Word to the Wise
Monday, October 6, 2014 - Monday in the 27th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gal 1:6-12 and Luke 10:25-37]"Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?" He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."[Luke]
These words should be at least vaguely familiar to us! They are the concluding words to the parable of the Good Samaritan. That parable was spoken by Jesus in response to the lawyer's question: "And who is my neighbor?" That question was, in turn, an effort to narrowly define the word, "neighbor," in the second of the greatest commandments of the Mosaic Law - the first being love of God and the second love of neighbor!
What do we think of when we think of the word, "neighbor!" Do we define this in terms of geography - i.e. our neighborhood, those who live within a couple of blocks of us? The influential study of American culture by Robert Bellah et al back in the 1970's spoke of the trend toward "life style enclaves" in the USA as exemplified by "gated communities." Is this what we mean when we say "neighborhood." And are our "neighbors" those who live only in those "enclaves?" Perhaps we might extend it a bit to mean family, friends and close acquaintances? Jesus would not include only those folks but strangers, and in the case of the Samaritan, he would include religious/cultural "enemies!"
If love of neighbor extends only as far as a vague pleasant greeting, can we say that we have taken Jesus' teaching to heart? By the narrow definition sought by the scholar, the Levite and the priest ought to have stopped to help the robbers' victim, even if he seemed dead. It was the Samaritan who was "moved with compassion" and not with a cringing shudder! We do have the expression, "a good samaritan." We even have certain laws to protect those who do stop to help. But the news media often show situations where grave injury is done in front of a crowd and no one stops to help! Jesus challenges us directly on what is meant by "love of neighbor." How do we respond? AMEN
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