July 10, 2022 – 5th Sunday after Pentecost
Ah, the Parable of the Good Samaritan. This gospel has all the makings of a good story: conflict, bandits, plot twists, unlikely heroes, and a call to action. In classic storytelling fashion, Jesus draws us into the story and invites us to be a part of the action. This parable is so well known that we often hear references to it in popular culture. You probably even already have the character picked out that you want to be in this story. I bet we all want to be the compassionate Samaritan, and I also know that on most days, most of us would actually be other characters in this story; like the Levite or the priest who are concerned with their own purity or wellbeing.
So who are the characters we might be? We have the lawyer, Jesus, the wounded man, a priest, a Levite, a Samaritan, and the innkeeper. Each one has something to teach us. One of my spiritual practices to prepare my sermons is listening to the gospel reading for the week on an app on my phone. I listen to it over and over again, and each time I try to imagine myself in the story; as if it were a movie playing out in my mind. Sometimes I imagine myself in the background, watching the events unfold before me, like the Ancient Greek chorus. Other times, I imagined myself as one of the major characters. This time, more often than not I kept coming back to the lawyer. That when I began wondering why.
He is an often overlooked character as we tend to focus on the actions of the Good Samaritan. He isn’t part of the parable, but serves as the instigator and catalyst for Jesus’ story and I think he has something important to teach us.
The lawyer is sticking out to me because I think, in-part, the gets a bad rep. I am not convinced that he goes to Jesus to solely test him as the author states at the beginning of the story; as if the lawyer is attempting to prove Jesus to be a charlatan. I don’t think he tried to trap Jesus; or to even validate his own righteousness. This was an expected interchange between individuals interpreting the law. These types of conversations between men debating scripture and its meaning happened all the time in synagogues all over ancient Israel and certainly in the Temple in Jerusalem. Let us not forget that when Jesus went missing at twelve years old, where did his parents find him? In the temple holding his own debating with the elders.
The lawyer asks a legitimate question, a question that appears to want a real answer. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He engages in dialogue with Jesus that seems to desire an honest response. What does it really mean to follow the law of Moses? To live the law? If we update the language to better suit our Christian ears, we hear him ask “How do I get into the Kingdom of God? What does it mean to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God?”
Maybe this is another reason why the story is so universal. Not only because we so desperately hope to be that Samaritan and are too willing to judge others who are not, but also because we need regular reminders, constant instruction, of what it means to be a citizen in the Kingdom of God. We wonder every day. We question every day. As we should. Embodying the Gospel in the world should be a daily concern. We should, really, wake up each day, pray fervently, and ask Jesus where and how can I act out the Kingdom? How can I see and help those who Jesus would see and help?
These are big questions to be asking. Big questions can be scary because they require work from us. Everyday we watch on the news, read in the paper, and see on the streets people in need of neighbors who care. All we have to do is open our front doors of our church to see human need and suffering all around us. From the young panhandlers who rotate from one street corner to another, to the tents that still remain in the park across from the legislature building. This need is seen by thousands upon thousands of people each and every day passing through the intersection right outside our door, and in most cases people avoid eye contact and ignore them. Most of the time we turn a blind eye to their pain, to their need. They are in need of neighbors who treat them and the “others” of our society like we are all a part of the Kingdom of God, here and now.
The person in the grocery store who has to remove items from their cart because they can’t afford everything they need. The friend who leans on you too much. The family who just moved in down the street. Or perhaps in our case the Ukrainian family that has just fled their war torn home and moved into our midst. Each, in their own unique way, they are needing that neighbor; that friendly presence that at the very least lets them know they are not alone. Likewise, each of us, in our own unique ways, are in need of a neighbor. We are all lying by the side of the road, hoping, praying that someone will stop to see me, to listen to me, to be present to me.
I wonder what the lawyer’s response was to Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan. He seemed to get the answer right, but did he follow Jesus’ response, “Go and do likewise?” We will never know. But we can know what we will do.
It is our calling to finish the story. Yes, to go and do likewise, but also, to keep on asking Jesus, what does it look like to follow God’s law? How can I live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God?
I am liking the lawyer this time around. He reminds me of how often I need to ask this question. How quickly I can default to certainty about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. How often I fall into anticipated patterns of behavior without stopping to wonder if I am truly embodying my beliefs? Or am I operating with rote and routine convictions?
I feel like we need this lawyer these days...to keep us aware, to keep us persistent. Because it is so very easy to slip into the comfortable, especially when we see so many great needs in the world. Please don’t turn a blind eye or assume someone else is better able to handle the needs that you see. The work of bringing about the Kingdom of God is for all of us and we each possess unique gifts that God needs to help create the Kingdom of God.
