The Good Samaritan Luke 10.

25-37

My grandfather used to say he never knew how ignorant he was until his family grew up and told him. Well, I didnt realise how ignorant I was until I encounter this story the story of the Good Samaritan. Since, it has to be said that, in the past I have always taken the term Samaritan for granted. In truth, it meant to me little more than a good friend in time of dire need; I knew also of that wonderful organisation of listeners to people in distress and with thought I would recall the biblical people as long forgotten as the tribes of the Old Testament.

So nothing done, I just had to research the Samaritans and the land of Samaria for this morning. It turns out that their history is a complex one as was their reasons from breaking away from main stream Judaism around the time of the Babylonian exile. Then, about a thousand years later, many converted to Islam in the middle-ages. As a result today there are only 800 followers of the Samaritan religion. Yet despite that small number their modern story connects well with the Good Samaritan of Christs parable. For their homeland of Samaria is in the central inland bit of the Holy Land. Nowadays, we would say it is in the occupied West Bank. As a result we can make the Good Samaritan story much more poignant for ourselves - here and now - by thinking of Jesus teaching us of the Palestinian

rescuing the beaten up Israeli. Quite an object lesson that would be I am sure you will agree!

Nevertheless, to get the full sense of a current meaning to the Good Samaritan we must leave Israel-Palestine and return home. Since, even here in we are all Jock Tamsons bairns Scotland, we surely cannot deny that there are divisions, there are thems and us, and there are indeed oors and theirs. And so if we were to rewrite the Samaritans, Jews and inn keepers stories we could fill in the blanks with our own dislikes, prejudices and just cant stands. Worse still if we were really being honest we could recount the parable for people that leave us outwardly accepting but inwardly uncomfortable of. The people that leave us feeling a tad two-faced as well as a smidgeon prejudiced. To make my point I turn to a story towards the end of a church-initiated Conference about multi-faith relations. One of the speakers asked those attending if they would be willing to pray for someone of another faith, for example if a Muslim asked for us to pray for their family. A minister in the audience put his hand up and said yes, of course I would be more than happy to do thatIll pray for anyone. Then, the speaker asked the minister if he would be happy to ask a Muslim to pray for him. An uncomfortable silence followed. However the sharpest point of the Samaritan story is less to do with reminding us that all humans are our neighbours and more to do something even more challenging. Because the story does not refute the idea

that there are saintly people and bad people, courageous people and cowardly people even wise and silly people. Quite the reverse, it affirms that humanity is a spectrum of spectrums. But, it also illustrates that it is daft to try and predict people's character and behaviour by their labels. Since, we surely would have ticked for the good column the priest and Levite whilst possibly putting the heretical foreigner in another box entirely. In essence, this story makes us more and not less ask the question who is my neighbour and then be startled by the answer. When we were visiting France many years ago, we meet a lady who had grown up in Glasgow after her father came to Britain during the war. She related to us a story of her Grandparents who had remained behind in occupied France. In this story a most unlikely Good Samaritan featured. Because, she told us that her grandparents had had two German officers and their batman billeted on them. The German brass were very harsh on the young soldier and, as a result, the French couple rather took him under their wing. After all, with their son away, they must have recalled he was someones son as well. One night, he came to them alone. He said yesterday I heard you listening to the Free French Radio. This was indeed a very serious offence. Now, the lad went on I am not going to say anything but those two certainly would. The radio went into the river that night. Who then was that young enemy soldiers neighbour? Who was that French man and womans neighbour? Who indeed in this crazy mixed up world is having mercy on us? Now go and do likewise!