Who is My Neighbor?
Am I now currying favor with
human beings or God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying
to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ. Galatians 1:10
But a Samaritan traveler who came
upon him was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged
them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared
for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the
innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him. If you spend more than what
I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.' Luke 10:33-35
Piety
O God who calls us to love with heart, soul, mind and strength, we
confess that we have used the genius of our minds and the skill of our hands to
create a “fire from heaven” that falls out of the clear blue sky on a people we do not know. Their blood cries from the
ground, many of our soldiers are troubled in mind and spirit, and we are not
secure. Is there no other way?
Have mercy, O God. Inspire our minds with the spark of your
imagination. Free us from the fears that bind us so that we may be bound
instead by the power of your love to our brothers and sisters in your
many-peopled human family. And may we find great courage, beauty and liberating
joy as we seek to walk together in the way of peace on the path of justice.
Amen.
(The author of this prayer, Titus Peachey, is peace
education coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee. He published this at https://themennonite.org/feature/fire-from-heaven/)
Study
Shifting focus from a week of study and reflection on Job, we are now served
Paul’s letter to the Galatians as our first reading. In place of the usual “Thanksgiving greeting that we find in Paul’s letter to the Romans, he jumps right to the point and expresses amazement at the way his converts are deserting the gospel of Christ for a perverted message. He reasserts that there is but one gospel.
In addition, he has to defend himself from the charge that he sought to
conciliate people with flattery and to curry favor with God. Paul freely admits that he shifts his mission
strategy when addressing the Corinthians:
Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all
so as to win over as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win
over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law—though I
myself am not under the law—to win over those under the law. To those outside
the law I became like one outside the law—though I am not outside God’s law but
within the law of Christ—to win over those outside the law. To the weak I
became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at
least some.
Paul admits in Corinth – and indirectly here -- to doing this as a
slave of Christ: “All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may
have a share in it.”
To Luke’s recounting of the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus has
only two words: “Do likewise.” Practice
mercy to all who are your neighbors.
If we also are slaves of Christ, we can do nothing less. Just a few
chapters (days) earlier, the disciples wanted to call down fire from the
heavens onto a Samaritan village which would not welcome Jesus.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you
want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Luke 9:54
They journeyed onward. However,
while we might not connect the two stories, the first audience probably would
be feeling some degree of shame for their earlier words.
I also would love to know what Martin Luther would say to the lessons
from this parable. As you recall, Luther
was famous for professing in his blog (actually he nailed 95 blog entries to
the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral):
“Sola
Scriptura. Sola Gratia. Sola Fides."
("Only
scripture. Only grace. Only faith")
Scripture over tradition; faith over works; and grace over merit. But
something
Solely the Bible. But what about
when the Bible tells us a story of mercy?
The people in the Bible are people of faith AND action. The Samaritan.
Nicodemus. The Prodigal Son.
Solely Grace. But what about the
habitual grace practiced by the Samaritan?
Does he not earn the smile of God as he sacrifices for others?
Solely Faith. But what about
when our faith calls upon us to act with mercy? We see two people of faith in
the priest and the Levite who, despite
their faith do nothing to help the man who was mugged and thrown in a ditch.
Perhaps Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformers should have attended
a Cursillo. To the “Solas” they might have added one more: “Souly”
Action. The Samaritans of the world
would like that. As would all the people
who are victims of muggings left to die in the ditch. If we are to get
redemption through Christ alone, let’s not forget that Christ was a man who
asked us to act.
However, in
Martin Luther’s defense, the wonder of the Internet Library allows you and
I to call up at will the sermon by the Protestant Reformer on this very
parable.
Luther does not deal with this story as a literal truth-telling but
more as an allegory of our sinful life and how Christ (as the Samaritan)
rescues us. Luther asks:
How is it possible
for us to love God, as long as his will displeases us? For if I love God I love also his will. Now, when God sends us
sickness, poverty, shame and disgrace, that is his will. But what do we do
under such circumstances? We thunder, scold and growl, and bear it with great
impatience. And this is the least part, for what would we do if we had to
forsake the body and life for God and
Christ's sake? Then we would act quite differently. Yet in the meantime I act like this Pharisee and lawyer does, I lead a
fine outward life, honor and serve God, fast, pray, and appear very pious and
holy. But God does not want this. He wants us to accept his will with joy and
love, and this we are too tardy in doing.
In a symbolic way, the Samaritan is not you and I. We are the sinner who is in the ditch. The Samaritan, according to Luther, is
Christ.
This Samaritan of
course is our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who has shown his love toward God and
his neighbor. Toward God, in that he was
obedient to him, came down from heaven and became man, and thus fulfilled the will of his Father; toward his
neighbor, in that he immediately after his baptism began to preach, to do
wonders, to heal the sick.
Luther may not be wrong.
However, two thousand years of Catholic moral theology also may not be
wrong. Go. Do Likewise.
Action
As the Bible says, “For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so
also faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26).
If we really believe in Jesus, then we will want to do what He asks: to
love God and our neighbor. Do. Likewise.
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