7 Pentecost Yr C

In the gospel of Luke today we have a story that is very familiar to us. We are probably most familiar with it as the Good Samaritan, but I’d like you to think of it as the compassionate Samaritan. The compassionate Samaritan is embedded in the story about a lawyer who has come to Jesus asking about eternal life. First, the lawyer asks Jesus what he must to do inherit eternal life. Jesus answers that question with the story of the compassionate Samaritan, and then the lawyer is able to identify who in the story was the neighbor and the lawyer is told by Jesus to go and do likewise. Today I would like for you to entertain the idea that this story is not just about being good. I would like you to see its complexity.

The setup for the story of the compassionate Samaritan is very important. Luke presents the lawyer as questioner. The lawyer represents legal experts who have been present to monitor Jesus’ faithfulness to the law, and legal experts are among those identified as persons responsible for Jesus’ rejection and suffering. However, this lawyer is asking about eternal life, and the question provides the platform for Luke to expound upon the behavior appropriate for an orientation to the resurrection.

The story of the compassionate Samaritan is an illustration of appropriate behavior for a person who loves God and who expects to inherit eternal life. Remember, we’ve talked about this before, when Luke uses the term eternal life, he is referring to the new creation that is a reality in the life of those who profess Jesus Christ as Son of God. The term eternal life is not narrowly defined by what happens after death. It is about the absolutely new life that is the gift of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is about living in the here and now as much as it is about the hereafter. Therefore the story of the compassionate Samaritan is about an ethic of compassion,
it is about how we are related to our neighbors.

The setting to the story is on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. This is a very dangerous road, as most travel on foot was in this 1st century rural setting, replete with robbers and full of the possibility of violence. And Jerusalem is the city where the temple is. Many people would be traveling between Jerusalem and Jericho after visiting the temple in Jerusalem.
As are those in this story. First a Priest, then a Levite and lastly a Samaritan.

Next we look at the characters in this story. A priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan. It almost sounds like a joke someone might tell. Something like, a priest, a minister and a rabbi go out fishin. They toss all their stuff in the boat, and push off for the middle of the lake. Once out there, the priest realizes he forgot his lures. So he stands up and steps out of the boat and walks to the shore, gets what he needs and comes on back to the boat. A little later, the minister gets hungry and realizes he forgot his sandwich in the car, so he steps out of the boat, walks to the shore, gets his sandwich and comes on back to the boat. Well, the rabbi had left his jacket in the car and it was getting a little chilly, so he stepped out of the boat but fell right into the water. The priest said to the minister, do you think we should have told him where the stones are?

But, the original hearer of the compassionate Samaritan story is shocked long before the storyteller ever gets to the punch line, because the hearer would think “a priest, a Levite and a Samaritan would never be in the same story.”

You see, the shocking joke here is that it is the Samaritan who is compassionate. The priest and the Levite shared high status in the community of God’s people. They were “temple people.” They were born into priestly families. They were very concerned with relative status, they epitomized the temple culture of who’s in and who’s out, they were in and just about everyone else was out. Within their world, their association with the temple commends them as persons of exemplary piety whose actions would be regarded as self-evidently righteous. The priest and the Levite were accustomed to being evaluated on the basis of their ancestry, not on the basis of their performance.

So the picture the teller of this story has established is of two holy men who have done their business at the temple in Jerusalem, and who are now traveling on the dangerous road to Jericho, who see a man by the side of the road beaten and bleeding, and who pass to the other side of the road instead of helping.

Into the picture arrives the Samaritan, and everyone who is hearing this story laughs. A Samaritan, they exclaim, Samaritans are no good lazy bums. They don’t even go to the temple in Jerusalem to worship, they keep to themselves, there are just not like us. The Samaritan is a man who is in direct contrast to the holy men of the temple. He has no pedigree, he is a merchant, he worships at a different temple. It is this distinction that makes this story shocking.

You and I have heard this story so many times we just about know it by heart. But it is shocking. The Samaritan as the one who has compassion for the beaten and bleeding man at the side of the road is shocking. And, the actions of the Samaritan man condemn the holy men’s failure to act.

The Samaritan is the one who participates in the compassion and covenantal faithfulness of God, not the holy men. This is not just a story about a good guy who helped someone out. This parable of the compassionate Samaritan undermines the system of status and honor based on pedigree that was the way things were in 1st century culture. Once again, Luke is telling us a story that shows how the kingdom of God is near; the kingdom of God is about reordering human interactions.

The conclusion of Luke’s story has Jesus asking the lawyer, who himself has a pedigree, who in this story is the neighbor. The lawyer answered correctly, and Jesus admonishes him to go and do likewise. Eternal life is about compassionate interaction regardless of honor and status.

This is as hard a message to hear in the 21st century as it was in the 1st century. The culture of the 1st century and the culture of the 21st both place so much value on status. The message is clear in all our popular media, worth is based on the size and number of your toys; worth is based on what you wear, where you eat, how big your SUV is. The purpose of assigning worth to all these things is that it then becomes easier to identify those who are below you.

But Jesus shows us that we are honorable and valuable because we are God’s creation. Jesus’ life shows us that in God’s eyes everyone has a place in God’s house, in God’s kingdom. Jesus pours out his life so that we may know that truth. Jesus fills us with new life so that we may have abundant love for ourselves and for others.

Amen, Alleluia!