Proper 10 :: Amos 7:7 – 17 / Psalm 82 / Colossians 1:1 – 14 / Luke 10:25 – 37
This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on
Sunday, July 10, 2022.
“NETWORKING”
(Homily text: Luke 10:25 - 37)
This
morning, we are treated to Jesus’ wonderful parable about the Good Samaritan.
Since
this parable is, most likely, very familiar to us, perhaps we might approach it
by looking at a specific aspect of the Lord’s story that it might be easy to
miss: The interactions between the Good Samaritan and the innkeeper. If we’re
going to cast our gaze on this aspect of the story, we might be deliberately
setting aside what might be some of the more noticeable aspects of the tale,
like the stand-offish behavior of the priest and the Levite, for example.
Instead,
let’s look into the interchange between the Samaritan and the innkeeper.
To
look more deeply into the business that the Good Samaritan engaged in with the
keeper of the inn to which the Samaritan had brought the badly wounded man, I
think we may need to make some assumptions about the situation, which might
help our examination of the initiatives of the Samaritan and the reaction of
the innkeeper. I think the following assumptions aren’t out-of-line with the
reality which existed at the time of Jesus’ telling of this tale.
The
assumptions are these:
·
The inn is in Jewish territory. The
road from Jerusalem down to Jericho (the setting for the parable) leads
directly eastward from Jerusalem.
·
The Samaritan is an outsider in a
foreign (Jewish) area.
·
The innkeeper is Jewish, meaning that
he wouldn’t normally do business with or interact with a non-Jew, and
especially not a Samaritan.
·
To have a wounded, bleeding man in the
inn might mean that the inn and all those who’d been there would be rendered
ritually unclean.[1]
Now, let’s take a look at the scene
that unfolds at the inn.
Jesus
says that the Samaritan places the wounded man on his own donkey, and brings
him to the inn. The Samaritan then takes care of the man. The next day, the
Samaritan has to leave, but tells the innkeeper that he will make an advance
payment on the care of the man (who, most likely, isn’t in any condition to
travel) until he returns. The Samaritan then says that whatever else is spent
on the man’s care while he is gone, he will pay for.
Perhaps
we can deduce from the fact that the Lord doesn’t include some details in the
story, that the innkeeper doesn’t order the Samaritan man and his wounded
companion out of the inn the moment they set foot in the door. After all, if
our assumption that the innkeeper is Jewish is correct, that might be the
expected response as the Samaritan sets foot inside. (Reminds one of the
exclusive policies of businesses in our own country not too many years ago,
policies that can be summarized by the saying, “We don’t serve your kind
here”.) But it’s clear from the story that the Samaritan and the wounded man
are allowed to stay. They are allowed to stay more than just overnight.
We
might come to the conclusion that the example of the care that the Samaritan
man was giving to the man was such an example that the innkeeper was persuaded
to allow the wounded man to stay when circumstances compelled the Samaritan to
go away. That seems logical, even though the Lord doesn’t say so. Suffice it to
say that the Samaritan is, in every way, demonstrating an exemplary example of
the care that each human being ought to show to another. That might be the
reason for the innkeeper’s willingness to accept a down payment on the man’s
care, and to be assured that the Samaritan would, indeed, return, to tidy up whatever
loose ends there were in the man’s care.
What’s
happening here?
Two
things, I think: 1. Breaking down barriers that separate people from one
another, and 2. Creating networks of people working together for the betterment
of others.
The
world into which our Lord came 2,000 years ago was a deeply divided, deeply
stratified world. Jews didn’t associate with Gentiles. Nor did they associate
with Samaritans. Jewish leaders maintained their exclusive status, casting
aside the care of the people they were supposed to be shepherding (no wonder
Jesus calls Himself the “Good Shepherd”). The Gentile world was much the same
way, deeply separated by class and by economics.
Notice
then that the Lord tells us a tale that sets the normal expectations of his
Jewish audience on their heads: He tells them a tale in which the hated
Samaritan is the hero.
Now,
let’s return to the matter of the cooperation that is set in motion by the
Samaritan’s initiative in enlisting the innkeeper to assist in the wounded
man’s care. The Samaritan has already broken down the barrier of being willing
to come in contact with the wounded man. Now, the Samaritans isn’t afraid to
approach the innkeeper to say, “We need your help”.
It’s
troubling to have to admit that the world we live in is much like the world of
2,000 years ago. It is a deeply divided, deeply stratified world. It is a world
in which many would rather walk to the other side of the road to avoid a
difficult situation, rather than take the initiative to make things better.
Our
Lord’s call in Baptism is to action, and to create cooperative networks with
other Christian believers to make the Good News of God in Christ known by
observable, tangible acts, acts which are outward and visible signs of God’s
grace, dwelling within. I’d call such a standard of living “Sacramental
Living”. After all, we have to admit that, at one time, we were outsiders with
God. But God, in His mercy, reached out to us, in order to create a cooperative
network for the glory of His name and the betterment of all humanity. We call
that reaching out Baptism.
The
Parable of the Good Samaritan gives us an excellent pattern to follow.
AMEN.
[1] The priest and the Levite avoid the wounded man by going to the far side of the road in order to avoid contact with the man’s blood, which would render them ritually unclean according to the requirements of the Law of Moses.
