The Good Samaritan
Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Going straight to the Cross
Is it possible there is such a thing as a good
Samaritan?
The Good Samaritan
by Warren Baldwin
"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,
when he fell into the hands of robbers. They
stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went
away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to
be going down the same road, and when he saw the
man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a
Levite, when he came to the place and saw him,
passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as
he traveled, came where the man was; and when he
saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and
bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then
he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an
inn and took care of him. The next day he took out
two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper.
'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I
will reimburse you for any extra expense you may
have.'"
This story comes from Luke 10 and is known as the
Good Samaritan. And that raises an important
question: Is there such a thing as a good
Samaritan? Is such even possible? I ask that for
two reasons.
One, in the previous chapter, in Luke 9:51-56,
Jesus went into a Samaritan village. But the
people in the village did not welcome him. This
angered the disciples, and two of them, James and
John, asked Jesus, "Lord, do you want us to call
fire down from heaven to destroy them?" Obviously
the disciples of Jesus did not see any redeeming
qualities in a Samaritan! And obviously their
attitude betrays something of their understanding
of God: "God hates who we hate." They expected him
to send the fire they called for! The Samaritans
were worth nothing more than to burn them up! So
how could Jesus, one chapter later, tell a story
about a "good" Samaritan?
The second reason is, apart from the story of the
disciples wanting to burn a Samaritan town, the
general attitude of the disciples and Jews toward
Samaritans. The Samaritans were a despised people.
They were the result of intermarriages between
Jews and Gentiles. So they were not fully Gentile
nor fully Jewish, and the Jews felt a rather
strong passion against them. The full-blooded Jews
had some rather unsavory designations for the
Samaritans. If they could use a term for them
today they might say something like, "Those
Palestinians" or "Those Iraqis."
Hey, lets use them for an example. Let's reframe
this question or this parable and ask, "Could
there be such a thing as a 'good Iraqi?'"
You know, I'm rather uncomfortable asking that
question. Our passions have been incited against
the Iraqis for some time now, haven't they?
They've done all kinds of evil things against us
-- or at least we know they want to. It's just a
matter of time.
And if you are following me, that is exactly how
the Jews and the disciples thought about the
Samaritans. They hated them. The Samaritans hadn't
exactly done anything to the Jews, but that didn't
matter. Passionate hatred doesn't need a reason.
Followers of Jesus were ready to burn an entire
village -- men, women, children. But Jesus said,
"No, you don't. That's not how I do business."
How does Jesus do business with people like
Samaritans? Iraqis? Palestinians? Jews? Americans
... if we give him a chance?
We have numerous examples. In John 4 he ministers
to Samaritans and converts an entire village. And
in the very next chapter of Luke, Luke 10, where
we have the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus
commissions 72 of his followers to go out and do
ministry to ANYONE that will welcome them.
Including Samaritans?
And then immediately after the ministry episode we
have the story or parable of the Good Samaritan.
Mmmm. What is Jesus trying to communicate about
our attitudes toward people?
Sandwiched around the story of ministry we have
stories of Bad Samaritans and a Good Samaritan.
And if that is not offensive enough to Jewish
sensibilities, or to the sensibilities of people
who claim to follow in Jesus' name, he says to the
lawyers listening to his story: Now you go do
ministry like the Samaritan. Not only does Jesus
take away our pleasure of passionate hatred, he
takes a member of an odious race, picks out a
commendable trait or behavior of that person, and
says, "Go be like him."
Jesus doesn't allow us to get caught up in the
passions of our times, do you notice that?