You Are The Neighbor DEUTERONOMY 30:10-14 COLOSSIANS 1:15-20 LUKE 10:25-37 Jesus’ special style of neighborliness was dictated by a standard higher than the Mosaic law (first reading from Deuteronomy). Indeed, the call to allow all others a claim upon ourselves was dictated by Jesus himself from the cross. Through his saving sacrifice, he revealed the extent to which our divine Neighbor and God loves and cares for all people. To answer God’s call to follow Jesus’ lead requires that we rise up to greet each new day by looking into the mirror and saying, “You are the neighbor.” Then, with courage and commitment, we are to live accordingly. DEUTERONOMY 30:10-14 George Ernest Wright (1909-1974), the great Presbyterian scripture scholar and minister once described the faith of Judaeo-Christian believers as “truly democratic in that it can be laid hold of with power by the simplest and the most humble” (“Deuteronomy”, The Interpreter’s Bible, Abingdon Press, Nashville: 1953). Although God is surrounded by mystery and absolute knowledge is beyond finite, human grasping, nevertheless, God chooses to be known and the divine is revealed among us in a manner we can comprehend and to which we can readily respond. Such is the message of today’s first reading. Part of an address which Moses was purported to have delivered to the refugees from Egypt in the wilderness, this text and the rest of Deuteronomy were probably the products of a much later time in Israel’s history. Most scholars agree that the Deuteronomist’s recension of the law can be traced to the seventh century B.C.E. where it was used as an impetus in the religious reform of King Josiah. In an effort to call their contemporaries to a renewed fidelity, the Deuteronomic authors adapted their ancient legal traditions to new and changing situations, all the while reminding the people of the simplicity and nearness of the will of God for them. According to an ancient Jewish tradition, God’s ways and will were unknowable, and required, that a chosen intermediary (Enoch) ascend to heaven and then return to earth to instruct humankind in the law. Today’s text from Deuteronomy serves as a corrective to that notion; indeed, God has written the life-giving and salvific law in the human heart (v. 14; see also Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:26-27). Not an esoteric truth, hidden in heaven or somewhere beyond the sea (vv. 12-13), God’s will for humankind is simple, understandable and practicable. Moreover, each person, regardless of their educational background or intellectual acumen has been made capable of recognizing and responding to God’s commands. Perhaps, it is its very simplicity that sometimes derails those who strive to attend to God’s way. Too often, many of us fall into the trap of thinking that great feats and Herculean efforts can somehow make us worthy of god’s love and capable of discovering the path to life. Recall Naaman, the Syrian leper (2 Kings 5) who traveled to Israel in search of a cure, loaded down with silver, gold and festal garments. Naaman was ready and willing to go to great lengths to be healed of his disease. When told by Elisha that he need only wash in the Jordan river, he stormed off in anger. That was too facile; therefore, he reasoned, it couldn’t work. But God called Naaman to pierce the wall of his own rationality with a sincere and trusting faith. When he did, he was made whole. Remember also, the series of desperate questions posed to God in the book of Micah (6:6-7). In their desire to be restored to their covenantal relationship with God, the prophet’s contemporaries were willing to barter for God’s favor with holocausts, thousands of rams, myriad streams of oil and even their first born children! Micah’s answer to their extravagant offer was disarmingly simple. . . “do what is right, love goodness and walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8). . . and remarkably similar to that of the author of Deuteronomy. . . “return to God with all your heart. . . heed the command of God and carry it out” (Deuteronomy 30:14). Today, the ancient authors remind us that we already know what we are called to be and to do; they also remind us that it is our personal free choice and daily responsibility to bridge the gap between knowing and being and between knowing and doing. COLOSSIANS 1:15-20 The ancient author seems to be saying to his readers that to look elsewhere or to be seduced by anything other than Christ is vain and foolhardy. Like Terry Waite, who found refuge and sanity in special remembered passages, those who will recall this hymn to Christ will be fortified against any and all deterrents to their spiritual sanity and salvation. LUKE 10:25-37 Much can be made of the fact that a priest and a Levite saw the plight of the beaten man and continued on their way. Excuses can be offered for their behavior. Perhaps they had a more urgent matter to which to attend. Perhaps they thought the man to be already dead and did not want to render themselves unclean and therefore unable to perform their duties in the temple. Perhaps they declined to interfere in what they regarded as some sort of divinely ordained punishment for a sinful life. Perhaps, honest readers of this Lucan parable might even be inclined to sympathize with their refusal to become involved in the man’s plight. Whatever their rationale, those religious professionals were not the featured characters in Jesus’ parable. In what was no doubt both shocking and even a little insulting to his listeners, Jesus chose a Samaritan as the “star” of his story. Although they shared a common heritage, Jews despised Samaritans and treated them as foreigners. The hostility between Jews and Samaritans was exacerbated by a deep-rooted rivalry concerning their sanctuaries (Mt. Gerizim, Mt. Zion), messianic expectations, and by disputes regarding the interpretation of their sacred texts. The fact that Jesus chose a Samaritan to be the exemplar of a good neighbor indicated that among his disciples there could be no such rivalries or hostilities. He had come to redefine and interpret the law. Prior to Jesus, the term neighbor meant another Israelite; today’s parable stretches the traditional definition to include anyone in need. The robbed and beaten man was to be perceived and cared for as a neighbor because his need staked a claim on all who saw him. To refuse that claim is to breach the law as Jesus read it; to breach that law of love is to disinherit eternal life. It is significant that Jesus refocused what could have been a heady discussion initiated by a lawyer into a lesson on love featuring an unlikely hero. Roland J. Faley (Footprints on the Mountain, Paulist Press, New York: 1994) sees further significance in the fact that the lawyer could not bring himself to speak the word “Samaritan.” In response to Jesus’ question, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the man. . .” (v. 36), he could only say “the one who treated him with compassion” (v. 37). Whether the lawyer learned the life lesson Jesus was teaching is not ours to know. What remains of utmost importance for each of us is our own response to the claim made upon us by anyone in need. These claims call out to us; these claims prohibit our turning a blind eye or choosing to simply pass by, unaffected and uninvolved. The claims of the needy and suffering, the claims of the maltreated and marginalized, these claims affirm our identity . . . “you are the neighbor!”
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 09:24:33 +0000
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