Who Are You?
Luke 10:25-37
The priest and Levite passed by and looked the other way. Then, a third person happens down the road and this individual, as it turns out, is not a Jew but a Samaritan. But this Samaritan stops and tends to the victim's needs, applies first aid, puts oils as a disinfectant on the wounds, bandages him up, and takes him to a nearby inn. There he leaves him, but not before paying his bill. Having finished his story Jesus looks at the lawyer and asks the question: “Now who was the neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?” Well, of course, you could not possibly miss the point. The lawyer responds: The one who showed mercy.
Now a very interesting thing has happened. A lawyer has asked a question which in effect says: "What is the outer perimeter of my responsibility? At what point am I no longer liable? Where does it cut off." In effect he is asking: where can I quit loving? The answer that he probably wanted was: All faithful members of the Jewish faith or all members of the Jerusalem Bar. That's where you can stop being a neighbor!
So, what about Jesus's answer - this Good Samaritan parable. Jesus is in effect saying, "Look, you're asking the wrong question." The real question is not "Who is my neighbor?” The question is, “Am I a neighbor?” A person who has the love of God within him will respond with compassion to human suffering wherever he finds it. Mercy - mercy for another human being who is not qualified by race, status, religion or any other barrier that society might erect. The Pharisee was looking for where he could stop loving. It was Jesus who said: “Look, it's sharing love that makes a person a neighbor. You define it in terms of the center and not the circumference.”
In the February 1994 issue of Reader' Digest there is a story of how God's Spirit helped one man fight the impulse to pass by on the other side. On September 26, 1944, Ray Hamley, an RAF flying officer, and his crew, flying an American-built B-25, dropped bombs on the town of Kleve just inside Germany's border with Holland. Ray was 21 years old, and his bombs that day hit the railroad station, a number of Nazi factories, and the town church. He had an inkling that one of his bombs hit the church, but war was war. On the ground that day a young woman in Kleve mourned not only the loss of her church, but the loss of her parents who happened to live in a house next to the church. For the town of Kleve, 647 civilians and 879 personnel would die before the Second World War was over.
Meanwhile, Ray Hamley went home to England after the war, married his childhood sweetheart, and became the head of a primary school. But then in 1983, someone handed Ray a newspaper clipping that showed how the people of a little town in Germany named Kleve were rebuilding the Church of St. Mary that had been bombed during the war. Something triggered in Ray's memory. He found his old logbook in the attic, and suddenly realized that it had been his bomb that had destroyed the church back in 1944.
An impulse was born in his heart as he thought about that tiny town, and how the loss of the church must have touched those people. But then came the temptation to pass by on the other side. He thought to himself, "Come on, Ray, after all, the Nazis bombed innocent children in London and Warsaw; it was wartime; it was years ago; forget it, Ray, and get on with your life; it's not your concern. " But thank God, Ray Hamley did not let those second thoughts win out. He wrote to the Mayor of Kleve, asking for the forgiveness of the town people, and requesting that his letter be read by the priest at the dedication of the new church building. In 1984, Ray got a reply from the people of Kleve, requesting that he and his family come and see the new church building. But again, those second thoughts attacked Ray, and he could not even answer the letter.
Once more the parish priest in Kleve wrote to Ray, this time with a letter signed by 500 parishioners offering their forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ! Ray Hamley went to Kleve. His visit not only healed old wounds in his life, but has brought about an incredible reconciliation between Ray's hometown in England and the people of Kleve in Germany. And it all happened because by the power of God, Ray Hamley was able to conquer his second thoughts, and not pass by on the other side. For Ray Hamley, this was a turning point in his life.
How difficult it is to stop and be sensitive. We want to say: “Well, that's not my neighbor. He';s from another city, or another political philosophy, or another economic bracket, or of another race.” But Jesus is saying it doesn't make any difference who it is. If we are people within whom the love of God dwells then we will respond with compassion to those whom we pass on the roadside of life. The young Pharisee asked: how can I love my neighbor if I don't know who he is. Jesus replied: It's not who he is. It's who you are!
Questions to Ponder
Have you ever paid someone else's bill?
Do you ever have a temptation to pass by on the other side when you see someone in need?
Do you ever have thoughts that need to be conquered?
In His Service,
Terry Phillips
