I want to start this post off with a question. What is one of the biggest lies that we’re told today? I know that’s a fairly wide category, but what do you think?
One of the ways that I’d answer that is that we have to “like” someone before we’re willing to help or trust them. This is something that underlies a lot of our society today, but we don’t think about it much (at least in these terms).
Mostly, that's because we know how nearly impossible it is to live up to that kind of expectation. We can't get to know that mean people so that we can like them. What it means is that we’ve figured out shortcuts so that we can “like” people faster. And the primary shortcut we use tells us a lot about what we’re looking for.
Before I go much further, I should also say that this is nothing new. We’ve been doing this for a long time. That doesn’t make it right, but it does mean that we have a lot of experience with this.
The shortcut is that we divide people into groups. Take for example, a long lasting division that only in recent years has started to go away. That’s Protestants and Catholics. Now that we’re talking about the church, I should also say that recent can even mean in the last 100 years.
Some of you remember, and I’ve read in history books, that when John Kennedy was running for president that there was a worry that that meant the Pope was going to run the country. Europe has literally fought wars between these two groups of people. Their struggle for dominance shaped much of the last 500 years since the start of the reformation.
What we look for in these shortcuts to liking someone, are people that share similar beliefs, values, and other attributes. And if someone says they are a part of this group, then it becomes a lot easier to like them, and if we like them, then we’re more likely to help them if needed.
Or worse, is if someone is a part of a group that we aspire to be a part of. We’ll give them a pass on a lot of things because we want to be in that group. That’s one of the reasons why back in the day there weren’t more revolts against the nobility in Europe. Its why today we see kids that want to grow up and be pro-athletes, or other people try to make it big in Hollywood, or the rise of “influencers” or how we had the growth of McMansions, people buying and living in homes they couldn’t afford, but they were trying to be something else.
It’s easier to like folks that are like us, or who are part of a group that we want to be a part of. It’s much harder if they are different. That’s where we struggle.
All of that is important for this post as we start in on the story of the Good Samaritan. I know, the image above shows that we’re in Jonah, and we are. Jonah and the Good Samaritan are used as comparisons with each other because of what takes place. In many ways the Good Samaritan is an epilogue to Jonah's story. It's what happens years down the road as we learn the lessons Jonah struggles with.
Remember where we are with Jonah.
He’s an average guy, who had mixed success in his common job as prophet before he’s called on by God to go and do a big thing in a place he doesn’t want to go.
He tries to run away, but spends some time in time-out to think about what’s he’s done….in the belly of a big fish.
Then he goes and does the big thing God wants him to do, and succeeds! But then he has to deal with his success, and he’s angry because God is forgiving a whole group of people for what they’ve done.
That’s a whole group of people who aren’t like him, in a time when you really didn’t associate with people who aren’t like you.
Now, what do we do with that?
This is where the story of the Good Samaritan comes in, and why its an important one when we’re looking at Jonah.
A presumably Jewish man leaves Jerusalem to go to Jericho. Gets robbed, beaten up, and left for dead on the side of the road.
He gets passed, by a priest and a Levite, who literally go out of their way to get passed this man…crossing to the other side of the road. A third man, who is a Samaritan, is the one who stops, takes care of his wounds, takes him to a local inn, tells the innkeeper he’ll be back to take care of any additional charges the man racks up.
Jesus then asks the question, and the rest of the passage follows:
“What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?"Then the legal expert said, "The one who demonstrated mercy toward him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."--Luke 10:30-37
What was necessary for this story to have a happy ending? Meaning that the man didn’t die?
Mercy, compassion, access to resources
What wasn’t necessary?
Liking the other guy.
Jews and Samaritans were like the Hatfields and the McCoys, or maybe the Chiefs and Raiders, or Catholics and Protestants (used to be), or Democrats and Republicans, or black and white. They didn’t like each other.
No where in this does Jesus say that you have to like the other person. But Jesus still says to go and do likewise. The hardest part for anyone to overcome here isn’t actually doing the work, but its overcoming the dislike of the other person.
The priest and Levite couldn’t do it….although they may have given "thoughts and prayers" for the man as they passed him…on the other side of the road, while also being thankful they weren’t in his position.
The Samaritan man overcame his dislike to offer mercy and compassion.
This is the same thing we see Jonah dealing with all throughout his story. First in chapter 1 when Jonah gets on the boat and the storm comes up that threatens to sink the ship
Meanwhile, the sailors said to each other, "Come on, let’s cast lots so that we might learn who is to blame for this evil that’s happening to us." They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. So they said to him, "Tell us, since you’re the cause of this evil happening to us: What do you do and where are you from? What’s your country and of what people are you?"He said to them, "I’m a Hebrew. I worship the LORD, the God of heaven—who made the sea and the dry land."Then the men were terrified and said to him, "What have you done?"--Jonah 1:7-10a
Jonah is the stranger on this boat, but notice that the sailors don’t immediately say its his fault. They say lets cast lots to see who is responsible. When it lands on Jonah, and they question him, he starts off by separating himself from them. Demonstrating that he isn’t like them. For whatever good it is doing him in this moment, he’s still holding himself apart from them and also giving them a reason not to like him in return, because he isn’t like them.
Then we get to verse 12
He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea! Then the sea will become calm around you. I know it’s my fault that this great storm has come upon you."--Jonah 1:12
Jonah is getting over this, and knows who’s fault this is, and tells them what to do, but its still a couple of moments before they actually do it, and in doing it they are still giving a prayer for Jonah.
Liking the other person wasn’t necessary here. Mercy and compassion save the day. First what is shown to Jonah, and then what he shows to the others on the boat. This is why I have hope that if there were a fifth chapter in Jonah that we would see him overcome his struggles.
Remember what I said about Jonah overcoming his anger, and in this case his dislike, being a part of a long plan that God is working on?
We shouldn’t be surprised in the Gospels about the stories that Jesus tells like the Good Samaritan. God doesn’t care about who we like or dislike, and Jonah’s story shows us that. God has been preparing us for this for a long time.
God shows us what the consequences of not showing mercy and compassion are through Jonah. God shows us what can happen to someone else when mercy and compassion is shown through the Good Samaritan.
Why then, as a society, do we persist in holding on to the “big lie” that we have to like someone else first?
Why do we persist in not showing mercy to others, regardless of the color of their skin, where they come from, the faith that they have, the gender they happen to be or not be, who they fall in love with, how much money they have, where they live, how much education they finished, and the list can go on.
Why do we continue to do that? If we aren’t careful, then we become like the priest and the Levite crossing over to the other side of the road, or eventually we become like Jonah and need some time in time-out, or worse still, we become like the man who was beaten and left on the side of the road, and when someone shows up who we don’t like to help, do we turn them away?
We see Jonah struggle with this. It’s one of the things that is causing his anger at the end of the book. We don’t know how his story ends, but we do know what Jesus says.
Jesus said,
Regardless of if you like the other person, that’s irrelevant. God calls us to show it anyway.
Go out and do likewise. Is it going to be easy, no. Will you get duped on occasion, yes. Will you work with people who aren’t like us, yes. Will it be easy, no. But, imagine a world where we can do this, where together we let go of the divides that keep us from showing mercy and compassion, and imagine how this world can live up to God’s creation of it, and how it can be changed for the better.
Go and do likewise, and do it in Jesus name. Amen.
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