The story of the Good Samaritan is possibly one of the most popular stories in the New Testament. This is also a story that is popular outside of Christian circles. I believe this is providential because the story itself is meant to break the boundaries that exist between groups of people in society including religious boundaries.
I am currently invested in this story because it will be the source of conversation for the young adult group on Thursday night. I believe this story is especially important for priests to remember but not for the most obvious reason. To refresh your memory, a priest is one of the main antagonists in the story as he ignores the man on the side of the road who is left for dead. After this week's reading of the story, I think the more important lesson for me goes beyond the moral sense (do good to those who need help).
While this story might not fit the classic model of a parable, I approach the story like a parable. In other words, I use the same interpretive questions that I would use for a parable study. Who is asking the question? What is the question at hand? Who are the characters? What is the scene? props? After I answer all these questions, I get a sense of the overall point. Once I understand the overall point, I can then start to apply the parable to my daily life.
The overall tension in this story is not simply apathy vs. commitment or even between selfishness and selflessness (these are both teachings to be taken seriously here). Based on the question at hand, the tension speaks more to the connection between knowing God's law and doing God's law. For the lawyer, the assumption was that studying the law was more important than practicing the law.
In addition to being somewhat of a racial slur, the word Samaritan conjured up images of what it means to be a heretic. The Samaritan probably didn't know much about the law. The laws about touching an unclean person or a dead person didn't seem to bother him. The possibility that he could be falling into a trap set by bandits didn't seem to bother him either. He simply saw someone who was in need and responded to that need to the best of his ability.
As a priest, I find myself in a teaching role often. I get really excited about teaching and want those who come to church to understand scripture and theology. I strive to teach theology within the frame work of scripture and the creeds, the mystery of the Eucharist, and through faithful prayer and conversation.
While I think this is critical work for priests in the church, I also recognize that sometimes I get in my own way or really Jesus' way. Sometimes I lose sight of what is really more important. Can't I trust that God's work is just as likely to happen, maybe even more likely to happen, through the work of heretics? Speaking of heretics, I am probably just as guilty if not more guilty than anyone.
At the end of the day I wonder, who is God calling me to be more like? The lawyer who who can argue religious points backwards and frontwards or the heretic who helps someone in need?
While I don't think for a minute God is calling me to stop studying and teaching sound theology, I do hear Him gently saying, "loosen up a little bit, trust that I am drawing all things to myself through Christ, keep studying and teaching but don't let that get in the way of the Gospel truth."
The Gospel truth is that God's kingdom has come on earth through Jesus. In God's Kingdom, the most important work is service and right relationship with others no matter what the cost, even if that means letting go of a theology that I am sure is right.
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