With Whom Do You Identify?
In the parable of the so-called “Good Samaritan” the following characters are in play on the stage: the man who became a victim, the thieves/robbers, the lawyer, the priest, the Levite, the Samaritan, and the innkeeper.
With which one are we expected to identify? With which one are you inclined to identify?
The answer seems obvious to many of us, but with whom would Jesus’ original audience most likely identify. Not the Samaritan, probably. At least according to Emerson Powery as presented in his excellent new book The Good Samaritan: Luke 10 for the Life of the Church.
And there is no reason all of us have to identify with the same character in the parable. Nor does one always identify with the same person. To read a parable of Jesus requires acts of imagination.
Most pastors I know have preached this parable.
Those in the lectionary tradition have almost no option, though they could year after year choose the other readings.
The result is that nearly all of us preach on this text. That is why I encourage all of you to buy this book and read it before you preach it next. You will rise up and call me blessed.
After sketching how this parable fits in its context in the Lukan narrative, Powery turns to five important observations about the parable:
First, Jesus does not call the Samaritan “good.” Measured by his behavior, the best word might be the compassionate or neighbor-loving Samaritan.
Second, the word “pity” in 10:33 (“he was moved with pity”) is an emotion expressed that elicits action, and can be translated with the word “empathy” or “compassion.” It’s a visceral emotion.
Third, the distinction of the Samaritan is that he is moved with emotion and acts upon it in a way that is compassionate.
Fourth, the audience would have been unprepared for and surprised by the actions of the priest and Levite. The priest here is a temple leader of some sort. The other side of the surprise is the behavior of the Samaritan.
Fifth, the Samaritan is a stock character, an imagined person in the parable and he should not be equated with typical Samaritans nor should he be seen as unlike other Samaritans. He’s a fiction in a story. Luke has an openness to the Samaritans, as seen in Acts 8. He reveals the openness to the gospel by the Samaritans as Luke experienced it in the early church’s mission expansion.
What Powery presses into service in his reading is the trauma of the victim of the robbers. The man was a victim of violence. Most of the audience knew the dangers of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Most would have had stories. I related to this because of what is happening in Chicago right now. If one listens (only) to the news reports one can wonder if it is even safe to go to the City. Many Jews would have known of the dangers of the road, and so many would have had identified with the victim and wondered about him.
The story of this parable is a tragedy of violence against an innocent person. Powery ponders how long he lay there. And who else was affected by that act of violence. And how long it took for him to heal enough to get back to his normal life… and if he even did. And how long the innkeeper had to treat him.
And how did the victim heal emotionally? Was he traumatized every time he got on that road?
And why we tend to neglect the victim – and I know I have neglected the victim.
Too many treatments of this parable disconnect it from the original inquiry by the lawyer (the Bible student) who asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Too many treatments fail to take Jesus seriously when he insists that loving God and loving one’s neighbor is the correct answer to the question posed. During one recent sermon, when I surveyed the congregation, half of those present did not believe the lawyer’s reply regarding what the Bible said on the subject of inheriting eternal life and they did not agree with Jesus’ claim that the man’s answer was correct. Basically, people insisted that “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” was a better way to put it. However, do we really believe on the Lord Jesus Christ if we do not believe what he himself said about loving God and others?!
I love this perspective of the parable! It reminds me of my frustration every time I watch a crime drama and the emphasis of the story is always around the police detectives and perpetrators of violence and if the victim has their part it is only in passing and as recipients of violence - rarely is their pain and difficult recovery seen long enough to be felt and empathised with by the viewer.