The Good Samaritan
the text below is in sermon style, so the grammar is very loose. Better for listening than reading.

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho…

Two stories from St Luke, that have etched themselves on the mind and psyche of humanity

The Good Samaritan / The Prodigal or lost son

The one a parable of how we should live out of love and compassion

The other about the nature of God, and the nature of human beings,

God is Love, we are love in our relationship with God.

If we had only these stories, we would have the whole Gospel. The Extraordinary thing about Jesus is that he is not Xenophobic – not fearful of strangers.

The Gospel is in fact the a Gospel of outsiders

Mary and Joseph, troublesome teenagers

A Roman citizen is said to be, an example of faith Jesus has not seen in Israel.

A Syrophoenician woman – the persistent woman claims a special place in our Christian story.

And here today a Samaritan man – a person of a different faith, different culture, different race- shows how Christians and Jews ought to love one another.

The Lawyer in the story had asked the wrong question:

Who is my Neighbour? – Philosophical question, intellectual question, a mind and not a heart question, a passive question – asked from living-room, TV, essay – Some men are neighbours, all men are neighbours.

The Samaritan responds to a life demanding situation – enters the present moment. Here is a bereft man, I must help him.

The poet Rumi, in a poem called The Guest House says:

This being human is a guest house,

Every morning a new arrival

Meet them at the door laughing (Rumi)

Jesus shows the Lawyer the question he should ask:

which of these three prove themselves neighbour to the man?  The one who showed pity on him.

I must prove myself a neighbour to those around me. I am the neighbour, neighbourliness starts with me.

What are the characteristics of neighbourliness –

invitation – Good Morning

hospitality, welcome to my house,

generosity, how can I be of help.

It is to be found in this attitude

I awake today in my world

Where in my life today

Can I play out my neighbourliness

I am the Levite, the scribe lost in my past, I avoid the moment

I am the priest, reflecting on events up ahead, rushing past the moment,

I am the Samaritan, stopping, listening, seeing, touching, tasting, feeling, present in the moment.

There is also the reverse side to this story. The man who was the victim, may have refused help from a stranger. May have been too proud, may not have wanted the help of a man of another race, culture, religion.

Neighbourliness doesn’t only mean knowing how to give.

It also means, knowing how, and when to receive.

Story of the Jewish Rabbi,

Shimmon Peres, won the Nobel Peace prize, and once told this story, a story which encapsulates the new humanity.

a Rabbi had gathered his students together and posed this question?

How do you know the exact moment when night ends and the day begins.

When the light is such that you can distinguish a sheep from a dog.

When the light is such that you can tell the difference between a fig tree and an olive tree.

Rabbi “When a stranger approaches and we think he is our brother – and all conflicts disappear, that is the moment when night ends and day begins.

Think of all the refugees – people on the move – people fleeing despotic countries…people living on the streets, on your street.

And think of all the attitudes towards them… think of our attitudes

This story of The Samaritan calls forth the deepest characteristic of our culture.

Unbuntu

A person is a person because of other people

I am a person because of other people.

So often expressed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu

None of us comes into the world fully formed. We would not know how to think, or walk, or speak, or behave as human beings unless we learned it from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human. I am because other people are. A person is entitled to a stable community life, and the first of these communities is the family.”

A person is a person through other people

What I am feeling others feel

When I am open

Like a flower others open

The stranger is my brother, my sister

Coming through the morning mist

We belong to the greater whole

What diminishes them

Diminishes me

What humiliates them humiliates me

When he is tortured I am tortured

When she is oppressed I am oppressed

Yes a person is a person through other people

Desmond Tutu

“We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know. We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders. All are welcome: black, white, red, yellow, rich, poor, educated, not educated, male, female, gay, straight, all, all, all. We all belong to this family, this human family, God’s family.”
― Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“In the end what matters is not how good we are but how good God is. Not how much we love Him but how much He loves us. And God loves us whoever we are, whatever we’ve done or failed to do, whatever we believe or can’t.”
― Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Luke 10:25-37 Revised Standard Version

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵ And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” ²⁷ And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.”

²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, ³⁴ and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ And the next day he took out two denarii^[a] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 

³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Ubuntu
Other quotations from Archbishop Desmond TuTu on Ubuntu

“We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know. We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders. All are welcome: black, white, red, yellow, rich, poor, educated, not educated, male, female, gay, straight, all, all, all. We all belong to this family, this human family, God’s family.”

“We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew… Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful… and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things.”

Grateful thanks to Pexel for the photographs