A little help goes a long way.........

Atheists know  the point of the parable of the Good Samaritan, even if they have no idea that the original story is biblical or what exactly a Samaritan is.  For the record, a Good Samaritan is someone who goes out of her way to help someone she could just as easily ignore - a stranded motorist, an injured animal, anyone in need.  In many states, Good Samaritan laws protect a benevolent individual from liability when in the end, they weren't exactly the perfect help at all.

So we have some idea of what a Good Samaritan is, and since we Christians have some idea that we have a duty towards our neighbors, we expect that the point of the parable is our duty to be out there giving help to those in need.  And not just a little help, but extravagant help in dangerous situations and without regard to cost.

Thus is created a huge burden of conscience for many people of faith.  We are surrounded by people in need no matter where we live, which leads me to those folks who stand at the intersections of our major highways here in Syracuse with signs that read "A little help goes a long way...." If we choose to not help them out with some spare change or a sandwich, we usually drive away feeling at least a little guilty for doing nothing. Because we are supposed to, it is our duty, we are obligated.

So, with lightening speed, we manage to turn a parable of God's gracious mercy into a hammer of guilt.  We turn love and mercy into an obligation and God into a cosmic bean counter.  In this space where grace and mercy could bring life and healing, we have nothing because we know that we will not respond as the Samaritan did every time we come to the corner of 690 and Hiawatha Blvd.  We are left with only death: the death of our spirit and the hunger of the needy one.

So don't go there.  Don't start beating yourself up and making excuses and arguing with me from your desk computer.  We need to walk through this parable together and do it as people of faith, people who have come to know the power of life that is present in Jesus and available through the Holy Spirit.  The parables are not Aesop's Fables with a clearly stated moral at the end.  They are complex layered stories which are intended to challenge our thinking, provide a different point of view and lead us into a newer understanding of our complicated relationship with the Divine Creator.

A man was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho and he was robbed, stripped and thrown into a ditch, left for dead.  Probably not an unusual occurrence on that stretch of highway, and one of the main dangers of traveling alone.

Three men came upon this helpless victim in our story.  Two saw his plight yet chose to 'pass by on the other side.'  The third one stopped, gave aid, provided shelter and support until he was healed. It was an unheard of, extravagant act of kindness and has left people feeling guilty for hundreds of years.  Was that Jesus' intent?  Or was Jesus challenging us to see the world through different glasses, to shake off our egocentric thought process, to fully commit to God's point of view of love lived out in mercy and grace?  Are we being asked to see that stranger in the ditch with the same eyes that God sees us?

Just a few questions to get us started.  There is lots to talk about.  See you tomorrow.