Pentecost+5/Proper 10C (Luke 10:25-37)

In light of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, our Christian understanding of a neighbor should be redefined. How often do we take for granted his greatest commandment to love our neighbor as oneself as if we truly know what that means? If we were to take the approach of the lawyer in the gospel lesson this morning, we start off on the wrong foot. “Who is my neighbor?” Is a wrong question to ask. Instead, Jesus directs us to a right question: “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” We don’t choose who can be our neighbor but are rather chosen to be their neighbor. We don’t have the upper hand in this neighborly relationship. 

Let’s put this in a context. The ones we want to call neighbors are usually the ones who are suffering. The fact that they’re disadvantaged makes it difficult for all of us to stand on even ground. The ones who get support are somehow lower than those providing. There’s no equilibrium between the giver and the receiver. Is this Jesus’ way of loving our neighbors as ourselves? How can I love them as myself when they are placed lower than myself? Even if I would, I should bring them up to my level to love them as myself. We must stand on the same level. Most of our Food Pantry participants, for example, are disadvantaged in this giver-receiver relationship. We’re helping them by creating a channel for other organizations and people in local communities to share their resources. We create this locus of love to be expressed concretely. Now, the question for us is not so much about “Who is our neighbor?” which already places us in the powerful position of choosing who can be our neighbor. The right question as Jesus raised is “Do these participants see us as their neighbor?” We’re at “their” discretion, not at our own, to be accepted as “their” neighbor. 

Jesus’ way of love then seems to be founded on the virtues of humility, compassion, and goodwill: humility to see others as my equal, compassion to join others’ suffering, and goodwill to wish them the best in a form of empowerment. I would like to invite us to reflect on Robert W. Service’s poem, “Neighbours.” 

                 Neighbours by Robert W. Service

                 My neighbour has a field of wheat
                 And I a rood of vine;
                 And he will give me bread to eat,
                 And I will give him wine.
                 And so we are a jolly pair,
                 Contentedly unwed,
                 Singing with supper as we share
                 Red wine and crusty bread.

                 Now venison is mighty meat
                 And so is trout and hare;
                 ​A mallard duck is sweat to eat
                 And quail is dainty fare.
                 But such are foods for festal day,
                 And we will not repine
                 While on the table we can lay
                 Crisp bread and rosy wine.

                 A will to till one's own of soil
                 Is worth a kingly crown,
                 With bread to feed the belly need,
                 And wine to wash it down.
                 So with my neighbour I rejoice
                 That we are fit and free,
                 Content to praise with lusty voice
                 Bread, Wine and Liberty

Can we imagine ourselves partaking in the Eucharist, the Bread of humility, the Wine of compassion, and the Liberty of goodwill?