What Does it Mean to be a Good Samaritan?

Today we read Luke 10:25-37,the story of the Good Samaritan, another very well known parable of Jesus that is unique to the Gospel of Luke, but certainly not the only parable using Samaritan characters. We know that Samaritans were hated by the Jews of Jesus' day because of intermarriage during the exile to Babylon and the blending of religions. They were outcasts and "unclean."

Earlier we learned that parables answer a question. What question does this parable answer? The answer in simple terms is that it tells the reader how to be a good neighbor (a good Samaritan). What did this mean for Jesus' listeners? They were not the powerful, but rather the lowest class, so they would not have identified with the priest or the Levite. For any Jew to identify with an unclean Samaritan is hard to envision. No, they probably identified with the victim since they either had experienced compassion or, at the very least, hoped for it. We discussed how receiving compassion seems to encourage compassion (pay it forward). We saw some arguments for why these "good citizens" crossed to the other side of the road and passed by. The road to Jericho was a known dangerous place and they may have feared for their own safety, the bleeding victim would have rendered them "unclean." And what of the innkeeper? The story could have ended at the roadside. In the Kingdom of God help is carried to completion.

What does it mean for us today? We found that we could place ourselves in the role of any of the characters, including the priest and Levite. We know that we have many times "crossed to the other side of the road' to avoid an uncomfortable situation and have rationalized our actions. It's easy to think we would be a god Samaritan, but none of us knows what our action would be until we are confronted with a situation that calls us out of our comfort zone. We could even put ourselves in the place of the victim. Would we trust a hated Samaritan? The victim needed his enemy. It is very hard to be the "person in the ditch" ( a demeaning position, such as having to apply for food stamps for your family). Most of us are much more comfortable being the dispenser of compassion than having to receive compassion.

What does this parable tell us about the Kingdom of God? Help can come from unexpected sources, we ARE our brother's keeper, you may need to trust your enemy. Caring for neighbor ( A Wesleyan Core Term) "goes hand in hand with loving God. We don't have to choose between feeding on Scripture and feeding the hungry, between reaching out to God and reaching out to those in need. The Christian walk requires both works of mercy and works of piety. Who is our neighbor? According to Wesley, our neighbor is anyone who needs our help, not just the person already part of our group. Wesley was especially concerned that we care for those we might not initially think of as neighbors, those beyond our immediate neighborhood, people of different faiths or ethnic backgrounds. Most of all caring for neighbors means not passing by the most needy and vulnerable, the hungry injured or hurting. Wesleyans believe that God has bound together all people - no matter how different - by creating each of us in God's image. God has already made us all neighbors so we can expand our hearts to care for neighbors down the road and around the world.

Could it be that the kingdom of God "is that place where we find ourselves in relationship with someone with whom we would never be caught dead, when we realize that we need our enemy just to survive, when we find help from someone from whom we have no right to expect it, that those things which give identity and mark community boundaries no longer stand in the way of human care and we are lost in one human identity?"

Prodigal Means What?!

Today we read Luke 15:1-3 and 11b-32 - the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Familiar story, pretty well known, and we think we know what it is all about - repentance - but do we? For instance, did you know that the adjective prodigal actually means recklessly extravagant, giving or yielding profusely, lavish, abundant? I sure didn't. I assumed its only meaning was profligate and wasteful.

We had a problem with this parable, and maybe you do too. After all, who can't relate to the older brother? Nose to the grindstone, faithful, constant, rock, hard worker, dedicated. And then here comes the baby brother who shamed - yes, shamed - the entire family by asking for his inheritance and then went off and wasted it all! And his father, who shamed - yes, shamed - the entire family by giving baby brother his portion when he asked for it now welcomes him back with a party of epic proportions! OK, maybe not epic, but I bet that is how it felt to the elder brother...

As generous and giving as the father and "prodigal" son seem, no one sent for the older brother, who was in the fields, when the party started. Why not? Maybe it is because for him to join the party would mean he was shamed as much as his father and brother. Since he wasn't summoned he had a choice - to remain outside, live by societal rules and keep his good standing in the community or to join in with his father and celebrate the return of a brother thought lost forever, even though that would probably mean he would be ostracized. This really threatened the elder brother's world view. In his understanding working hard, following the rules yielded blessings. Not following the rules meant curses and bad fortune, yet that is not what baby brother got. So does that mean he isn't blessed? Or are his rules getting in the way of his relationship with God? Looks like we are back to that fourth point about parables - that they leave sufficient doubt about the meaning....

If Jesus used parables to create a vision of what God, and the kingdom of God are like, then what does this parable tell us? It show that God offers unconditional love, is ever present with us, forgiving, gracious, longing to be in relationship with us and ALWAYS allows us to choose. This parable makes it very clear that in the kingdom of God the culture's definition of shame does NOT determine worth, but ironically that is exactly what prompted Jesus to tell this parable. And it would seem that the kingdom of God is just, but maybe not fair...

Life Isn't Fair...

This week's parable - the landowner and the vineyard workers - really illustrated that last point from Dodd about parables, the one about leaving sufficient doubt about their meaning. I think it is fair to say that all of us have struggled with this parable. After all, is it fair that those who worked for one hour got the same pay as those who worked all day in the hot sun? And then he pays those guys first, so that the ones who worked longest could see they were getting the same! Come on! Isn't that just adding insult to injury?

But what about the message of the landowner? He has been just; he has done exactly what he promised for each worker, no more, no less. That generated a discussion of the difference between fair -which we defined as an equal distribution of resources- and just-which we defined as an unequal distribution of resources based on need. When my kids were little I had a mantra that they hated - "Life isn't fair, it just is." It was a lot easier to say that to them when it came to sharing toys than it is to apply it to myself when it comes to issues like equal pay for equal work.

There are so many ways you can look at this parable. It points out the need to mind your own business and leave the rest to God; it may be an illustration for the apostles and other followers (including us) that while they may have little in this life and work long and hard, in the end they will be "first"; it shows that God continually and repeatedly reaches out to all people; it gives value to even the people of lowest status in society, and God acts first, inviting us into relationship with Him.

But for me, this week in this place, the message was a little different. We did briefly touch on it toward the end of our time. In an Old Testament view possessions and wealth were a sign of God's blessing, but Jesus points out that only a few will be able to handle wealth. Moving forward to current times the words of singer/songwriter Javier Mendoza came to mind: "...I'm addicted to my possessions, I don't need a thing, but still I want more. I guess I just want to be accepted, prove to the world that I am gifted, because if I succeed then I belong." For me the message is to let go of the things that bind me to this life so that i can improve my relationship with God. Why can't this be easier...?

Tell Me a Story

Today we began a series on the parables of Jesus, but we began slowly. We were all heavy hearted by the number of prayer concerns we had. I, for one, am hoping that next week we will have as many joys to balance things out. In the mean time, we have done our best in prayer and support for each other, and now we leave the rest to God.

Well, a good place to start is with an understanding of what a parable is, don't you think? Our leader offered us a scholarly definition from C.H. Dodd"
"At its simplest a parable is:
1.) a metaphor or simile;
2.) drawn from nature or common life;
3.) arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and;
4.) leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to
tease it into active thought."
A running theme in the parables is that language has the power to create a world and what Jesus does in the parables is to create the Kingdom of God so that we can see what the Kingdom of God looks like... for ourselves.

So then, a parable is a representation of the truth of current, earthly life, which any hearer can understand and to which he can relate from personal experience. While the story may be told in response to a directly posed question or an implied question, it never directly answers the question. Instead, it illustrates the desirable, the possible, and the ideal, the Kingdom of God. It requires the hearer to sort out for himself the answer.

We did discuss the parable from Luke 10:25 - The Banquet - but I would like to talk a little bit more about the process that is compelled by Christ in using parables, a process that is also illustrated in this particular parable. You see, stories are told so that anyone can understand them, identify with them, and if you understand the culture of that time comprehend the subtle undercurrents and implications. They are open-ended, an invitation if you will to construct your own individual understanding of the Kingdom of God. And that, my friends, is precisely what we are offered all the time. God invites us into relationship with Him, and accepts us exactly where we are on our journey. We don't have to be able to explain the parables, we don't have to be able to quote scripture, we don't need fancy seminary education (sorry, Pastor) in order to be in relationship with God. All we need to do is accept the invitation, love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Well, isn't that another easier said than done?