Rev. Christine Dudley

Scripture Text: Luke 10:25-37: The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Let us pause for a moment in prayer:

Compassionate God,
you call us to be people of compassion:
to experience in our living the lives of others,
to laugh with their joys and cry with their sorrows,
to walk together on this journey of life as brothers and sisters.
In this time of worship whisper to us again your words of love
and remind us of your call to fullness of life for all.
We pray in the name of Jesus, our companion and guide.
Amen
(Seasons of the Spirit, July 15, 2007, adapted)

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is probably the most well known of Jesus' parables. It is a multi-faceted story which has been interpreted many ways over the centuries. It has been viewed as primarily an example story (of what it means to be a good neighbour), as a parable of grace (God's grace offered in surprising ways and through unlikely sources), as a story which offers rich social analysis (which can be applied to contemporary situations), as a call to compassionate action and so on. Many theologians have also interpreted this parable allegorically and have, for example, viewed the journeying victim as Christ; the innkeeper as the Church; and the two coins as representative of the sacraments.

Most authors realize, from experience, that the meaning they are trying to convey in their work may or may not be how readers will interpret what they have written. In the end, perhaps, what matters is the meaning and wisdom that each of us gleans in understanding the meaning and purpose of our own lives and the world in which we live.

In the broader context of Christian community I find it helpful to know a bit about the story and the storyteller, so I'll begin with some of the things I was reminded of when I was doing some reading this week.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is only found in the gospel of Luke and Luke's gospel was written in the 1st century of the Common Era (circa 80-85 CE). Most scholars agree that Luke had some association with the apostle, Paul, and that he belonged to the Greek-speaking culture and had some knowledge of Jewish scriptures. Luke was writing for an audience who would not have had personal experience with Jesus, while he was alive, and so in the words of one scholar, "Luke writes in the hope that his readers will engage with his stories and experience for themselves something of the power of Jesus' life and, more importantly, recognize that the Spirit of Jesus is alive in their own community." (Dr. Christine Burke, Seasons of the Spirit, July 4, 2004)

Luke positions the Good Samaritan story after two passages in which Jesus foretells his death and his original audience would be painfully aware that in the sequence of Jesus' life and ministry that he was travelling on the road to Jerusalem, toward his own persecution and death, when he stopped to share the good news of God's commonwealth with others along the way. Shortly before Luke introduces the Good Samaritan story he reminds his readers that Jesus commissioned his followers to travel in pairs "to every town and place where he intended to go" (Luke 10:1) and that he said, "I am sending you out like lambs in the midst of wolves." (Luke 10:3)

Luke's community of faith knew a life of hardship and persecution. It was a dangerous road they travelled just proclaiming their faith in Jesus Christ but they were reminded that Christ himself had travelled a dangerous road and that he was with them in spirit, guiding and encouraging them to risk journeying together in Christian community.

Luke's community would also have known that the person lying wounded in the ditch was not the only vulnerable person in the story. They knew, all too well, that the Jericho road was a dangerous road. They knew it was common for robbers to lie in wait for unsuspecting travellers. Someone on the side of the road appearing to be injured might just be a decoy or a trap. Travellers were understandably wary and cautious about their own safety and well-being when embarking on such an arduous journey.

Thus, the Parable of the Good Samaritan can be interpreted as a call to dare to risk the journey of life with the confidence that God's commonwealth is based on compassionate action. The journey requires faith and the courage to risk being vulnerable and to whole-heartedly trust God's presence and guidance. It requires responding from the heart of faith rather than intellectualizing the risk/benefit ratio of human life.

One of the most powerful stories of human compassion that transcends intellectual rationalization which I've heard in recent years was told by Romeo Dallaire at a conference I attended a few years ago. Dallaire spoke about some of his experiences in Rwanda during the genocide. He spoke chillingly of the order which was given to UN peacekeeping troops to move, without stopping and offering aid, through an area where there had been horrific ethnic cleansing and massacres. The threat to the peacekeepers of contracting HIV/AIDS from the bloody victims was viewed, by those with authority, as too great a risk. It was, quite litterally, a blood bath.Dallaire told the story of a Canadian unit who came across a field of women, all of whom had been raped, maimed, killed or mortally wounded. When the peacekeepers saw that some of the women were still alive they went immediately to their aid without thought for their own safety or concern for any future disciplinary action against them. Romeo Dallaire called this response the instinct of compassion which is so desperately needed in our world.

I believe it is this, instinct of compassion which is at the heart of what it means to be human beings. It is what Jesus is pointing to in the Parable of the Good Samaritan where thought of self, religious and cultural practices, purity and safety are secondary to the well-being of another.

During my sabbatical, Jody and I travelled to the East coast of England to stay with members of the Northumbria Community. We stayed just four days but the experience of their spiritual practices and faith in action have had a profound effect on my life. The Northumbria Community has two key tenets in their Rule for community living. These are simply that members of this dispersed and ecumenical community agree to a Rule of Availability and Vulnerability. Availability includes: being available to God in the cell of one's own heart; exercising hospitality; availability through praying and interceding for others; and mission according to the calling and initiatives of the Spirit. Vulnerability includes: being teachable through prayer; exposure to Scripture and being accountable to others in the ordering of ways and heart in order to effect change; embracing the responsibility of taking the heretical imperative by speaking out when necessary or asking awkward questions that will often upset the status quo and by making relationships the priority, and not reputation; and embracing the challenge to live as church without walls.

In the days and months to come I'll speak more about my experiences with the Northumbia Community but for now I just want to say that if I were to choose a biblical story that affirms the Northumbrian Rule then the Parable of the Good Samaritan seems to me to be as fitting as any other. This parable is a call to risky discipleship, choosing to be vulnerable in the face of life's choices and challenges, with a willingness to say Yes! to God's call however uncomfortable and unsettling that may be. It places everyone in the position of being both the giver and receiver of grace and healing. We cannot feel superior to another human being when we recognize that we are both the traveller who offers assistance and the wounded one lying in the ditch.

One commentary described this parable as being a "story for people who recognize that they are on a journey - not just a journey from womb to tomb, but from birth to rebirth, from partial life to abundant life. The gospel proclaims what God pours into the hearts of all those who journey in a dangerous world." (Feasting on the Word, Year C, vol. 3, p.239)

There's one more story that I want to share which exemplifies an instinctive compassion, in the face of life's challenges, which transcends differences of race, creed and culture.

There was a twelve-year-old Palestinian boy, Ahmad Khatib, who had been shot and killed by Israeli soldiers during street fighting near his house in Jenin, the West Bank. The boy had been holding a toy gun. He was taken to an Israeli hospital, where he died after two days. His parents made the decision to allow his organs to be harvested for transplant to Israelis. Six people received [his vital organs] ...including a two-month-old infant. His mother, Abla, said,"My son has died. Maybe he can give life to others." (Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 3, pgs. 241 and 243)

And so, in light of God's love and compassion for all people and with respect to our own call as a community of faith to Christian discipleship, we can ask ourselves, "What is the wisdom of the parable of the Good Samaritan for us today?" "Are we called to radical vulnerability as members of the Body of Christ?" "Are we called to radical action?" "Are we in need of radical and life-giving transformation?" "Are we willing to take the first step and risk travelling into the unfamiliar territory of the future?"

However we answer these questions, I trust that God will accompany us every step of the way, guiding and sustaining us, sometimes coaxing and prodding us, as we move on this journey of faith together.

And so, in closing, I offer some prayerful words which have long been a source of comfort and inspiration to me:

Eternal God, you call us to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils as yet unknown. Give us faith to go out with courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us, and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our companion and guide. Amen
(Eric Milner-White, Voices United 915, adapted)