How did we end up with this story that we’ve come to know as the parable of the Good Samaritan? Someone came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” To our ears, that might sound like “how do I get to heaven?” until we realize that ‘eternal life’ isn’t so much a reference to length of life or life after death but a quality of life that can be ours right here, now. ‘Abundant life’ might be words we’d use to hear what this man is really asking … “what must I do to experience abundant life -- a life rich in meaning, purpose, wonder, goodness?

Knowing him to be an expert in Jewish law, Jesus hands the question back to him -- “what does the law say? What is written there?”  He doesn’t have to go searching … it’s right there on the tip of his tongue: “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 neighbour as yourself.” Jesus affirms, “you’ve got it. Do this and you will live.”

For whatever reason, maybe it’s too vague, maybe he’s all about wanting to get it right, or hoping to be let off the hook …who knows? for whatever reason the man presses a bit further, asking Jesus, “tell me, who is my neighbour?” At this point Jesus might have simply said, “everyone!” Except that no matter who “everyone” is, there will always be exceptions. So instead Jesus answers with a story, like he so often does … with a story that has a way of taking us somewhere we might not otherwise find ourselves.

“Who is my neighbour? We might have expected Jesus to tell a story something along the lines of the story I recall Romeo Dallaire recounting from his experience in Rwanda. He was the commanding officer of a United Nations peacekeeping force in the midst of that horrific bloodbath. At that time AIDS was rampant among the Rwandan people, so the troops were versed in clear protocols to protect themselves. Except that what Romeo Dallaire noticed was that the Canadians among the troops, when they would come upon someone wounded, bleeding in the ditch, there was no stopping them from diving in to help. There was this striking quality of compassion that was readily there in particular among the Canadians.

This kind of care, that would have us reach across or through what might have been our “no go” zones -- we might have expected Jesus to tell that kind of story. Who is my neighbour? Even and especially the ones who are suffering, the ones in need … the poor, the hungry, the orphan, the widow, the stranger, the cast-offs.  Isn’t that what we expect to hear from Jesus? After all it’s what is there in the law, the torah. Except that Jesus is telling a parable … which means we’re in for a surprise! …a shock …the unexpected … a twist somehow. It’s the way of a parable to crack open our view of the world … our view of ourselves … to see something --even if just for a moment-- something new.

Who is my neighbour? We expect Jesus to tell a story about caring for a person in need … which he does, except that something else, something more happens along the way. And to catch it we first need a bit of background. To the people first listening to Jesus’ story, when they hear Samaritan, it would be like us hearing ‘friends of Donald Trump’ … someone we would not identify with, or associate with. Not one of “our people.”  The Priest and the Levite, on the other hand, are to Jesus’ hearers “our kind of people,” they’re in our camp. We know them, we hang with them. And so as the story unfolds and we see the Priest and the Levite passing by on the other side, we might cringe a bit. Like good Canadians we expect them to dive right in. But at the same time, we can understand. They’re like us after all and we know we don’t always come through.

But then along comes a Samaritan. Even from a distance we know what’s going to happen … worse than turning a blind eye, he’ll finish the guy off, just because. Except that right before our eyes we see him bending down, and with the tenderness of a mother to her own child, there’s this outpouring of compassion.  It’s like we’re seeing it in slow motion … the pouring out of water and wine and oil … the cleansing, the binding of the wounds … the gathering up of his limbs, his whole body, into his arms … placing him on his own animal … their arrival at the inn … the way he accompanies him through the night … the opening of his purse and handing over his money to innkeeper … “whatever it takes,” we hear him say as he heads off. “I’ll be back to square up with you. Whatever it takes.”
 

Do you notice how we’re given to linger so much longer with this picture of mercy … this outpouring of compassion and generosity. Jesus doesn’t send us running after the 2 who walked on by, to confront or judge them or to hear their reasons.  That’s not where he takes us. No. He brings us up close and personal to this scene of mercy … so close we can smell the wine … so close we can feel the smoothness of the oil … so close we can hear the groan of pain, the moan of soothing. And so close we can see the face of this Samaritan … see his eyes of compassion, his healing hands, his tender heart. So close we can see something of our own best selves … the person we would hope to be in that place, on that road.

It’s right there that Jesus asks “which of these do you think was a neighbour to the one who fell into the hands of robbers?”  Of course it’s the one who showed mercy. And for a moment at least, a Samaritan of all people is drawn into that circle with whom this man identifies … a person, like himself, who cares. And then Jesus adds a final zinger --‘go and do likewise.’ One more time he sets him alongside … inviting this identification … not just with the guy in the ditch, but with a Samaritan of all people.

It’s Jesus’ signature move … to land us in with each other … to mix us up in a way that we are given to see past the categories to the humanity of one another … to our own humanity. Jesus has this way of giving us neighbours we didn’t know we had.

So I wonder, how Jesus might be working the crowd that’s walking through the streets of Victoria today … and gathering in Macdonald Park? It’s not often we get to experience such a degree of diversity.  Who will we recognize as neighbour as we jostle together in the crowd? Who will Jesus introduce us to … a neighbour we didn’t know we have?

This Pride event is an amazing opportunity to gather us together as one human community. It’s a great day for us to experience humanity standing together … claiming each other as neighbours.

You want to have a taste of abundant life, Jesus says … life in all its fullness? It’s got everything to do with widening your circle of care … that giving and receiving that happens between neighbours … even and especially the neighbours we never knew we had.

As we head out from this place today, no matter where we’re headed, see what happens as you carry with you this question:  how is Jesus working the crowd today … giving us to each other that love might grow within and among us?

 

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