Loving the Forgotten
Summary: In our busyness, our prosperity and our prejudice, we often overlook some of the most lonely and forsaken people in the world: those who are in prison, those who are oppressed, those who have been victims of injustice, and those who cannot care for themselves. For example, one of the American church’s darkest hours was during the struggle for civil rights during the 1950’s and 1960’s. While many liberal politicians and churches were fighting for equality, most evangelicals were silent.
Jesus was once asked by a self-righteous religious leader to define the scope of ‘loving one’s neighbor.” He responded by telling the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10;25-37).
It is interesting that Jesus uses a priest and a Levite as examples of uncaring preoccupation. The religious people in the story seemed to be too busy and too self-absorbed to care about the injured man alongside the road. Jesus was teaching us that we have a responsibility to tangibly care about those who have been beaten up – beaten up by the circumstances of life, beaten up by injustice, or just beaten up by their own poor choices.
Discussion Questions:
Lean In (conversation starter / ice-breaker)
Look Down (observations from Scripture; note the Commentary at the bottom of the post)
Luke 10;25-37
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What do you think the injured man was thinking and feeling when he first noticed a figure on the horizon heading towards him? What would he have felt when he noticed that the figure was a “good” person / a “man of God”?
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What “reasons” (excuses) could the Priest and Levite have given for crossing over to the other side and continuing on his way?
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If the Samaritan had passed by without offering help, what “reasons” could he have given? (Remember: Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Think of the worst race riots; that’s what’s under the surface here.)
Look Out (observations from our world)
- Who are some of the “invisibles” in our world, our society? Who are the hurting people that no one even notices any more?
- What “reasons” to people give for their inactivity?
- Brainstorm a list of the “kinds of people” who should help people who are hurting (ie. doctors, policemen, family members, etc.). How many “kinds of people” have a legitimate reason to help? Now, prioritize the list. Who should have the most motivation to help?
Look In (personal application / action)
- Who are the forgotten people in your world?
- How might they feel when they see you on the horizon heading in their direction? What if they knew you claimed to follow Jesus?
- What “reasons” do you give for your inactivity?
- What commitment can you make today that will help you to take action the next time you see someone who is “invisible” or hurting?
Commentary: (source)
The original impact of the parable of the good Samaritan is generally lost today. After centuries of good biblical public relations, our understanding of a Samaritan as a positive figure is almost a cultural given. But in the original setting, to a Jewish scribe a Samaritan would have been the exact opposite, a notorious “bad guy” and traitor. That is an important emotive element to remember as we proceed through this parable. The hero is a bad guy. Culturally he is the last person we would expect to be hailed as an exemplary neighbor.
In fact, the parable turns the whole question around. The lawyer asks who his neighbor is in the hope that some people are not. Jesus replies, “Just be a neighbor whenever you are needed, and realize that neighbors can come from surprising places.”
The story builds on a common situation, a seventeen-mile journey on the Jericho-to-Jerusalem road. This rocky thoroughfare was lined with caves that made good hideouts for robbers and bandits. The road was notoriously dangerous, the ancient equivalent to the inner city late at night. Josephus notes how some took weapons to protect themselves as they traveled this road and others like it (Jewish Wars 2.8.4 125).
In Jesus’ story, a man is overcome by a band of robbers and left on the road to die. As he lies there, his life passes before him. Then a priest comes down the road. The expectation culturally would be relief: “Surely help is on the way now.” Luke’s statement that the priest appeared “by chance” (Greek) suggests a note of hope that fortune has smiled on the wounded man. The NIV renders this A priest happened to be going down the same road. But the priest does not stop. Rather, he crosses to the other side and keeps going. The detail about crossing the road is no accident. It is a brilliant use of literary space: the priest gets as far away as possible from the wounded man as he passes by.
A Levite, another potential source of aid, arrives on the scene. As one who served in the temple, he will surely have compassion, stop and render aid. But when he sees the man, he also crosses to the other side of the road and keeps on moving. So two men of similar Jewish background have failed to render aid. They have failed to be neighbors.
Interpreters speculate as to why they refuse to help. Do they fear being jumped themselves? Do they fear being rendered unclean? The text gives us no reason. As is often the case, the bother and discomfort of helping have kept the man dying on the road. Getting involved is costly, and for many the investment is too high. But to refuse to help is moral failure.
But now another traveler comes on the scene. In Greek the text highlights this man’s arrival by placing his ethnic identity, a Samaritan, at the front of the description. The scribe hearing Jesus tell the story must be thinking, “There will be no help from this half-breed.” But as often happens in Jesus’ parables, a twist on cultural expectations yields this story’s major point: the despised schismatic will be the model of neighborliness. Maybe “enemies” can love God and be examples.
Jesus focuses his language now. In as many words as he used to describe the activity of the two Jewish leaders, he details all the Samaritan does to save the man–six actions in all. He comes up to the man, binds his wounds, anoints him with oil to comfort him, loads him on his mule, takes him to an inn and cares for him, even paying for his whole stay. In fact, given the amount the Samaritan leaves with the innkeeper, the injured man probably has about three and a half weeks to recover if he needs it, since the going inn rate was one-twelfth of a denarius and two denarii was two days’ wages.
Jesus’ question to close the story requires no brilliant reply: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The lawyer knows, but he cannot even bring himself to mention the man’s race. The lawyer is choosy about his neighbors. He does not understand the call of God. Nevertheless, he answers, “The one who had mercy on him.”
This reply is correct, so Jesus simply says, “Go and do likewise.” Jesus’ point is, Simply be a neighbor. Do not rule out certain people as neighbors. And his parable makes the point emphatically by providing a model from a group the lawyer had probably excluded as possible neighbors.
To love God means to show mercy to those in need. An authentic life is found in serving God and caring for others.
