Reading 17
The one who stopped
The reading
Luke 10:25-37
Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’
“Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?” He said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
The companions
Psalm 82:3-4
Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
Isaiah 58:6-10 (selected)
Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you; and the LORD’s glory will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
The note
The lawyer asks for a boundary. Who is my neighbor is a request for the edge of the obligation, so he knows who falls outside it. Jesus does not draw the line. He changes the subject of the sentence.
Two men see the man in the ditch and route around him. Both are religious professionals. Neither is described as cruel. They see, they calculate, they keep walking, which is what most of us do most days.
The third man is the wrong sort, the outsider the audience would have crossed the street to avoid, and what he does is itemized. Bandages. His own supplies. His own animal.
A night’s lodging. Two denarii down and an open promise for the rest. The compassion has a price attached, and the price is paid.
Then the question comes back inverted. Not who qualifies as my neighbor, but which of these three became one. Neighbor is not a category. It is something you do, at cost.
This week
Pick one need you already know about and put a number on it. An hour, a lift across town, fifty in cash, a call you keep postponing. Then pay it this week, and pay it without arranging to be seen paying it.
Nobody asked the two men on that road what stopping would cost them. They worked it out on their own and kept moving. Do the arithmetic, then do it anyway.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain). The divine name is rendered “the LORD” in the prophet reading.
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