Boundary Breaking Jesus.

Introduction:  Our Gospel continues our journeying with Jesus.  The first part of the Gospel this Sunday is an introduction to both this Sunday’s Gospel and next Sunday’s.  Luke gives us two examples of what it means to be a disciple.  This Sunday’s Gospel is the example of a man, next Sunday’s is the example of a woman.  The Good Samaritan lives out the command to love our neighbor.  Next Sunday offers us an example of a woman who lives out the command to love God entirely.

Homily:  This parable is a dramatic example of the boundary breaking aspect of Jesus’ life and teaching.  To understand its shocking content we must understand something of the hatred between Jews and Samaritans.  In the 8^th Century BC when the Northern part of Israel was conquered, many of the inhabitants were deported, particularly those of upper classes.  Non Jews came to this area and intermarried with the Jews.  The Jews of the Southern part of Israel viewed the Samaritans as half Jews.   (John Donahue’s THE GOSPEL IN PARABLE, p. 130)  “After the Babylonian exile the Samaritans had opposed the restoration of Jerusalem and in the second Century BC had helped the Syrian rulers in their wars against the Jews.  In Sirach (50:25-26), about 200 BC the Samaritans are called ‘no nation’, and in 128 BC the Jewish high priest burned the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim.  In the early first century AD the Samaritans scattered the bones of a corpse in the temple during Passover, defiling the temple and preventing the celebration of the feast.  In John 8:48 the Jews assume that Jesus is a Samaritan and demon possessed (cf. John 4:7-10) and in the mission charge in Matthew, Jesus tells the disciples to avoid Samaritan territory.”

In the parable that Luke gives us he sets up a rhythm:  when the Priest saw him he passed by on the opposite side, when the Levite saw him he passed by on the opposite side, when the Samaritan comes upon him (and here he breaks the rhythm with a strong Greek word) he was moved with compassion at the sight.

The priest and levite may have been conflicted by the demands of the book of Leviticus: 1) touching a dead body made one unclean (Lev. 21:1-2) and 2) the command to “love of neighbor” (Lev. 19:18)  It was easy for the priest to pass by  not wanting to become unclean, the same for the Levite.  The people would have been expecting that the next person to pass by would be a Jewish layman.  Here is the shocker, it’s a Samaritan.  He would have known the law from the book of Leviticus about not touching a dead body.  But seeing the person in need, the Samaritan moves into action.  He defiles himself by touching what may be a corpse.  He then pours oil and wine over his wounds and bandages them.  He shows genuine mercy and compassion.  All three saw the same scene, only the Samaritan sees in such a way that leads to doing mercy.

But the Samaritan’s care doesn’t stop there.  He lifted the man on to his own animal and then took him to the inn.  He stays with him, no doubt at some risk to himself and probably in a hostile environment.  Inns at this time were dangerous places and innkeepers were a despised lot and considered dishonest and violent.  He pays two normal days wages and enters a contract to pay for the other bills.  This is an important part of the story because according to the law of the time a person with an unpaid debt could be enslaved until the debt was paid.  We can learn much from this Samaritan.  He doesn’t simply enter the world of the fallen person with care and compassion.  He enters and leaves in such a way that the neighbor is given freedom along with the help that is offered.  Notice the dynamics in the story: The Samaritan makes up for the priest by giving the man a ride;  he makes up for the Levite, by binding the wounds; he makes up for the robbers: they rob, he pays for him; they leave him dying, he leaves him taken care of; they abandon him, he promises to return.  The Samaritan makes up for the sins of neglect and the sins of violence.

We can look for meaning in this parable from the different people.

Many of the people of Jesus time would have identified with the man victimized by the robbers and left for dead.  It is from this “view from the ditch,” that the parable invites us to see a hated enemy as the merciful face of God.  The parable advances that for some it is only possible to accept this message after having reached the depths of need, having been stripped of all of one’s own resources.  We can receive the graciousness of God from those least expected, from the outcast.  It often comes amid powerlessness.