Bible Speaks by Rev. L. Althouse Feb. 8, 2015 Background Scripture: Luke 10:25-34 Devotional Reading: Matthew 22:34-40 We may find some Bible passages with which it is hard for us to relate – but not this week. In Luke 10:25-34, Jesus makes crystal clear the heart of the Good News: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The first commandment is from Deuteronomy 6:4,5: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” This passage is called the Shema, meaning “hear” (or “listen”) and was used in Judaism as a confession of faith in the oneness of God, rather than the numerous Baals. Consisting of six Hebrew words, it was to be read twice daily, as well as to the dying. The second commandment, “and your neighbor as yourself,” is found in Leviticus 19:18 and is non-specific as to who is our “neighbor,” leaving an “escape hatch” for the legalistically-minded. In the time of Jesus, there was much controversy as to which of the more than 600 commandments was the most important. The lawyer asked his question in hope of confounding Jesus: “And behold a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’” In Hitler’s Nazi Germany, regarded as “a Christian nation,” it was a resounding affirmation, not a question, that Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, the physically or mentally deformed and homosexuals were not “neighbors,” but “untermenschen” – sub-humans. And, lest we get to feeling too self-righteous, in 18th and 19th century America, Christians included, few identified Native Americans and black slaves as “neighbors.” These popular views were based upon self-serving rationalizations, and the U.S. Constitution specified that slaves should be counted as only three-fifths of a human being. Answering right?
Jesus replied to the lawyer: “You have answered right; do this, and you will live” (Lk 10:28). The lawyer should have let well enough alone and departed but, instead, “desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” Instead of telling the lawyer he was wrong, Jesus told him a story. Whether the story “really happened” or was simply a parable, doesn’t matter because it touches all of us and sets off alarm bells. Two thousand years later it still stings us all. If you think Jesus is coming down on us too hard, just be glad you’re not a clergyperson; the “bad guys” in this drama are the “priest” and the “Levite.” Because they were “persons of faith,” we would expect that at least they would respond charitably. But they were no credit to their professions or their religion. and stature. Why did they pass by “on the other side?” Among the justifications they might have made: “I didn’t have time stop and delay my journey,” “I had more pressing matters to attend to,” “I was both afraid and judicious because the road to Jericho is rife with robbers,” “I do not allow myself to be in contact with people of their ilk.” But looming in the background to all of these was and is: “You don’t expect me to treat a Samaritan – the lowest of the low – as a human being, do you?” I have actually been on that road from Jerusalem to Jericho several times, as I’m sure some of you have. The distance is only 17 miles, but even more important: the elevation at Jerusalem is 2,300 feet above sea level and, when it reaches Jericho, it has dropped 3,600 feet. Further, this road, known as “the Path of Blood,” was one of the land’s most dangerous thoroughfares, day and night. One of the reasons Jews and Samaritans despised each other for 500 years was that the Jews worshipped God on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, while the Samaritans worshipped in their temple on Mt. Gerizim in the hills north of Jerusalem. Just as many of us do today, both Jews and Samaritans were “making mountains out of molehills.” The Samaritans accepted as authoritative only the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. Are we liars?
But, possibly the strongest reason for their mutual disdain was the Samaritans were not pure-blooded Jews. Perhaps the racial issue was the real reason for their mutual hatred. Harry Emerson Fosdick said: “Race prejudice is as thorough a denial of the Christian God as atheism, and a far more common form of apostasy.” The New Testament says no less: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. “And this is the commandment that we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also” (1 John 4:20,21). The Shema raises more questions that we all need to ask ourselves. Who are the “neighbors” from whom we shrink instead of helping? Who are “the Samaritans” separated from us by worshipping on “a wrong mountain?” Who are the Samaritans who do for God what we could and should be doing?“ Is “love” of your neighbor primarily a feeling or a commitment? How often do we react like the “the priest” and “the Levite?” Is it enough to affirm Christ’s teachings if we don’t live by them? Taken seriously and personally, how might it affect your life, the Church and the world? If you want your neighbor to know what Christ will do for him, let the neighbor see what Christ has done for you. The Good Samaritan refused to respond to deep-seated prejudices. He saw someone in need that he could help – and he did. It’s as difficult or as simple as that.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Those with questions for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication. |
