July 13, 2025 – The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost

If there is one story in the New Testament that’s familiar to most people, it has to be this story from Luke, that includes the parable of the good Samaritan. It’s even a solid part of our cultural language, even part of the legal system, a good Samaritan. But I wonder how many of us grasp the impact of Jesus’ parable, especially since it is so familiar to many of us…

Man wearing arm- and head-tefillin Phylactery) at the Western Wall in 2009

By David Shankbone - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6320335

“A lawyer stood up to test Jesus....” at the time Jesus lived there were hundreds of religious laws governing pretty much every aspect of Jewish life, 613 to be exact. The question posed to Jesus by the lawyer was one many have wondered about: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Typical of Jesus, he turns the question back on the lawyer, “What is written in the law?”

The lawyer knew in theory that the foundation of all laws could be traced to the ten commandments, the law given to moses on mt. Sinai. So, in response to Jesus’ question, the lawyer recited the summary of the law. “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 neighbour as yourself.”

In Jesus’ time, many Jewish men wore something called phylacteries, leather bracelets and head bands with little pouches built in.  In fact, in our time, many orthodox Jewish men still wear them, in Jerusalem for sure, but also in New York and Montreal and other places where the orthodox have settled.

In these leather pouches are rolled up little mini-scrolls with scripture verses written on them.  The most popular, then and now, was Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 & 5:  “Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”  Traditionally this is called ‘the Shema’, from the first word in Hebrew, hear! Listen! Pay attention!

Three times a day a Jewish man is to recite the Shema to begin his prayer.  This was the case in Jesus’ day also.  He knew that. It’s quite possible that when he asks the lawyer, “what is written in the law?  What do you read there?” That he points to those phylacteries that the lawyer is wearing… there, right there, what you’re wearing, what does it say, what do you recite three times a day?

But the lawyer was in the position of many of us; he could recite what the law said, but couldn’t go deeper. Still, he managed to take his question one step further: “and who is my neighbour?”

“Who is my neighbour?” this is a central question in the church today and one that is often discussed in the life of our country, and our neighbour to the south. It’s a question that surrounds talk about immigration laws, about deportation. It’s a question related to how we treat each other, from the corporate executive to the homeless person. It’s a question intimately related to all our talk of healing and reconciliation, of life together as settler and indigenous. “Who is my neighbour?” touches every aspect of our lives, in every kind of neighbourhood where we live, including the neighbourhood of creation, of which we are all a part.

But Jesus didn’t lecture the lawyer about neighbourliness; in fact he didn’t lecture about anything. Instead he told him a story, about putting words into action. While the lawyer wondered about attaining the reward, Jesus talked about eternal life right now. In essence, Jesus told the lawyer eternal life begins now, it’s in the living, now, as neighbours.

I think there are at least two challenges for modern day hearers of this story recorded by Luke. First and foremost, for the hearers of this parable in Jesus’ day, there was no such person as a good Samaritan. Samaritans were viewed with suspicion by Jews as outsiders, a sort of wannabe but failed Jew. Their ancestors had had the great misfortune to be conquered by the Assyrians well before Judah had been conquered by the Babylonians.  Even worse, their ancestors had been forced to accept foreigners from other parts of the Assyrian empire, settled among them.  They were thoroughly polluted; they even refused to worship in the temple on Mt. Zion, in Jerusalem, insisting on their own temple on Mt. Gerizim in Samaria. I mean really! They were nothing short of blasphemers and heretics. All of this was the general attitude of Jesus’ own disciples also, as the gospels make clear.

But for many of us, having heard this story in some fashion all our lives, every Samaritan is a “good” Samaritan, so we expect the compassionate response to the man robbed and beaten to a pulp and lying beside the road. Secondly, we see the situation too narrowly as one single man’s compassion. All we see are the victim, the perpetrators, and the rescuer as the players in the story. We easily ignore the bystanders, who are really just ordinary folk going about their own business, trying to stay out of trouble in a dangerous world.

There is a wonderful folktale from Burma that captures the essence of what I think Jesus was saying to all listening when he told the parable. The Burmese story is similar and reminds me that there really are no innocent bystanders, or even passers-by...

Long ago a traveler was walking through the jungles of Burma when he came upon a small village. As the sun was going down, he decided just to sleep along the roadside and enter the village in the morning. Taking his coin purse from around his neck, he found a stone nearby and hid his purse so no one would take it as he slept. As it turned out, though, a villager had spotted him hiding the purse. Late that night, as the traveler slept, the villager returned and stole the purse.

When the traveler woke, the money was gone. He sat down beside the road and began to weep. Sure enough, a crowd began to gather, curious about this stranger weeping on the edge of their village. Before long the mayor joined the crowd and inquired about the situation. He listened to the traveler and then asked to see the stone. So the traveler walked a short distance to a round stone about the size of a man’s head.

Immediately the mayor ordered, “arrest that stone. Bring that thief to the town square where I will convene a court.” the villagers followed the mayor and the traveler to the town square.  Once the village elders were in place, the mayor convened the court, and asked the stone, “What is your name?” silence.

The mayor leaned forward closer to the stone and demanded, “Where did you come from?” more silence. “Well, at least tell me your age.” by this time some of the villagers were casting glances at each other. Timid smiles and puzzled looks were on their faces.

The mayor pushed his own face closer to the stone. “So, you don’t want to speak up, eh? Tell me, why were you loitering outside our village?” By now, the villagers began to cover their mouths to muffle their laughter. “So, were you looking for trouble?” at this, some of the villagers couldn’t contain themselves any longer; they laughed loudly. Well, the mayor turned to the crowd and declared, “Show some respect! This is a court of law!”

The mayor then turned back to the stone. “You will not answer my questions, so I hold you in contempt of court! In punishment, you will receive thirty lashes with a stout stick.” the crowd lost it; they could not contain themselves. Some of them collapsed and rolled on the ground with laughter. With a stern face the mayor turned to the crowd, “Have you no respect for this court? I fine every one of you a coin apiece,” and one by one the villagers came forward and dropped a coin in a bowl in front of the mayor. The mayor then gave the coins to the traveler and apologized for the crime that had been committed outside of the village. The traveler’s eyes filled with tears, for what he had lost had been restored.

The mayor wished the traveler well and ordered the stone to be returned to the place where it was found. People talked about the trial for some time. A few thought the mayor acted foolishly, but most admitted he acted with great wisdom. Every time the villagers walk past the stone, to this day, they are reminded that they share the burdens of one another and all who come their way. This story and the parable remind me there are no bystanders in this life, no innocent passers-by. We all know the right thing to do. We know deep in our hearts that we are all connected to one another as neighbours.

After telling the parable about the Samaritan, Jesus asked the lawyer, “Which one of these acted like a neighbour?” The lawyer replied, “The one who showed mercy.” Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.” Both the Burmese story and Jesus’ parable show us how being a neighbour works. The parable may have ended, but our story, our story, is not yet over. “Go and do likewise,” Jesus says to us also. And the rest of our story is up to us. Sisters and brothers, who is our neighbour?

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July 6, 2025 – The Fourth Sunday After Pentecost