The parables of Jesus are a never-ending trove of wisdom and grace. No matter how many times I proclaim and preach Jesus' incredible stories, I always come away with something new, something deep, and something to challenge the narrow confines of my spiritual and pastoral life. Yesterday was no different.
It was the parable of the Good Samaritan. The ancient hatred between Jews and Samaritans is a familiar theme. The reasons for it are also familiar: the Great Exile that took the Jews into foreign slavery and left a remnant (Samaritans) to eke out a horrible existence without the Temple, without the priesthood, without familiar rituals and under horrible economic and social conditions. To their mind, they did the best they could -- developing new prayer forms, marrying and building their family lives, holding the memory of Yahweh against tremendous odds. They expected respect and gratitude when the exiled returned. Instead, they got scorn and derision. Thus began the ancient rivalry that is the subtext of this parable.
In a world divided between the clean and unclean, there was no need for the Samaritan to reach into the ditch to help the Jew in peril. The inherited rules of compassion didn't apply to religious enemies. Apparently they didn't apply either to the priest and Levite, either.
But, the Samaritan feels mercy in his heart, a mercy that will transform him. Having "done" mercy once to a sworn enemy, he can never act afterwards with the same old justification, the same old denial, the same old enmity. This one act of compassion will transform how he relates. It will suspend the world of the clean and the unclean forever. And this is Jesus' point.
Mercy is the new rule of the covenant He came to bring. Inclusion is the new norm of catholicity that He came to establish. All other justifications for inaction and exclusion are degraded.
Behind this parable stands a truth that explodes every theory of passivity. God never passes by a ditch of human suffering. God never walks to the opposite side of the road. The death of Jesus reveals the stunning truth of God's kenotic love. He enters the ditch of human misery. The Creed says it, "he descended into hell." Thus, the power and range of Jesus' amazing love.
The parable rocks with meaning time after time, after time.
Glad you have joined the "blog" game. You write so well, many will be lifted up by your insights.
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