Lectionary Year C
July 15, 2001
Luke 10:25-37

Hermeneutical Bridge

Hermeneutical Bridge:

(FS) - STEP V

The Priest and the Levite were eminently respectable types, I'm sure. Might the listeners have thought, "Well of course they gave that beaten man a wide berth"-- maybe their reaction was an understandable effort to avoid being "unclean" and not being able to officiate or participate in worship.

Do Christians in middle-to-upper class churches in the USA today do the same? We have our reasons for "sacando la vuelta" (going around) the "victim": "She's poor 'cause she's lazy." "Why should we help people in _____, ______, or ______ when we've got needy folks right here?" "__________ made his own bed..."

The Samaritan would have had good reason not to stop and help a person coming from Jerusalem. Samaritans were despised as "half-breeds" and "heathens", and returned disdain for contempt. But this one showed love for neighbor: he stopped and delayed his passage along a dangerous road; he spent money on an inn and food for the victim. Jesus said this was love of God flowing into loving one's neighbor as oneself.

Another Lectionary reading for today is Amos 7: 7-17. Yahweh sets a "plumb line" by which to measure Israel. Is the Parable of the Good Samaritan a "plumb line" by which we can measure our own love for neighbor? Who would we consider "Samaritans" in our communities ?

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