“And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29b)
Sociologist of religion Emile Durkheim believed that every conception of God is the sum total of the values and prejudices of the society which creates it. And in fact, value bearing human beings and their collectives do have an inborn talent for prejudice and discrimination. In every time and place those in power look with contempt and scorn on those who differ from them. When religion sanctifies a culture’s values and discriminatory attitudes, as it frequently does, bigotry becomes a moral imperative for all of its followers.
The Samaritans of first-century Palestine were social outcasts — foreigners, pure and simple. More than that, their lack of status had come to be justified by the purveyors of faith. The religion of Samaritans was suspect, to say the least. Their morals were not up to par. In fact, they were totally unclean by clear scriptural standards.
Jesus addresses this religiously supported bigotry head-on in today’s gospel. A mugging victim, he relates in a parable, is ignored and passed by on the road, first by a priest and then by a Levite. In the end, it is only an “unclean” Samaritan who stops and offers assistance. “‘Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise'” (10:36-37).
An American diocese recently ordained to the priesthood a person then serving prison time for a 20 years previous participation in the murder of a helpless street person. Repentance and amendment of life just might be real. At the same time, however, the church routinely removes from ministry those accused of sexual misconduct. And when someone is convicted of sexual crimes, it seems there ‘s no amount of punishment, repentance, or conversion that even comes close to meriting our forgiveness.
Who are the most abject outcasts in the church today? “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a bishop was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a priest. But a sex offender who had repented and served her time, while traveling, came near him; and when she saw him, she was moved with pity.”
“[H]e asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ . . . ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him , ‘Go and do likewise'” (Luke 10:29b, 37).
Look It Up
Jesus embraces a leper in Matthew 8: 1-4. What risk does he take in doing this?
Think About It
A recent news story relates a former sex offender seeking to join a United Church of Christ congregation. How did the congregation respond? How would your congregation respond?
The Rev. Patrick Twomey is a retired priest of the Diocese of Fond du Lac, and has written our Sunday's Readings column for many years.
