I recently had the opportunity to attend a church service
where the sermon was based on the parable of the Good Samaritan. I’ve heard many sermons based on this famous
parable, but this one definitely came out of leftfield…and I do me THE LEFT
field.
This pastor, who happened to be a woman, repeated and
repeated and repeated the question from the parable: “Who is my neighbor?”. Her answer was emphatically “Everyone”. She
suggested that Israel should treat the Palestinians as neighbors. Russians should treat Ukrainians as neighbors. Americans, Christians in particular, should
treat those crossing our southern border as neighbors. Every conflict could be settled if we were
just good neighbors.
She made the point that in this parable, the Samaritan
who showed mercy was the “good neighbor”.
The priest and the Levite who had passed by the badly injured stranger and
offered no help were definitely not being good neighbors. The parable concludes with Jesus commanding
that we should behave like the Good Samaritan.
Jesus tells us that we must “Go and do likewise”.
So, it begs the question, What Would Jesus Do (WWJD)? What should the Christian position be when it
comes to immigration for example? Some
would argue that certain Christian organizations are making things worse by enabling
people to make the long trek to our southern border and advising them how best
to crossover; and then telling them “what to say in order to stay.” Unfortunately, “activist” Christians must ultimately
face socio-economic and political reality mixed in with a large measure of unintended
consequences. Simple solutions to
complex problems seldom work. Even more
elaborate, sophisticated solutions often don’t work and almost never work as
planned. History is littered with problems
which were only made worse by the solutions inflicted upon them. The current situation in Israel being a
classic example.
People have been twisting scripture and stretching Jesus’
parables for two thousand years to fit their agendas. It’s a big reason why so many people have
walked away from the Christian faith and religion in general. But ultimately people will end up believing something. Everyone has a belief system, even if it’s
just doing what “feels” right or following the crowd.
The world is complicated and broken. 8 billion people, 56 million square miles of
dry land and 140 million square miles underwater; millions of people sick and starving along
with millions sick and overweight. Vastly
different cultures, religions, languages and living standards. Only God can fix it and he will…when he’s finally
had enough of whatever this is. And
Christians would be well-advised to consider that some problems are above their
paygrade. Do the right thing when and where
you can, but don’t make things worse. Now
that’s being a good neighbor.
