THE NEIGHBOR
“Who is the victim’s
neighbor?”
“The one who showed
him mercy.”
“Go and do likewise.”
(Luke 10:37)
The Good
Samaritan is so iconic that there are some who don’t even know it comes from
Scripture. All they know is that people
aren’t supposed to ignore it when other people are in trouble and they can
help. In most civilized nations there
are laws, which make it a crime to ignore people in trouble. In the U.S. it’s called depraved indifference. I know something about good Samaritans because
one raised me. My father was a
fireman.
The
tendency to help is actually active in most people. What keeps us from acting is usually fear -
fear of getting hurt, fear of making a mistake, fear of looking foolish and so
we just stand by.
In this
parable Jesus does not pass judgment on those who don’t step up because that
was not the point. The point Jesus makes
is that we have to think of everyone as our neighbor. If that belief is absent
then the impulse to help is inactive anyway.
Part of the
problem is the word neighbor − sister or brother is better. In the thesaurus lots of synonyms for neighbor
pop up but they are cold. A neighbor is
at arm’s length, while a sibling is close to the heart. Jesus was talking to people who absolutely
abhorred the Samaritans on religious grounds and literally wouldn’t cross the
street to help one.
The
parallels in our own communities make the heart ache. How many of us who profess to follow Jesus is
like the man who ticked off the commandments to Jesus, self-righteously
proclaiming that he followed them all? Jesus
expects more from us and the message to the young man has rung down through the
centuries. “Follow me.” To do this
requires making a conscious effort at all times to see the people around us as…
well, as us!
With love,
Carol Lemelin OPA
No comments:
Post a Comment