Love Thy (Samaritan) Neighbor

Love Thy (Samaritan) Neighbor

As with so many of the Biblical narratives the story of “The Good Samaritan” has commonly been used simply to coax us into better behavior more befitting of one seeking a place in God’s kingdom; in this case we are told to be like the unassuming Samaritan who renders aid to a man down on his luck in contrast to the two prominent self righteous religious leaders who couldn’t be bothered.  A useful object lesson to be sure but if we pause to take a closer look at the dialogue between Jesus and the ‘expert in the law’ which led up to the hypothetical allegory in the first place, we will uncover a much deeper meaning.  A wholly unexpected message conveying nothing short of a profound Gospel principle then jumps out at us complete with the power to unify people of every perspective and from every walk of life.

For you see the question he had put to Jesus was that of asking whom it was according to the Law that he was required to love as himself.   But Jesus’ answer was confounding to the “one seeking to justify himself” as he was rendered unable to walk away smugly self-identifying with the one who had helped the poor fool in the ditch.  On the contrary Jesus declares him to be that poor fool, the one who must learn to love the most despicable neighbor conceivable in the mind of a Jewish leader – that of a “low-life” Samaritan, and not just any Samaritan mind you, but one on whom at that moment his very life depends.

There’s nothing quite like finding oneself in such desperate straits as being unable to deny help from those whom we have deemed practically unworthy even of our recognition as fellow humans – those untouchables.  We would almost rather die first.  But sometimes just such a dreaded turn of events is precisely what is required to bring the realization crashing through our thick skulls at long last that we are all in this life together and that we actually need each-other (every-other) to get through it.  God in his infinite wisdom and poignant sense of humor knows exactly what it takes to penetrate our elitist façade in order to expose the underlying fundamental desire for loving connection with others, even those so unlike ourselves.

This unique insight into this famous parable’s deeper meaning is not of my own contemplation.  I have borrowed it from the teaching of my father and will now defer to a sampling of his more comprehensive discussion of this topic.

The Good Samaritan

Excerpts from a speech given to the Sunstone Symposium in the Hilton Hotel

in Salt Lake City, Utah         August 16, 1996

One of the least understood and most misapplied parables taught by Jesus is that of the Good Samaritan. Not until I read a commentary on this parable by the late Professor Karl Barth in 1957, was I made aware of how I had failed to see the main point it was designed to teach. The best way to discern that point is to pay careful attention to the question from the lawyer which prompted Jesus to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan as recorded in Luke 10:25-37.

The lawyer asks two questions: 1) "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and 2) "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus answers the first of these questions by asking the lawyer, "What is written in the law?" To that question, the lawyer answers, "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." Although Jesus immediately tells the lawyer that he gave the right answer, the scripture says that the lawyer, "desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?'" It was precisely the attitude with which he asked this second question that the lawyer placed himself in a position to be unable to perceive the answer which Jesus gave in the parable of the Good Samaritan. And what was that attitude? It was the attitude of "seeking to justify himself." 

Not only did this attitude blind the lawyer to the answer which Jesus gave him in the parable under consideration, but it is an attitude toward the word of God which too often characterizes us in relation to the scriptures. We, too, tend to read our Bibles from the standpoint of seeking to justify ourselves, that is, we seek to find in the Bible confirmation that we are right in contrast to others, who are wrong. An example of this is Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the publican who went up to the Temple to pray. I feel certain that you are well acquainted with that parable which is recorded in Luke 18:9-14. Interestingly enough, Luke prefaces it by saying that the reason Jesus told the parable was to expose "some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others." Without my reading that parable to you, I believe you remember the bottom line in which Jesus turns the tables on the conventional estimate of these two men and lets us see that the "good" Pharisee is actually the "bad guy" and the despised publican is the "good guy." But if we approach that parable with the attitude of seeking to justify ourselves, we will fail to experience the judgment on us that it was designed to convey and instead, will go away feeling smug about ourselves and ironically thanking God that we are not like "that self-righteous Pharisee."

Unfortunately, we not only approach the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican with the attitude of seeking to justify ourselves, but we also, along with the lawyer, approach the parable of the Good Samaritan with that same attitude. That is why he and we are blinded to the answer that Jesus gave in that parable, and it partly explains why Jesus said He taught certain kinds of people in parables, namely, "because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." (Matthew 13:13). I believe that the people Jesus had in mind were precisely the kind of people exemplified by the lawyer to whom he addressed the parable of the good Samaritan.

So now let's take a close look at that parable to see why its meaning is missed if we approach it with a self-righteous attitude and how, by the grace of God, we may otherwise be opened to its meaning. Since I believe that all of you are well acquainted with this parable, I shall not repeat it to you in detail. It speaks to us of four men: 1) a man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, who stripped and beat him, and left him half dead on the side of the road; 2) a priest and, 3) a Levite, both of whom later went down that same road, but who passed the wounded man and left him lying on the side of the road; and last of all, 4) a Samaritan, who instead of passing the victim by, administered healing to his wounds and placed him in the keeping of an inn keeper.

Upon ending this parable, Jesus asked the lawyer, "Which of these three do you think proved to be neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" To this the lawyer correctly replied, "The one who showed mercy on him." Now, if we have paid careful enough attention to the lawyer's question to Jesus as to "who is my neighbor?" We should not have too much trouble applying the lawyer's correct answer to ourselves. But when we hear Jesus' final admonition to the lawyer to "Go and do likewise," we jump the track and fail to connect the answer to the question to which it is the answer. And once again, what was the question? It was, "Who is my neighbor?" And why was the lawyer concerned to know who his neighbor was? Because he wanted to know who it was that he was supposed to love.
I believe that the reason we miss the answer to this question is because we trip over Jesus' admonition to "Go and do likewise." And the reason this trips us up is because we are looking for Jesus to tell us to do something that will be meritorious. And what could be more meritorious than to do what the Samaritan did? So, when we hear Jesus tell us to "do likewise," we skip a cog and kid ourselves into believing that we already are "good Samaritans" who only need an occasional reminder to be even better Samaritans. And so we miss the answer the parable gives us as to who is the neighbor we are to love? Instead of seeing that the neighbor to be loved is the Samaritan, we take it to be the man in the ditch. And if we actually believe that we are practitioners of such love, then we are indeed men and women who chronically seek to justify ourselves, and are blind to who we really are.

By what I have said thus far, am I implying that the parable is not admonishing us to be good Samaritans to persons who are seriously in need of help? By no means! What I am saying is that the first teaching of the parable is that we become aware of ourselves as being "in the ditch" and therefore, are so seriously in need that we must first receive help from whomever God chooses to help us. Only after receiving help can we be ready to give the help that Jesus says we are to give to other "in-the-ditch" people! In other words, before we can be good Samaritans, we must be recipients of help from Samaritans. But that is precisely what most of us would rather die than do. And why is that? Because it is too humiliating to receive help from people we despise, people to whom we feel superior. That is precisely why Jesus deliberately chose as his central character a Samaritan, a member of a race of people who were heartily despised by the Jewish people to whom he addressed his teaching. Had Jesus lived in modern Japan, his central character would have been "The Good Korean." If in America, he would have been "The Good Afro-American," or the "Good Russian Communist." If in Iran, he would have been "The Good American." We could extend this list endlessly. What each of us must do is ask ourselves, who are the people I most despise? Who are the people from whom I would never want to receive help?

Until we get our eyes opened to how seriously in need we are, we will be inclined to be choosy about whom we will look to for help, if we ever look for help at all. But if we are ever in an actual "half dead in the ditch" condition, we won't be able to ask for help from anyone since we will be beyond taking any initiative. We will be at the mercy of whomever God sends to our rescue.

And that is exactly what the Apostle Paul tells us about ourselves in Romans 5:6 where he says that "While we were yet HELPLESS," God came to our rescue "at the right time" in the person of Christ, who "died for the ungodly" (Emphasis mine). The prophet Isaiah foresaw that this Christ "had no form or comeliness that . . . we would desire him." And he was "despised and rejected by men." (Isaiah 53:2-3). If there was ever a man who truly functioned as a "Good Samaritan," it was Jesus of despised Nazareth. On one occasion, even so guileless a man as Nathaniel asked the question, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (Jn. 1:46). when he was told that Jesus was a man from Nazareth, which shows how despised and looked down upon was that backwoods town!

Many times I have had to learn this lesson of willingness to receive help from sources that I had despised. Probably my most memorable occasion was when I was seriously in need of expert counseling in connection with one of my sons who had been expelled from high school for having violated school rules. I didn't know where to turn for help. If I could have afforded to pay for it, I would have chosen to go for counseling to the elite psychiatrists in Beverly Hills or Sherman Oaks near where I then lived in Los Angeles. Instead, I was referred by a preacher who served a church I despised to a counseling center in a town I despised sixty-five miles from home. Like Nathaniel, I wondered if any good thing could come to me from such sources and through such channels. I very reluctantly drove the 130 mile round trip through rush hour freeway traffic because that was all I could afford. And what was even more humiliating, the only reason I could afford it at all was because the director of that counseling center gave me a 65% discount on his standard fees. But to my pleasant surprise, the quality of counseling was so good that I received all of the help I so desperately needed. And I learned to love the preacher and church I had despised as I increasingly acknowledged them to be the "Good Samaritan neighbors" that Jesus said I should love.

No, we will never understand the parable of the Good Samaritan nor be really able to serve as Good Samaritans until we have first allowed that parable to show us our own need to be helped by "Samaritans." Only then, will we be in a position to obey Jesus' admonition for us to "Go and do likewise."

Harry Robert Fox

Responsibility & Glory... His vs Ours

             Responsibility & Glory:     
                                                                                          HIS vs ours

                                               

There is a common misconception concerning the supposed desire of God to ascribe all glory to himself as Create-or of this awesome universe in which we reside and for the grand results of his immense sacrifice in bringing the wretched lives of at least a chosen sampling of his wayward children to a heavenly consummation.   Yet it is this same God we are told who assumes absolutely no responsibility whatsoever for his unilateral decision to create mankind in the first place or for the utterly pitiful demise of the un-chosen majority, for it rightfully rests squarely on the insignificant shoulders of the create-ed alone.

The impetus for this discussion arises simply from a desire to clear the air around the concept of the true value and consequence of both human and Godly action.   On trial will be what I would deem to be our mistaken acceptance of a responsibility of cosmic proportions regarding our personal and collective failure to rise above our baser human instincts all the while wallowing in a self deprecating humility in refusing the acceptance of even a pittance of credit for any progress, whether meager or even monumental, in affecting our own growth and development.

Equally detrimental, but on the other extreme, there are many who have attempted to please God by following a supposed scriptural mandate to relegate all responsibility and control over their lives to Him, fearing perhaps unconsciously that their own failed efforts to measure up, if taken into account, would damn them eternally on the Day of Judgment.  Either way I find it unnecessarily demeaning both to our God and to ourselves that we would accept such substandard views of his nature and of the purpose of our existence.

This discussion has nothing to do with gaining recognition for good works and thereby earning our salvation, for our ‘salvation’ should rightly be accepted as a promised “blessing for all mankind through Abraham’s seed, Jesus Christ”.  Of course there are no good deeds you must do or even can do to achieve a place in God’s eternal family.  A child is not required to earn the steadfast love of his father.  Contrary to what most have gleaned from the message of the ‘gospel’, you’re in from the start and there’s “nothing in the universe, neither height nor depth nor angels nor demons, in the present nor in the future, that can separate you from the love and purposes of God”. (Romans 3:38-39 NIV)

So I’m not talking here about ultimate salvation, that being accepted a priori, and neither am I promoting a mindset that seeks to keep tally on performance.  As Jesus said, “when you do these things (good works) you must not let the right hand know what the left hand is doing”.  If it is gold stars on your heavenly transcripts you are looking for then your motivation for doing good is detestable and your only reward rests solely in the meager amounts of notoriety you may extract from your human peers.

What I am talking about is simply the proper acknowledgement of the role of human effort in the development of the human soul.  When a baby chick pecks its way out of the egg or a butterfly struggles to escape its cocoon it is well understood that the inherent battle must be fought alone in order to properly stimulate the growth of the organism.  When the eaglet is nudged from the safety of the nest and somehow in the ensuing freefall learns to spread its fragile wings we do not credit the mother eagle with the accomplishment.  Likewise when a human being puts blood sweat and tears (and prayer) into overcoming life’s many challenges why is it considered presumptuous to assign a little credit where due?  Is it reticence on the part of the Creator of the Universe or is it our own misdirected modesty which would be threatened by an appropriate metering of commendation?

On the other hand when it comes to accepting responsibility, God naturally assumes by far the lion’s share of it in regards to the successful upbringing of his earthly children, having brought them to life solely at his own discretion.   And he receives a commensurate level of glory for this unprecedented miraculous merging of spirit with flesh.  Mankind being cub-like by comparison is rightly held to a much attenuated level of both liability and acclamation.

Now, if we turn to the Bible for guidance on this subject it may unfortunately fail to provide needed clarity when read apart from a true Gospel perspective. (see blog entry: “The Book of the Volcano God: Book Worship vs God Worship”).  In fact it is primarily the Scriptures themselves which have been used to bolster a wide range of divergent viewpoints on the matter at hand.  As an illustration of its misapplication in affecting much confusion in the minds of many Christians we will now take a look at just one of Jesus’ parables.

The following narrative is a very loose retelling of the Parable of the Talents exercising full artistic license in order to more fully represent the depth and breadth of the resulting misunderstanding.

Imagine that you have been involuntarily conscripted to set sail on a perilous ocean adventure, a journey destined for an island paradise.  Although it seems a bit unfair having not been given a choice in the matter, the Captain has nonetheless guaranteed safe passage for all aboard and solicits no help whatsoever from any of the passengers.  In fact you are prohibited from lifting a finger to affect your ultimate safe arrival.  Your part alone is to trust, as a child would his father, in the worthy Captain’s ability to successfully navigate the stormy waters ahead.  And why shouldn’t you, aside from a nasty rumor of having lost his best mate and a third of his original crew to mutiny, he’s got a perfect record. 

Anyway you’re already on board and so you might as well kick back and enjoy the ride.  You’ve really little to lose and potentially everything to gain.

However, no sooner have you left port than the true ground rules are revealed.  And just as your gut had warned you, the ‘guaranteed’ trip to paradise turns out to be too good to be true.  Far from remaining a mere passive bystander, your ultimate destination is completely dependent on both the quality and quantity of your active participation along the way.  We’re not talking here about just some kind of minimal token effort but rather consistent productive activity yielding measurable benefit to the Captain’s personal estate.  For you see, while the Captain is indeed a kind and capable mariner, he is first and foremost a shrewd businessman determined to increase his already abundant cache of treasure.  

You quickly come to realize that there will be no tolerance for poor performance on the part of the crew, even as there will be lavish rewards awaiting those who contribute significantly to a successful voyage. To that end each of you has been given charge of certain valuables, ‘gifts’ as he calls them, from the Captain’s storehouse.  And upon your obligatory acceptance of the same you are thereafter expected to invest them wisely at the various ports of call along the way.  Failure to do so will have some rather, shall we say “undesirable” consequences for you – far beyond mere mortal destruction; ... so much for relying solely on the Captain’s benevolence in fulfillment of his lofty promise.

Time passes quickly as you busy yourself in fulfillment of the Captain’s mandate and before you know it you’ve come within sight of the Island of Paradise.  The ominous day of reckoning has finally arrived and upon dropping anchor the Captain frowns gravely as the financial records of the passengers are laid bare.  Glaring into the fearful eyes of his motley crew (the vast majority of whom with trembling knees had long before hand hid their allotments under their bunks for fear of sparking the stern Captain’s wrath over their poor business acumen) he roars with anger as he orders all stagnant treasures be seized and redistributed among those with notable increase.  Then in fierce retribution for their mishandling of his generous ‘gifts’ he condemns those found wanting to be locked in the rat infested hold of the ship where they will forever remain, manning the oars with weeping and gnashing of teeth.   

Finally beaming proudly he turns toward the remnant still left on deck and wastes no time in welcoming ashore that rugged brigade of consummately capable entrepreneurs who had rightly perceived the true purpose of the nautical quest from the beginning to be that of proving oneself worthy of living in the ‘promised’ land of bliss.  It was indeed their exemplary performance rather than their simple trust which had earned them the right of passage.  “Let the eternal celebration of the righteous begin” he bellows as they commence the singing of eternal praises to their benevolent Captain all the while oblivious to the condemned masses gazing longingly through the port holes below … end of story.

Okay, so what do we have here?  The Captain assumes no responsibility for single handedly initiating the journey and furthermore lays the blame for poor performance solely at the doorstep of the weak-kneed failures.  On the other hand he accepts eternal praise for the delivery of the chosen ones to a life of bliss even though they had clearly earned the right to be there.  Initially he suggests that they trust solely in him as would a child and then turns right around and proclaims that it is only through their own productive performance that their destiny in paradise may be assured.

Here and in two other parables (The Fig Tree and the Ten Virgins) Jesus himself seems to undermine his former invitation of “come unto me and I will give you rest” by substituting an unequivocal demand to “come unto me and deliver the goods or else!”.  Apparently only those demonstrating proper exercise of God’s gifts will be counted worthy of that rest he had so graciously offered.  Suddenly his gifts have become nothing more than unsolicited short term loans requiring payment in full with interest.

Let it be known therefore, he seems to imply, that simple childlike faith is really not sufficient.  As James further admonishes: “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26 KJV).  And reinforced elsewhere, the message comes through repeatedly that the failure to return a good value on God’s investment will ultimately result in one’s well deserved eternal damnation – perhaps with a front row porthole view of paradise from across an impassable gulf, as explained in the story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus”. 

Then again there is Paul’s assessment of our human condition to the contrary.  He says that we are all “dead in sin” such that what we really need do is simply acknowledge our wretched state of being and then allow Christ to live through us as though we were passive “lumps of clay in the hands of the Potter” -- our participation in the character building process being thereby completely precluded.  He goes on to say that our salvation “does not therefore depend on human desire or effort but on God’s mercy”. (Romans 9:16 NIV)  And Christ himself regularly heaped voluminous condemnation upon the Pharisees for their proud reliance on their imagined ability to please the Lord in the doing of good works to uphold the law. 

So which is it?   Is life to be lived as an impotent bystander or are we expected to actively participate?  Is it safe to trust our eternal destiny to our Father in Heaven as if we really were his children or has he recklessly let go of the reins entirely, allowing us to wander off to Hell if we so choose?  (see blog post: "Our Freedom is Absolute-ly limited")  Does he abrogate all responsibility for his creation or does he fully embrace it?  Does he really want all glory assigned exclusively to himself or would he have us to share in it?

Away with the confusion I say!  Rather than assigning equal weight to each opposing verse we must step back and view the whole book from an eagle’s perspective through the lens of the overarching emphatic declaration that God IS Love. (I John 4:8,16 NIV)  As we do so the Gospel message becomes apparent throughout and the preeminence of the unconditional over the conditional brings clarity to otherwise seemingly contradictory or mutually exclusive ideas, including those just cited ascribing varying degrees of responsibility to both God and man.

As far as performance for God’s acceptance goes, it is certainly true that our works fall flat as hot tar under a steamroller.  But then performance for acceptance misses the point entirely!  When acceptability is properly regarded as a given (he calls them his people, even those in rebellion who had been called not his people) then there becomes apparent a natural process of creatively expressing who we are, taking what we have been given and building upon it as only each individually creative soul can do.  Performance is intrinsic to a healthy life.  And within the context of his unconditional love for us, the bearing of good fruit is rightly to be expected as a natural response to it, not a prerequisite for it.

In fact from a Gospel perspective (What Would Love Do?) the harsh insistence by the Captain may be seen for what it certainly must be, simply that God gives each of us talents and then refuses to allow them to remain undeveloped due to some kind of paralyzing fear of failure.  We will not be permitted to skip out on our own part in dealing with life’s uncertainties, as such are the seedbed of faith and of growth and greatness.  A return on his investment in us is ‘required’ precisely because he cares so much for our ultimate happiness.  He promises to give us the desires of our heart as we submit to his will, but knows that the full appreciation of those desires awaits our responsive participation.

Has not the Potter breathed into His human lumps of clay something more than what a passive medium could effuse?  Didn’t he give (not loan) to each of us a unique piece of his Spirit which has now become our essence, distinct from him and no longer just an extension of  him?  Is it not much more gratifying for an all powerful Creator to enjoy the presence of an-other from whom he has ever so skillfully designed in and subsequently drawn out the highest attributes of his own nature even as we increasingly contribute willingly of ourselves to the consequent building of his heavenly kingdom? 

Yes it certainly must be so and furthermore he has chosen to delegate to us a mission critical role in the creation process itself– that of presenting to the world the face and love of God through the actions of our daily lives.  Having directly communicated his love for humanity only once in history through his Son to the few who had been ‘chosen’ for that experience, they were (we have been) subsequently dispatched as ambassadors of reconciliation to the rest of the world on his behalf.  Within the context of Grace, we therefore play an active role in the redemption of all creation.  In this endeavor there is no thought of compensation or credit for this service for we are simply passing on that which we have so freely received.

Lastly a decision to create life, especially life with self consciousness, must be inseparably linked both to an active provision for the created soul’s well being as well as ultimate responsibility for the consequences of its nascent rebellion.   With God’s single handed decision to unleash the Pandora’s box of free wills on earth with its immense potential for immeasurable suffering, he could in no way expect to walk away with clean hands completely unscathed, bearing none of the responsibility for the resulting squalor.

So of course when all is said and done, God does in fact take overall responsibility for the consummation of his creative plan and along with it will receive overall glory.  For our part, as we experience his unconditionally loving presence in our lives we take on an increasing level of responsibility for that life commensurate with our maturity.  And while it is intrinsically glory-ous to be reckoned sons and daughters of the Most High, glory for its own sake is not to be sought after.  Rather our reward is to be found in the deep satisfaction of doing what is right and what is loving for its own sake even as the Master demonstrated while here on earth, simply because it’s the most LOVE-ly thing to do.