Mercy Without Borders

Luke 10: 25-37

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied, ‘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 priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” 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.’

There was Franciscan, Brother Andrew, who was on a journey and he was accompanied by a man who consistently tested the humble brother by insulting him and being derogatory and disparaging in response to everything Brother Andrew said. Every day for three days, whenever Brother Andrew spoke, his fellow traveler responded by calling him a fool and ridiculing him in some arrogant fashion. Finally, at the end of the third day, the fellow could stand it no more. He asked Brother Andrew, “How is it that you are able to be so loving and kind when all I’ve done for the past three days is dishonor and offend you? Each time I insult you, you respond lovingly. How is this possible?”

The Brother Andrew responded with a question of his own for the traveler. “If someone offers you a gift and you do not accept that gift, to whom does the gift belong?” His question provided his fellow traveler with a new insight. When someone offers you the gift of their insults and you refuse to accept them, they obviously still belong to the original giver.

What has this got to do with the parable of the Good Samaritan? Not much except I changed the story a little from the original.  In the original story it wasn’t a Franciscan brother who was so loving and wise. 

It was the Buddha.

Depending on where you are in your spiritual journey, if I had told this story and used the Buddha as the wise, loving man instead of the Franciscan brother, you might have experienced a bit of inner discomfort that I would use Buddha to illustrate a very Christian principle rather than a recognizably holy Christian of some sort. It’s a fact that people of other faiths, who do not recognize Christ as the Messiah, often act in ways that truly reflect God’s heart and do so in ways that could teach us Christians a thing or two. That can be disconcerting for some people.

We need to realize that when Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, he deliberately used a Samaritan as the protagonist of the story rather than a good practicing Jew. To the Jews, using a Samaritan to illustrate mercy and the importance of caring for our neighbor would have been about the same as anyone using the actions of the Buddha to demonstrate to a group of good orthodox Catholics what God desires of them. As it would be with any group of Catholics, the reaction of the Jews listening to Jesus would have ranged from mild discomfort to full outrage and complete rejection of Jesus and his teachings.

In his parable, Jesus didn’t even have the Samaritan suddenly convert to Judaism before he so generously helped someone who was his spiritual enemy. Imagine if I had retold the parable and the cast of characters consisted of a Catholic priest, a renowned Catholic theologian and the Buddha – with the Buddha being the one who cared for the man who was beaten and left to die while the priest and the theologian avoided him. I think there would be many who would not be happy with me. No doubt, the lawyer was less than impressed with Jesus and his parable.

 “And who is my neighbor?” Because it says that the lawyer was testing Jesus, it would be safe to assume that the lawyer asked this question because Jesus had given the right answer to the first question and the lawyer was pushing the envelope to see if he could still get Jesus to walk into a trap. It wasn’t an innocent question. The Pharisees, scribes and lawyers were always debating the finer points of the law and Jesus once scolded them that they would strain at gnats and swallow camels. They would adhere devoutly to insignificant points of the law while ignoring God’s beloved laws of love and mercy.  To even ask who is a neighbor indicated a bit of ‘gnat straining’. So, I guess Jesus decided to give him a camel to swallow.

 The parable was certainly an uncomfortable surprise for the lawyer but Jesus’ disciples experienced their own uncomfortable surprise as well. Just previous to this scripture passage, the Samaritans had denied hospitality to Jesus because ‘his face was turned to Jerusalem’. The whole town rejected Christ because the people would not acknowledge that the temple in Jerusalem where Jesus was headed was the true temple. You may recall that the disciples offered to call down fire on the town to pay it back for refusing to put them up for the night.

Yet, here was Jesus telling a parable where the Samaritan was the hero. That must have been a a shock for the disciples. Even though a whole community had overtly rejected Jesus as the Messiah, he let it be known that love and mercy are not the products of correct laws and belief systems. Love and mercy are the fruit of a heart that yearns for God and seeks to serve him. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well, in relation to where the proper place was to worship God, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.” God sees the heart, not the brand name. 

This isn’t a reflection on inter-faith respect, though that’s a good thing. My point is that God is so serious about his law of love and mercy that he made it a universal precept, not just a Christian tenet. No matter where mercy is displayed, God is there in fullness. One act of mercy is an open invitation to God to come and manifest his entire being to both the one being shown mercy and the one being merciful and he doesn’t look at whether either of them belong to the proper group. There is no space between God and mercy. When we withhold mercy, we withhold God and we make a mockery of the gift we have been given.

It’s actually not a choice.

I’ll just wind up with a bit of Shakespeare, who said it beautifully:

“The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest. It becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings,
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings.
It is an attribute to God himself.
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this-
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.” (Merchant of Venice)