One of the stories we studied was this one – the parable of the Good Samaritan.  After studying the story we asked them to tell us the story back to us.   We wanted them to be creative,  so we split them up into groups of 5-6 and gave them each a bag of props.  One group had cowboy hats and a broomstick horse and they had to tell the story ‘western style’.  Another group had fancy hats and lace gloves and they had to tell the story Opera style (singing).  Another group were given beach balls and skin diving equipment and they had to tell it ‘underwater’,   and another group were given Marsian antennae and they had to tell the story from outerspace.   Needless to say some very bizarre and funny renditions of the parable were told by the groups.  All the stories however had the same consistant plot -    somebody was hurt and in need of help.  Some people in a position to help didn’t stop,  but one person did stop and did help. 

    I told the group afterwards that this was more than a fiction story – it’s a picture of real life.  At some point or another in their life they will likely experience the parable from the point of view of the man who fell among robbers…they would find themselves in need of help,  and the very people you would expect to come to their aid will not,  and they ones who do will be surprising.  But more importantly,  there would be many more times that they will have the opportunity to play the role of the good Samaritan.  They will be given plenty of opportunities to stop and help others and if they do,  their actions will have a profound effect upon those persons.  Who is my neighbor?  Jesus pushes the boundaries on the answer…your neighbor is anyone who you come across who is in need…regardless of race, creed or color…or how we happen to feel about that person.

    Back in the mid 90’s I had several wall murals constructed at the church I was ministering at.  One was of Noah’s ark and the children really liked that one.  The second one was of the Good Samaritan.  It was put in a breezeway at the top of a stairwell in a room with three doorways leading out.  People didn’t stay in that room – they were always going from that room.   It took years to get it completed with track lighting and all.   Actually it’s still not completed the way I imagined it.  I wanted to have the words ‘Go and do likewise’  painted on the three doors going out of that little breezeway.   People come in,  see the parable of the Good Samaritan on the wall and as they leave,  there are the last words in the parable for all to read …go and do likewise. 

        I think those are the most important words in the story.  I never did get them printed on the doors…but I like to think the Spirit whispers those words in people’s ears every time they come and go from here.  And I hope the Spirit whispers those words in your ears as you go from here into the world and brush shoulders with people you never gave a second thought to before…but now you know are your neighbors.  See in the face of strangers,  especially those who are in need that they are your neighbors.  And stop and give them the time of day and give them your help.  It’s how we serve our Lord.  ‘Go and do likewise’.

Amen