Sixth Pentecost
Luke 10:25-37; Colossians 1:1-14; Deuteronomy 30:9-14
It all depends on who is telling the story. There is a crash in the living room and I entered to find that a lamp is lying broken on the floor. The obvious question is, "What happened?" One son replies quickly that his brother was whipping his lacrosse stick around and knocked the lamp over. The son with the guilty stick said it wasn't his fault because the other brother had been messing with the ball and it flew out of his cradling action and he had only been trying to keep the ball from doing any damage. And the third son said that actually both of his brothers were flipping a ball back and forth in the living room with their sticks and the one made a bad pass and the other caught the lamp by accident when he saved the window from getting broken by the ball, at which point I asked the third son if he had considered suggesting to his brothers that playing catch with lacrosse sticks in the living room might not be such a good idea?
It all depends on who is telling the story. In the last few days we have been reminded once again of the important advice to consider carefully the source of any information or story we are told. Government investigations of events surrounding 9/11 and the decision to invade Iraq are making it increasingly clear that what is deemed the correct or right action depends greatly on who is telling the story. The next few months will provide us with an endless series of stories told by differing voices each claiming to be intent on helping us better understand how we should interpret the events of the world in which we live (and as a result, how we should vote.)
It all depends on who is telling the story. That is a most telling truth when we look at our Gospel lesson for today and the telling of the probably too familiar story of the Good Samaritan. This is a story that has been told and retold hundreds of times. A quick search of the internet provided me with an almost unlimited number of retold versions of this story. And then came the stories from real life of people acting the "Good Samaritan" which was followed by the urban legends of "Good Samaritan" stories that either had curiously fortunate or unfortunate results. The basic story of the Good Samaritan is familiar to most people, although often we are not as aware of the context in which it was told, of who was telling the story and why. Quite simply, as Jesus continues his journey toward Jerusalem, he is confronted by a lawyer who addresses Jesus as an equal with a question of the law. "Teacher," he said, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus' response is a counter question: "What is written in the Law? How do you read there?" The lawyer is obliged to answer his own question, and he does so with two quotations drawn from the Greek version of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint. The first is from Deuteronomy 6:5, the second from Leviticus 19:18. He says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." Jesus affirms the response by saying, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." But the dialogue does not end here. The lawyer raises a second question that focuses on a challenging ambiguity of the quotation he offered from Leviticus. Our text says he then asks Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Now normally on a summer Sunday morning I would not get into a detailed word study of texts and translations. That is more of a bible study thing to do. But it's important that we remember who's telling the story. And translators put their own spin on the story. Scholars would generally agree that the question is not "Who is my neighbor?" but a a better translation would be "Who is my next one?" The Greek word that is translated in our text as "neighbor" is actually the word plêsion, and its literal meaning is simply "next one." "Neighbor" in Greek is geitôn. The word for neighbor is used in several other places in the Gospel of Luke always referring to an individual who has the same ethnic identity and therefore belongs to the same community. To us it is the person next door. Someone we are normally comfortable living or working with. "The next one" may be anyone, regardless of ethnicity or community of origin. In the time of Jesus--and still in many parts of the world there were purity codes which divided the world into the dualistic realms of "clean" and "unclean" touchable and untouchable--neighbor and all others. Loving a neighbor had relatively few risks. But loving the next one you meet might be more of a stretch. The lawyer's question challenged Jesus to set forth the boundaries that would define for him "the next one." Jesus responds to the lawyer's question with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Few interpretations of this story can surpass that of Kenneth Bailey in his book Through Peasant Eyes . A traveler from Jerusalem to Jericho is robbed by bandits. Beaten into unconsciousness and stripped of his clothing, he is left "half dead." Subsequently a priest passes on the same road, and, probably with nothing more than a glance, he continues his journey. The nakedness of the victim leaves his ethnic identity in question, and his breathing, as the result of his "half dead" condition, may be undetectable. From a distance of six feet, as required by the purity code in order to avoid defilement, the priest is unable to determine whether the man is dead or alive. Since he probably has completed his service in the Temple and may be on his way to Jericho in order to collect tithes and offerings, it is imperative that he remains ritually pure. His religion and its pollution system prevents him from giving aid, "and seeing him he passed by on the opposite side." He is followed by a Levite, who, because ritual purity is required for him only in his cultic activities in the Temple, could render aid. In contrast to the priest, he may have approached the victim for a closer look. He may have determined that the man was still alive, but because of his missing clothing and possessions, the Levite was unable to discern the victim's ethnic identity. He may have decided that he shared no common community identity and thus no "neighborly" responsibility and he too passed by on the opposite side. It all depends on who is telling the story. Having identified two "religious" Jews the expectation of those hearing the story was probably that Jesus would identify the third individual as a Jewish layperson, a Judean or even a Galilean like himself. But instead it is a social outsider of questionable status--a Samaritan. The Samaritan ministers to the wounded man, not only by binding up his wounds with oil and wine but also by transporting him on his beast of burden to a nearby inn for a bed and continued care at his own cost.
The story of the Good Samaritan has been retold again and again. The attempt is always made to redefine those who pass by and the one who helps--Some interesting variations occur. It all depends on who is telling the story. In one ancient version of the retelling the ones who pass by without helping are identified as a Roman senator and a Greek merchant. Another version identifies those who give no aid as a Politician and a Military leader. It all depends on who is telling the story. More contemporary versions have made the players in the story an American and a European with the Good Samaritan being a Russian or another version has the ones who pass by being a Republican and a Democrat and the one who actually sees the one in need being.... Well, you know where this is going. It all depends on who is telling the story. I found one version told by a suburban pastor with the two figures who passed by being identified as a blonde, blue eyed farmer and a well dressed corporate executive with the Good Samaritan being an African-American who spoke Spanish and was named Woo Lang Lee. Then I found a version told by an inner city Baptist preacher where the two who passed by were the Inner City Director of Low Income Housing and the Commander of the Salvation Army Shelter with the Good Samaritan being another victim of the same gang that beat the first victim. It all depends on who is telling the story--and who is hearing it.
The Good Samaritan becomes a hero in the story. While we aren't told about any special reward for his efforts. There is this rather subtle expectation that there is a payoff somewhere. The Good Samaritan receives a key to the city or the Humanitarian of the Year Award or a good recommendation for college or a job promotion. It all depends on who is telling the story--Our American culture expects a payoff. The leads to the classic twist to the story of the Good Samaritan. An urban legend that circulates today in one form or another where a man is driving on a deserted road and comes to see a man on the side of that road with a flat tire. The driver stops his car and offers to help. When he is done, the grateful man asks him for his address to send him a reward for helping him. The helpful man declines and declines, but finally gives in. Then both men get in their cars and drive off. Two weeks later, the man who helped change the tire receives a letter in the mail that says: "Thank you for helping me, here is a little something to say thanks." And the man pulls out a check for $10,000 signed by Donald Trump. In other versions of the story it is Bill Gates who is helped and in an earlier form Howard Hughes. The point is that there is an expectation that no good deed is ultimately without its reward. That, of course, leads to contrary stories of Good Samaritans who were sued for their efforts to help someone or arrested for failing to follow some proper procedure. We have passed our Good Samaritan laws in an attempt to protect those who offer assistance to someone in need. But there are few laws that require assistance to be given.
Most of us hear this story and have this secret desire to be the Good Samaritan because we expect that by helping another human being we are accumulating thank you notes from Jesus that assure us of salvation and some great reward--if not in this life than in another. We especially hope for the rewards of after life because we know too well that giving of oneself rarely if ever has rewards that compare to the inconvenience, sacrifice and even personal risk involved with helping another. That's why we have to remember who's telling the story. Jesus did not tell this story as a guide to getting some heavenly reward The answer to that question--"What must I do to inherit eternal life?" was ultimately answered as living in covenant with God. A covenant that was rewritten by Jesus' death and resurrection. The story of the Good Samaritan is not as a key to salvation but as a sign for living in this world so that we would be able to recognize "the next one" coming into our lives. To help us understand that discipleship will not often be convenient or comfortable. It may mean risking ourselves in conversations about our faith with a neighbor we don't know all that well. It may mean teaching a class of young children when there are so many other things we would rather be doing. Passing by is always justified--to ourselves and usually to everyone around us. And we want to believe that God will produce a Good Samaritan some how from some unexpected corner so it really doesn't depend on us. There will always be the hungry and unemployed and homeless and refugees and a multitude of other issues that some politician somewhere will make a campaign issue and maybe even take some action on.
We want to believe that God will keep taking the outsiders and bring them into that special place that we suspect we all have a part in by being the ones who get to retell the story of the Good Samaritan over and over. And that is true--It really all depends on who is telling the story. In this case the one who speaks is Jesus. That makes this story different. For ultimately he is the one who was beaten, stripped of all worldly possessions and left for dead. On a cross. Many have passed by--but some hear the story, stop and see the empty tomb. And recognize the next one who enters their lives. It all depends on who is telling the story. "Go and do likewise."
Amen.