12.04.11 The Good Sam Club

If you were to google the word Samaritan you would see dozens of businesses, organizations and ministries that bare that name. They are all committed to showing mercy and compassion to people during times of disaster or suffering. In many nations there is even a "Good Samaritan" law that is designed to encourage people to stop and help others in need. Most recently China is poised to initiate the nation's first "Good Samaritan" law after a toddler was hit by a car and subsequently ignored by dozens of pedestrians and motorists, and was even run over a second times. Tragically, the toddler later died of her injuries.
The point is, when you think of a Samaritan, you think of a compassionate, helpful person who gives aid to someone who needs it most. But that's not what a 1st Century Jew thought of a Samaritan. In fact, when Jesus tells the story of a Samaritan who offers aid to a Jewish traveler who was mugged on the road to Jericho and left to die, he is using an extreme example of two people who truly hated each other. Samaritans and Jews were deeply divided along ethnic, religious, and cultural lines and these divisions had endured for hundreds of years. As Jesus tells a lawyer the story, he not is not only teaching him about neighborly behavior, he challenging his very understanding about what it means to be part of the Kingdom of God. For if a hated Samaritan is in fact his neighbor, then he needs to rethink everything he knows about his faith, his culture, and even his nation.
So who is your Samaritan? Is it that person who thinks differently about social issues such as gay rights, abortion, or marriage? Is it that person who thinks more liberally or more conservatively than you? Is it a person who is rich...or maybe a person who is poor? Perhaps it's a person who adheres to a different religious perspective. Maybe it's a person of a certain ethnicity or cultural background. Do certain people make you feel uneasy, afraid, or resentful?
That's the person Jesus calls your neighbor. That's the person whose life you are to save. That's the person you are to love just as you love yourself...yikes!

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