RBWords

     The parable of the Good Samaritan is so familiar to us that we may simply nod in its direction without giving it the depth of soul that it demands.  "Of course!" we say. "I'm always ready to lend a hand to a neighbor in need!"  But then comes THE question.  The question asked by the scholar of the law (read: lawyer here) is at the center of this parable:  "And who is my neighbor?"  We are told he asked this question to "justify himself."  This is where the psychology of the parable comes into play.

     The victim of the robbers is assumed to be a Jew.  He is ignored, for whatever reason, by a priest and a Levite in turn.  Both these figures would be associated with the temple and if they touched what seemed to be a dead man or at least someone bloodied, they would become "unclean" and have to go home to go through the necessary procedures to become "clean" again.  Stopping to help the victim would be inconvenient, to say the least!   Hmmmm....

     The Samaritan would be confronted with an almost visceral conflict that existed between Jews and Samaritans, the latter being descended from those Jews who remained in the Northern Kingdom during the exile and had intermarried with non-Jews and even set up their own temple.  Read the story in the Gospel According to John of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. (John 4:4-42).  This conflict is all the deeper because it is based on prejudice.  Hmmmm....

     Is our neighbor the one whom it is "convenient" to help?  Is our neighbor someone of another race?  Does the very fact that we might ourselves ask Jesus the question, "And who is my neighbor?" indicate prejudice in ourselves?  Jesus' answer is "Everyone."  The last lines of the parable say it all: "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."  AMEN