Live fully in the community God has designed for us Part 4

You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.

Today, an expert in the law tests Jesus, but it's the disciples and the expert who get schooled.

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:25-29

Wanting to justify himself, the expert in the law presses his luck with one more question. With an upraised brow and a smug little smile he asks Jesus to clarify – Who is my neighbor? A short story, an unexpected hero, and a rhetorical question later, Jesus awaits the expert's answer. “The one who had mercy on him,” he answers correctly, if not begrudgingly. For the word Samaritan never crosses his lips.

The Good Samaritan by Vincent van Gogh

Most regular Bible readers acknowledge a strong animosity between Jews and Samaritans because of a vague notion that something happened in their shared history. Here's a brief accounting: 

In 722 BC, the Assyrians destroyed the land of Samaria, then occupied by the kingdom of Israel. The king of Assyria resettled the land with people from Babylon and other nations who worshipped other gods to replace the Israelites (2 Kings 17). Eventually becoming a racially and religiously mixed nation, Ezra rejected their help to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 4). Insulted by the snub, the people of Samaria build their own temple on Mount Gerizim. (Remember the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well in John 4?) Resentment deepened between Jews and Samaritans in 128 BC, when leader and High Priest, John Hyrcanus invaded Samaria and destroyed their temple. Not to be outdone, a century later, the Samaritans defiled the Jerusalem temple with dead bodies. 

Suffice it to say, by this time, the Jews and Samaritans despise each other. And in the opinion of the expert in the law, Jesus' good Samaritan would have sounded like an oxymoron.

Yet, it's not only the expert in the law who needs to hear this story – to rethink and reconsider the question, Who is my neighbor? Not hardly. Luke strategically places the telling of this parable after an unfortunate interaction with his disciples in the previous chapter.

The Good Samaritan by Paula Modersohn-Becker

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and his disciples went to another village. Luke 9:51-56

Soon, Jesus will give his disciples a mandate to go into all the world and preach the good news everywhere. Everywhere? Jesus can't even trust these guys to go to a neighboring village. Want to flunk Missionary Training 101? Threaten to kill foreigners who reject Jesus.

For now, Jesus directs his disciples to another village. Not to protect himself from the Samaritans, mind you, but to protect the Samaritans from his disciples. No wonder Jesus recounts the parable of the good Samaritan in the next chapter – his own disciples needed its lesson, too.

Sometimes I wonder, How was it possible for the disciples to sacrifice everything for Jesus, learn from him daily, love him wholeheartedly, and yet harbor racist attitudes? I don't know. It seems impossible to hold such contradictory beliefs and behaviors in tension.

Then again, I also wonder, How is it possible for Christians today to pray fervently, give generously, worship extravagantly, and yet despise the stranger, fear the foreigner, hate the immigrant, and be inhospitable to the refugee? I still don't get it.

As Christians, we long for that day when every tongue, and tribe, and nation will sing his praise, yet we reject the humility, the courage, and the kindness necessary to create an environment to live that reality presently. In the process, we forfeit God's design and God's community to our own detriment. It's not as if God left us powerless to complete the task he set before us. Or is the day of Pentecost just a fond memory for the Church?

I made a promise a few weeks ago to prove to you that living in the diverse community God has designed for us is essential to our health as the body of Christ. I haven't forgotten. Return next week for the final installment. Until then, let's remember ...

When we care for the stranger, love the foreigner, embrace the immigrant, and welcome the refugee, then we can begin to live fully in the community God has designed for us.