"Who is my neighbor?" Luke 10:29
Proper 10, Year C
In the Gospel lesson, a man a lot like us asked Jesus two questions: who is my neighbor and what must I do to get into heaven? His questions test Jesus, but they also reveal his unconscious anxiety about whether he was bound for heaven or hell. The first question from this accomplished professional and scholar of religious law: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Many of our Jewish forbearers believed in eternal life. Both heaven and hell (Sheol) are referenced in the Hebrew Scriptures and this unnamed scholar was concerned about where he would end up. The scholar was testing to see whether himself and Jesus: who was a sinner and who righteous.
Jesus gave the scholar an nonthreatening opportunity to assess himself by asking: What is written in the law? What have you read in Scripture? The scholar responded by reciting the first commandment (you shall love the Lord your God with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all you mind). After this he summarized the other laws and commandments using the same words Jesus used on other occasions (love your neighbor as yourself). Jesus commended the scholar for this response. The scholar’s anxiety about the direction of his life was not abated by Jesus’ affirmation. He asked Jesus another question. A question that challenged Jesus and alleviated his anxiety. The scholar asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus wisely side-stepped analyzing and correcting things that were wrong about the scholar’s thoughts, words and deeds. Instead, Jesus told him a parable. Jesus told a story that described how to pave a path to heaven.
A man traveled on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. He had gone up to Jerusalem to worship and sacrifice at the temple and now was going down to Jericho on his return home. Well traveled roads, then and now, attract criminals. The traveler was accosted by thieves who robbed, beat and left him for dead. Though no other travelers witnessed the crime, three encountered the victim afterward.
The first was a priest. He was going home after his rotation leading worship and managing sacrifices. When the priest saw the unconscious bloodied man, he crossed to the opposite side of the road and kept walking.
The next traveler who saw the victim was a Levite. This Levite, had finished his days on duty guarding the temple and managing the pilgrims and temple vendors. He saw the injured person. He did not stop to offer assistance. He crossed to the other side of the road and kept walking. Biblical commentaries explain the behaviors of the Levite and priest. They point to the Judaic laws prohibiting contact with bodily fluids. This would have been a legitimate excuse for the priest and Levite’s deeds, if they were traveling to the temple. Since both where going home, they had ample time to take the required ritual baths and says the prayers to cleanse themselves before the next time they were scheduled to serve in God’s house. Neither the priest nor the Levite demonstrated concern about what would happen to the gravely injured man if they did not stop.
The third traveler to encounter the victim was a Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews, like Americans on the right and left of politics today, did not get along. Jews and Samaritans orchestrated their daily lives to reduce or eliminate contact with one another. In spite of this, the Samaritan stopped and offered help. He used what he with him to tend to the Jewish victim’s wounds, lifting the injured man onto his animal, and transported him to an inn where paid the owner for his room, board and medical care. He committed return to the inn to pay expenses that exceeded the funds he left on his return trip. An enemy of Jewish people, not the religious leaders from the man’s faith community, showed concern. The Samaritan was concerned about what would happen to the man if he did not offer help. Jesus ended the story with a question: which traveler was a neighbor to the crime victim? The scholar replied, the one who showed mercy.
Jesus used this parable to help the scholar to assess himself. The story is a plumb line. A tool, we and the scholar can use to determine whether our faith is aligned with God’s will. We can use it to determine whether our thoughts, words and deeds pave a path way to hell or heaven for us and others.
God directed Amos to tell the people of Israel that he (God) was dropping a plumb line beside walls they had constructed with plumb lines. God was assessing their faith of the faithful. God sent Amos, an ordinary man. He herded cattle and tended trees for a living. Amos did not earn his living as a religious leader. God called a regular guy to be a prophet because the priests and prophets were telling the king and people what they wanted and expected to hear. The king, prophets, priests and people of Israel, were making a serious, but all too common mistake. They were justifying their political, religious and life choices by claiming these were God’s will. Instead of seeking God’s guidance in prayer, instead of discovering God’s wisdom through study, and instead of waiting for God’s inspiration in worship, the people did what they wanted and claimed what they wanted was God’s will. The king, prophets, priests and people were not assessing their thoughts, words and deeds.
The parable Jesus told, can be used like a plumb line. We can assess ourselves. Do our thoughts, words, and deeds demonstrate love for God? Do our thoughts, words and deeds demonstrate love for our neighbor? Have we set limits on the sorts of people we consider neighbors? Do we show concern for and take concrete action for all sorts and types of people in need? Asking who our neighbor is is a plumb line. It is a way to assess whether our thoughts, words and deeds are paving a road to heaven or hell. Who is your neighbor?
