Two millennia stand between the aid offered by the good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable and the Hospital of the Good Samaritan in downtown Los Angeles. The medical care described in the parable was so primitive that a Doctors Without Borders tent surgery in post earthquake Haiti is superior by 1000%. Don’t even try to compare medicines, sanitary conditions, transportation for trauma victims, and quality of medical personnel. On this day the Diocese of Los Angeles honors the 125 year ministry of our Good Samaritan Hospital which specializes in ailments of the heart, eye, and kidney along with orthopedics and several others. The man who fell among thieves may have needed all of the above from this hospital that prides itself on caring for all manner of people, from birth to old age, rich and poor, regardless of race and national origin.
Where both the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable and our hospital are equally outstanding is the quality of caring embedded in the answer cautiously given by a lawyer. This student of the Torah, knowing Jesus included in his circle of friends the sick and sinners, Jews and Gentiles, asked Jesus to clarify what neighbor means in the passage he quoted from Leviticus 19:18. Jesus responded with a parable illustrating examples of behavior followed by a question, Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?... The one who showed him mercy, [the lawyer] said. (Lk 10:36,37)
Naturally, one would think that the temple priest and the Levite who assisted in temple worship would be candidates for the badge of goodness, whereas a Samaritan was accustomed to hearing epithets and curses. Instead the Samaritan merits being called a hero. The other two upheld the purity code of the Jerusalem tradition. They were law abiding, and extending a hand outside their structured religious practice was to be avoided. After all they had just come from church, so wouldn’t you expect them to behave like model believers? And don’t forget the lawyer. He’s also a character in this play. He could point to the person who exercised goodness saying he was merciful but couldn’t bring himself to utter the name Samaritan in the same breath. To him a good Samaritan was an oxymoron.
Jennifer L. Lord says the Greek word for mercy as it appears in the Bible has multiple meanings. “Eleos suggests blessing and unwarranted compassion as well as leniency. It is about pardon, kindness, strength and even rescue and generosity.”[1] Today’s passage from the prophet Amos is about one aspect of mercy. Standing against the practices of the court of King Jereboam of Israel, Amos championed the poor and discarded. In an earlier chapter Amos’ prophecy rang out: Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an every-flowing stream.(Amos 6:24) For mercy’s sake Amos spoke truth to power confronting and condemning the priest of the royal chapel at Bethel and his royal patron for their callous disregard.
Throughout our Scriptures God calls for mercy and demonstrates mercy for the sake of his name. In fact mercy is part of the name of God. At Mount Sinai the name of the Holy One is given to Moses: The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Ex 34:6). Later when Israel refused to honor God in their daily lives Hosea speaks for God saying, I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings (Hos 6:6). Jesus substitutes mercy in place of steadfast love when he admonished the Pharisees who objected to his eating with tax collectors and sinners, Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners (Matt 9:13). Being merciful is an essential characteristic of members of the kingdom of God. Among the Beatitudes which stand at the head of the Sermon on the Mount is, Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy (Matt 5:7).
It’s easy for us to sit in judgment of the lawyer in Luke’s narrative. Yes, he wanted to justify himself, meaning to find a rational way of defending his support of the traditional interpretation of Torah about one’s neighbor. Even though he could identify mercy when he saw it, his tradition could not affirm a Samaritan as neighbor. Jesus does not use thumb screws on the lawyer and say, “Come on you can say the words!” Instead Jesus’ approach is more indirect. Go and do likewise, was his counsel. It’s in the doing, in acting out of a heart of compassion and kindness, that we discover how we are children of the same God, how we share the same DNA making us brothers and sisters under the skin, how every human being requires the same necessities for life.
Go and do likewise, the call to be merciful compels us to re-evaluate the voices of parents and culture long ago embedded in our psyche. The song “You’ve got to be taught” from “South Pacific (1949)” echoes in my mind. I heard it first when I was quite young and was in awe of the baritone who sang it. I also hear my father’s voice in the song:
“You've got to be taught to hate and fear,
You've got to be taught from year to year,
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!”
Those words record a piece of our cultural past, a not very enlightened reality. I had much to reflect on while in college and seminary in the 1960s. As I dealt with the issues of the day I found my attitudes changing from those I was taught. I needed to release some of my early perspectives. New values were adopted. I sense our society still has the work of reflection to do.
That is not to say that the tradition we have received is in error or harmful. But when we have been taught and continue to hold concepts and values that demean, humiliate, and dehumanize others we need to ask ourselves why? Because something has always been thought one way does that make it right? Consider poll statistics for current attitudes regarding the death penalty (high), same sex marriage (contentious), immigration (low), social services for at risk populations like the disabled and mentally ill, seniors and the young (low). These are moral issues. Yes, people have different opinions with regard to ethics, or how to act with regard to each of these subjects. Differing political solutions are possible. But at base each raises a moral question. When moral questions arise the course of least resistance is to find a text either in the Bible of in legal precedence to prove our point. But in God’s name Jesus says, Love one another as I have loved you (John 15:12). Who is excluded from the table of the Lord? Who is not welcome? Why? Are not all children of God? All beloved and precious?
When compassion and mercy frame our response to people caught up in the difficult circumstances of our day the picture changes and we are changed as well. Rather than searching for stock answers we must ask, Do state mandated executions serve justice or vengeance? How can we make those left behind whole in spirit? What is tarnished when the state extends the civil benefits of marriage to include homosexual couples? Is God’s love limited? Will our society remain free if some immigrant groups live in fear of being singled out for exclusion and expulsion? How do we become our brother’s/sister’s keeper?
The lawyer to whom Jesus addressed his parable knew well who the tradition welcomed as neighbor. It did not include non-Jews, and might even not include someone beyond one’s tribe or theological persuasion. Jesus broke the limitations of prejudice by demanding a higher standard: God’s generous mercy on failed human nature. We promise regularly in the Lord’s Prayer to act toward others with mercy and loving-kindness because it is a spiritual and temporal life-line for us: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?....The one who showed him mercy, [the lawyer] said. Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise.
We, the baptized, have the awesome task of putting on the godly garment of mercy each day as we engage with others on the road, in business, politics, and family life. May God’s Spirit guide us into actions that are true and holy, just and compassionate, merciful and blessed.
[1] Jennifer L. Lord, “Reflections on the Lectionary – Sunday, July 11”, The Christian Century, June 29, 2010, p 19.
