Theologian Allen Dwight Callahan considers Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan:
The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37)—perhaps Jesus’ most famous parable—offers us compelling signposts of compassion on the Jericho road of life. [1]
The first signpost of compassion along the Jericho road of life in the parable of the Good Samaritan is the sign of anonymity. Jesus has refused to disclose the identity of people in this parable…. The story of the fallen traveler and the compassionate Samaritan is a story of love that transcends identity…. It is a love that does not check references. It is love that does not demand a positive form of identification.
The second signpost of compassion along the Jericho road of life … is the signpost of altruism. The traditional title of Jesus’ parable refers to … this nameless, faceless traveler on the Jericho road of life as “the Good Samaritan.” But nowhere in the story is the Samaritan called “good.” The language of the good is wholly absent from this text. The God of the Bible makes many demands of us…. God has demanded through the mouths of the prophets that we be holy, just, merciful, humble, even perfect. But not good. There is little evidence that God wants us to be good. This is a truly liberating doctrine, one that must be good news to some of us….
With the signposts of anonymity and altruism there is a third signpost of compassion that marks the road to love, what we may call the signpost of alterity. It is the sign of difference … [used] when we talk about “those people.”…
The Judeans and the Samaritans shared the same ancient traditions. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the ancient ancestors of both. Both peoples belonged to the same Mosaic covenant. The land of promise had been promised to both. The history that divided them was the same history that united them.…
In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus reminds us that it is because we are so close to each other that our differences are so vexing. But the differences are never as great as we fancy them to be. The Samaritan and the man at his mercy were enemies because of all they had in common. They shared Abraham and Palestine, Moses and Sinai, and, most important, they shared the divine commandments to love God and to love one’s neighbor.
The anonymity, altruism, and alterity of the Samaritan are the signposts that point to just such a love. His actions have shown us for his time, for our time, and for all time the meaning of love. He looked upon a fallen fellow human being with the eyes of compassion. He treated his wounds with the costly unguents of mercy. He provided for him in the spirit of the law of a God who has commanded us to love the neighbor we encounter on the Jericho road of life. Let us go and do likewise.
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| The Idol of Family: Counting the Costs |
 As a teen, I was very skeptical of faith and frequently argued with friends who attended church regularly or who parroted warm sentimentalities they picked up from listening to Christian music. I recall attending a city-wide Christian youth rally in downtown Chicago one evening where the speaker ended with an altar call. With eyes closed and heads bowed, he urged us to make a decision for Jesus. “It’s the most important decision you will ever make,” he said with conviction and urgency. That’s the part that gnawed at me in the church van as we drove back to the suburbs after the rally.“If it’s really the most important decision I’ll ever make,” I said to my friends in the rear benches of the van, “Then shouldn’t I really think about it for a while? I mean, picking a wife is a pretty important decision, and none of us would do that without thinking it through. If following Jesus is even more important, why do I have to walk the aisle right now?” I’m glad the youth pastor was driving and couldn’t hear me de-converting half the kids in the back of his van.Even as a teen, I found the evangelist’s message contradictory. Either following Jesus is the most important decision and therefore should be entered into with thoughtful intent and careful deliberation, or it’s not that important and can be decided with no more forethought than ordering at the drive-thru. But it cannot be both. Once home, I found a Bible to see for myself what Jesus said on the matter. I eventually stumbled upon Luke 14 where Jesus challenged the crowds to “sit down and count the cost” of being his disciple. He warned them not to start down the path of following him if they could not finish the course. Ah ha! I thought. Here’s proof from Jesus himself that the evangelist’s call was wrong. Jesus didn’t tell people to make an impulsive decision to follow him. He told them to slow down, think it over, and be sure they understood the cost involved.My smugness over being right, however, soon shifted into surprise as I kept reading.“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26–27). Good grief, I thought, the evangelist didn’t say anything like this at the rally. And I quickly understood why. If he’d told 2,000 teenagers that following Jesus required them to renounce their parents, give up their suburban American dreams, and deny their consumer desires, I’m not sure any would have walked the aisle. I found the evangelist’s message to be problematic, but Jesus’ call was much, much worse. It was downright offensive. Did the other kids in the church van have any idea what they had gotten themselves into?It turns out my unease with Jesus’ message was exactly his point. As C.S. Lewis noted, this teaching of Jesus is “profitable only to those who read it with horror.” And, “The man who finds it easy enough to hate his father, the woman whose life is a long struggle not to hate her mother, had probably best keep clear of it.” In other words, Jesus meant to shock his potential followers with this call, and it was a recurring theme of his preaching.Earlier, in Luke 9, wannabe disciples asked to say goodbye to their families before following him. Jesus would have none of it. “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Even as a suburban American teenager far removed from Jesus’ original context, I was getting the message. You either think Jesus is the most valuable thing in all the world or you don’t. Either he’s more important than even your family or he isn’t. Either you’re ready to give up everything to follow him or you’re not. There is no middle ground. DAILY SCRIPTURE LUKE 9:57–62 LUKE 14:25–33 WEEKLY PRAYER. Columbanus (543–615) O Lord God, destroy and root out whatever the adversary plants in me, that with my sins destroyed you may sow understanding and good work in my mouth and heart; so that in act and in truth I may serve only you and know how to fulfill the commandments of Christ and to seek yourself. Give me memory, give me love, give me chastity, give me faith, give me all things which you know belong to the profit of my soul. O Lord, work good in me, and provide me with what you know that I need. Amen. |
