Neighbors are a Blessing

Luke 10:25–37

Neighbors are a blessing. Right? Do you like your neighbors? Do you have a good relationship with them? Can you laugh with them? Or are you constantly in conflict with them? I’d like to consider an ancient story to reflect on how we can become better together as neighbors and how we can grow in the art of neighboring. Because being good neighbors is quite an art.

I’d like to take a close look at the story of the good Samaritan and focus on three questions: who is testing who in the beginning? Who is representing who in the story? And who is helping who in the end? Maybe the story is already very familiar or not familiar at all — it goes like this:

Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”

He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”

He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence — and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”

“Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”

Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”

Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

“A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill — I’ll pay you on my way back.’

“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”

“The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Just like with many other stories of Jesus I think we often don’t really get what’s going on or what the message or purpose of the story is. The stories of Jesus are often scandalous, confronting, confusing, creating a tension, pulling us out of our nice little comfortable lives, inviting us to participate in a whole new world. These stories want to impart to us the fullness of life, they invite us to participate, to feel, to change, to move, instead of staying stuck in our head with our illusions, ideas and constructions of control.

In general the explanation of the story goes as follows: on his way a man is beaten up. The good, just, true and spiritual leaders leave him hanging. But the stranger, the enemy comes to the rescue. You can then of course emphasize the tension and drama and create a more radical contextual adaptation. But the message in general will be something like this: we need to be just as good as the good Samaritan. Just like him we need to become good neighbors to the people around us. That is the moral of the story.

But is this true? It sounds very basic, boring and bourgeois. And Jesus was anything but that. Isn’t Jesus’ teaching much more radical and deep? Haven’t we heard this too many times? Everyone is saying this right? Of course: Jesus was a very friendly man, a peacemaker, a good example. But what we see here is much more than that, right? Or is Jesus just teaching us another lesson in neighborly love?

The religion scholar — this Old Testament professor — already knew that he should love his neighbor. He studied the law day in day out. Out of all the 613 commandments he knew exactly how to get to the core of it all. He knows exactly how to live the good life, how to experience a rich and full life in relationship with God and others. He may seem to beat around the bush, but of course he knew exactly what was required of him. But could it be that Jesus wants to teach this man something completely different? Let’s take a closer look — starting at the beginning.

Who is testing who in the beginning?

It is important not to forget that this scholar had the intention of testing Jesus — to try him out. What does this tell us about this man? It shows us that he really wasn’t open to Jesus (and perhaps to others as well). He didn’t really came for help, no, he was out to get Jesus. He is the one with the power, the knowledge, the doctor in theology. So when this man asks Jesus: what do I need to do? It’s not really a cry for help, but a way of seeing whether or not Jesus comes up with a good answer. Cause who is this Jesus — that all these people are following — anyway? Is he really that wise? Is the life that he’s promising really that special? Can you actually trust him?

And then comes Jesus’ answer. Or better said: his question — he invites the scholar to share his thoughts. Tell me. “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence — and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.” Well said, good answer. Now go do it, and you’ll live. It is very simple. But the scholar all of a sudden gets very insecure and uncomfortable. Everyone around them starts laughing. His plan was to have a good debate for a few hours, but now they’re done within three minutes. Nothing to add. And now everyone is looking at him like: couldn’t you have thought of this yourself wise guy? He’s quite embarrassed, because he likes deep discussions, and then all of sudden Jesus gives him these simple instructions: not words, but deeds.

Well, the scholar isn’t finished yet. He has a reputation to uphold. So he gets back on the playing field. And he poses another question: so, who is my neighbor anyway? Huh, tell me, who would that be? The challenge is on…He is still trying to win the argument, but he’s lost all interest in Jesus’ answer. He just wants to show him that he has everything perfectly under control, that he is still on top of his game. He has his hands full…

But it should be clear. Jesus has a far different and deeper plan with this dear man. Not a discussion with his head, but a conversation with his heart. The scholar came to check out Jesus, but it quickly turns out that Jesus is actually checking him out instead. Not Jesus, but he is being tested.

Who is representing who in the story?

And this is where the story of the good Samaritan actually starts. It is important that we understand this. Because, what do you think, would Jesus still try to explain to him who his neighbor is? Is that the whole point of the story? The conclusion being that the man exclaims: oh, but of course, now I understand, sure, I’ll work on it, great! No, Jesus wants to make it very clear as to who is representing who in the story.

He starts by doing something that turns everything upside down. He places the scholar himself in the story, or better said: he lays him in the story. The man that approached Jesus with so much pride, arrogance and disdain, gets tackled and laid by the side of the road. Bam! He had everything carefully planned, but all of a sudden he finds himself beaten up like a scrub by the side of the road, robbed of all that he had, more dead than alive.

So, who is representing who in the story? The traveller is the scholar. Do you think he actually realized this? I would think so. He would never have identified himself with the other characters in the story. He definitely wouldn’t identify with the priest, he really didn’t get along with them so well. The priests were just the simple practitioners, trained by the scholars, the true intellectuals. I’ll bet the priest leaves him hanging, he must have thought, and yes indeed! The same with the Levite. He’ll do exactly the same, just following the priest, that is easy. The Levites are just the little helpers of the practitioners. If only a scholar would have passed by, he would have helped the traveller. But it’s not a scholar, it’s a Samaritan. A total stranger, someone that really doesn’t matter, just scum, you would never expect something positive from a Samaritan, he would make no difference. Instead, he’ll probably just finish what the robbers started. But it is precisely this man that is deeply moved with compassion.

In a very detailed way Jesus is sharing all that this man does. He’s using only verbs: his heart went out, he approaches the traveller, he gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging the wounds, he lifted him unto his donkey, led him to an inn, made him comfortable, and so on. The Samaritan is the only one in the whole story that is active, who actually does something.

Who is the scholar in the story? Not the priest, not the Levite.

And definitely not the Samaritan.

There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho… a scholar — who was totally lost. He wasn’t moving toward God (synonymous with Jeruzalem), but he was actually moving away from God — not towards the fulness of life, but in the direction of despair, misery and perhaps death. He is not the one called to help, called to practice compassion, like the unlikely Samaritan. No, he is the one in dire need of help.

“Hoc est verum, wir sind alle bettler!”

This is the truth, we are all beggars, wrote the monk Martin Luther. Ouch! Jesus makes the scholar realize that actually, contrary to his own beliefs, he really needs help. What if it turns out that you can do nothing, that you’re actually half-death by the side of the road? What is the use of all your good intentions, your good ideas, your good deeds? What if the clue of this story is not that we need to learn to give, but that we need to learn to receive?

The scholar wants to know (sort of…) who he should love. But Jesus asks him: who loves you? Who will help you? Who will take you out of the gutter? Who will help you back upon your feet? Who will care for you? Who will heal you? Are you even able to receive? Do you see that you need help? Who is your neighbor? Who is your unexpected friend? This is the amazing message of this story: the scholar is asking who he should love from his safe and comfortable position. I’d like to use my wealth well, to take some of my free time and some of my space to look after some people. So tell me: who is my neighbor? And Jesus tackles him, lays him down, and makes him think about this very important question: who will look after me? Who will help me get back on the road when I’ve hit the floor? When I’ve come to the realization that I have nothing? When there are no more excuses and there is no more escaping?

So Jesus asks him eventually: who became your neighbor? The scholar doesn’t even want to use the word “Samaritan”. How atrocious: that strange, dangerous, grumpy, clumsy, smelly, asocial, awkward, annoying guy, he can’t be my neighbor, could he? But so it is… so shaking and with tears in his eyes he says: it is the one who treated him kindly. And this is exactly the answer that Jesus was hoping for. Our neighbor is the one that is moved by compassion, kindness and love. Someone so moved that it moves his whole being into motion. And there is only one person in the New Testament, only one person that they say is frequently moved in such a deep way. It is Jesus.

Who is helping who in the end?

This story is about Jesus. He is the main character. Jesus doesn’t necessarily explicitly put it into words, he makes the scholar think, and this man starts to see it quite clearly. The Samaritan is Jesus. Jesus, who was accused of being a Samaritan, now adopts and carries the name to show exactly what it looks like to love your neighbor. The scholar intended to show that Jesus is just a fraud, a Samaritan, an outcast, an outsider, with all his strange ideas, he is a nobody, just scum. But now in the end Jesus is actually inviting him to follow him:

“Go and do the same.”

Don’t act like the Levite, who acts like the priest, but act like the stranger, this guy that is difficult to pinpoint, you don’t understand him, you don’t like him. Act just like him. Follow him. Come and follow Jesus. After you’ve fully understood who he is to you — a neighbor, a friend. This story doesn’t teach us to just try to be a little bit more human, a little bit more friendly, more loving — as if we didn’t already know that. And as if by simply trying to be a bit nicer we’ll actually understand, receive and experience this new life with Jesus. As if we are so good, so strong, so compassionate, so hospitable, so generous. As if we wouldn’t need any help. As if Jesus doesn’t also approach us with an outstretched arm to care for us, to anoint us, to bandage our wounds, and to carry us.

No, the story is very clear. We are being robbed of our illusions, graciously tackled by Jesus and lifted off the ground by this same mysterious man. We have fallen and now we are invited to rise back up into a new life. A life in which we discover what it really means to be a neighbor, to not feel more or less than someone else, but to feel equal as neighbors, both giving and both receiving. At some point it is not even clear anymore who is giving and who is receiving. This is when we start to taste this eternal quality of life.

It is so easy to be so full of yourself, so satisfied with yourself, that you start to think that life is about reaching out to these poor petty neighbors. It is so incredibly arrogant, so full of superiority. Sure: we much rather like to be the helper, the hero, always ready to save the day. But even that seems to be an impossible task for us. But wait… would it be possible to turn it around? Would it be possible for us to taste something of this new life with Jesus in our dependency on him and each other? When we start to realize that we need to be lifted out of the gutter — the gutter of our grandiose gestures, wondrous righteousness, and being kind of a big deal.

This story is showing how Jesus is putting us in our place or laying us down. It seems we can easily misjudge him, ourselves and others. This story is not about an interesting conversation on neighborly love — nice and practical, discussing morality. This is not about comparing your ways with Jesus’ ways: ah okay, that’s nice, we do things different nowadays. No, this story teaches us that sometimes Jesus graciously tackles us, and that he meets us in our neighbors, blessing us with loving care. And yes of course: when we realize that we are the ones in need of help, then maybe others need help as well. That’s when true freedom, openness, hospitality and generosity start to happen. That’s when we too can become a neighbor full of love, care and blessing for those around us, that have also been tackled by life.

That’s when we start to see that: neighbors are a blessing!