Proper 10 / Pentecost 8 / Ordinary Time 15
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?
-- Luke 10:36
This story begins with a lawyer standing up and asking the question that haunts all of life. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" As Jesus often did, he answered the question with a question of his own. Unlike the accounts in Matthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-34, the lawyer was the one who answered his own question, and he did so with Jesus' approval. The lawyer was not satisfied and responded with an additional question, "Who is my neighbor?" In response, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan. When Jesus finished telling the story, Jesus asked the lawyer which one of the three figures in the story had been a neighbor. If we are going to love our neighbor, which one is the neighbor that we are to love? We protect ourselves by classifying who is worthy of our response and who fails to qualify for our kindness. Jesus turned the question upside down and told the lawyer that a neighbor was one who showed mercy rather than the one who needed it. It is easy to love one who shows mercy.
The question of who deserves our love is reversed and seems to be rather do we deserve anyone else's love? Because the story deliberately casts the normally disliked Samaritan into the role of hero, we know that we are not worthy because of who we are but by the mercy we show. It also suggests that the quality of our mercy is increased when it comes to the one who least expects it. The Samaritan had ample reason to justify his not stopping because of a history of antagonism between the Jews and the Samaritans. We prove to be neighborly by being responsive to those who least deserve it because that is the way that God has loved us.
-- Luke 10:36
This story begins with a lawyer standing up and asking the question that haunts all of life. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" As Jesus often did, he answered the question with a question of his own. Unlike the accounts in Matthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-34, the lawyer was the one who answered his own question, and he did so with Jesus' approval. The lawyer was not satisfied and responded with an additional question, "Who is my neighbor?" In response, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan. When Jesus finished telling the story, Jesus asked the lawyer which one of the three figures in the story had been a neighbor. If we are going to love our neighbor, which one is the neighbor that we are to love? We protect ourselves by classifying who is worthy of our response and who fails to qualify for our kindness. Jesus turned the question upside down and told the lawyer that a neighbor was one who showed mercy rather than the one who needed it. It is easy to love one who shows mercy.
The question of who deserves our love is reversed and seems to be rather do we deserve anyone else's love? Because the story deliberately casts the normally disliked Samaritan into the role of hero, we know that we are not worthy because of who we are but by the mercy we show. It also suggests that the quality of our mercy is increased when it comes to the one who least expects it. The Samaritan had ample reason to justify his not stopping because of a history of antagonism between the Jews and the Samaritans. We prove to be neighborly by being responsive to those who least deserve it because that is the way that God has loved us.
