On what we can learn from THEM

A man sees another man on the street.

The latter is in distress, in pain.

While others avert their eyes or even cross the street so as not to get too close, our guy has mercy, he lends a hand, he goes the extra mile to help.

There shouldn't be anything particularly shocking about the event.

Except, if you will, the fact that among those who do NOT help there are representatives of two categories of great importance in the Jewish world: a Priest and a Levite.

Men who have a special role in society: models of behavior, teachers of righteousness.

The message of the story is immediately clear: if you want to be a good disciple, if you want to 'inherit eternal life', show mercy, lend a hand to the ones in need, go the extra mile even for the stranger on the street.

Yet Jesus chooses to open an extra can of worms by making the helpful guy in his story a Samaritan.

Now, as you all recall, by the time of Jesus, Jews and Samaritans had hated each other for a thousand years. Jews looked with utter disdain at the Samaritans, barely believing they existed in the same world.

So making the merciful one a Samaritan bore the implication that a merciful heathen had better chances to 'inherit eternal life' than an Israelite who didn't show mercy.

And THAT was shocking. THAT was a major subversion of the rules.

After all, in the world in which Jesus lived, the people of Israel were the chosen ones - far superior to anybody else - every Jew knew that!

“Well, Jesus is saying, don't hold on too tight to your beliefs about what's right and what's wrong, because in the Kingdom of God sometimes the bad are good...or even better.”

Maybe if we want to bring about the Kingdom of God, a world characterized by God's justice, peace, and forgiveness, a good first step would be to get out of our comfort zone and find out what the Samaritans in our lives are doing. The ones we tend to consider heretics, dissidents...you know "those people"... may have something to teach us.

You know me, I have strong opinions about...well, everything.

I know what is right and what is wrong - and I have a number of well respected authors, bloggers, and opinion makers who agree with my theological and political opinions...thank you very much!

I also have a tendency, as I imagine most of you do, not to hold in high esteem those OTHER convictions or the people who hold them [hey, I am only human!]

Yet Jesus in this very story is showing us that if we only pay attention to those who agree with us, if we only surround ourselves with allies, with people who never challenge our worldview, we will never be able to grow out of our tiny little boxes, and we may even end up following the example of the wrong gurus.

Jesus points to the actions of the Samaritan to show the inquisitive lawyer that he needs to look for wisdom ALSO in the unexpected places, among people who typically provoke his contempt, his disdain.

Love, grace, and humanity can be found everywhere, if we make the effort of seeking them.

Look at the Samaritan, the Muslim brother, the representative of THAT party you will never vote for.

Listen to the Christian extremist, read the controversial author, open your mind and your heart to the one who never got a high school diploma and discover that God is speaking to you through them.

Bishop Desmond Tutu once said: "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends, you talk to your enemies." Well, peace is one of the main signs of the Kingdom of God, a distinguishing feature of ‘eternal life’.

So let’s go out into the world and for the sake of Kingdom mix and mingle with the Samaritans, we may be surprised - no - shocked, by what they have to share.

Amen