The Good Samaritan

" Jesus said, ' You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' A scholar of law said to Jesus, ' And who is my neighbor?' Jesus replied: ' A man fell victim to robbers. They stripped and beat him and went off, leaving him half- dead.  A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise, a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then, he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day, he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.' Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?' He answered, 'The one who treated him with mercy.'  Jesus said to him, 'Go and do the same.' " [Luke 10: 25-37].

The first time I read this story, I was reminded of the beginning of a riddle or a silly joke. Think of it: "A priest, a Levite and a Samaritan are walking down the road . . . ."

But this is no joke. This is a parable, with a deadly serious moral at the end.

I write a lot in this space about stories that seem merely Biblical, like a parable out of the Bible. But, everywhere I look, these Scriptural parables are not fiction. They are Real.

The story of the Good Samaritan is a well-known and well-loved Bible story. But there is a little known fact, buried in plain sight, in this story. You see, the victim was likely Jewish. The Samaritans were pagans. And, at that time, the Samaritans and the Jewish people hated each other. The individuals who passed the stranger by were, shockingly, a priest and a Levite, persons of faith. One would think, merely by virtue of their "office" or station that the priest and the Levite would have been the ones to help.

Can this story be for real? Why not?

Almost a decade ago, three young girls were kidnapped and held in a house in Cleveland, Ohio against their will. A neighbor, hearing one of the girls yelling out the window,  kicked in the door and pulled her out.  An inspiring story, no?

The fact is, the girl he rescued, Amanda Berry is white. And the neighbor, Charles Ramsay, is black. Does this change the story for you? Interviewed later, Charles Ramsay said, "I knew something was wrong when a little, pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms."

How easy it is for us to assume that "our neighbor" should be someone just like us!

I have a Good Samaritan story of my own:

I went down South to university, to study in a graduate school program.

Now, I thought that the American Civil War was long over. . . . .

From the Southern students, I would get comments like, " You are pretty gentle and nice for a girl from up North. My mama warned me to stay away from girls like you, who come from above the Mason-Dixon  Line."

Or, I was told stories about the Civil War: " You Union people burned our crops and stole our chickens. Atlanta was burned to the ground. We had to plant vegetables near the house and watch over them. We had to boil dandelion greens in water and we called it "soup". "Pot Likker" is what we called it."  They made it sound like I had done all these things to them personally; and it was as if it had all happened yesterday.

One day, the unthinkable happened. I was home in my graduate student apartment, when I was the victim of a home invasion. It is a miracle that I survived. The attacker started strangling me, and he let go of my throat only as I was starting to pass out. He had a knife. I was left for dead, when he finally exited.

The police came. I was taken to the ER in a squad car. How surreal. I was not hospitalized, but I was a mess; unable to roll over in bed, in pain from superficial knife wounds, unable to fix a meal, too scared to return to class.

It took me three days to call my crazy, dysfunctional family, to tell them what had happened to me. I was afraid that they would blame me for the attack. My parents did blame me -- for opening the apartment door. They came down to see me, took me out to dinner and to lunch.  Then, they left me there to cope alone. One would think, merely by their station as mother and father, that my parents would have been the ones to help.

The fact is, it was my classmates, most of of them Southerners, who got me through this. Maybe they had once pictured me as the Enemy. Maybe they expected me to react to them in the same way.

But- they let me sleep on their couches, when I was too afraid to sleep alone. They shared meals with me-- on a student budget. They shared class notes and helped me study. They took me out for a meal of comfort food when they thought I was feeling too down.

Think of it-- instead, it was the Southerners rallying around to help this Northern girl --  the kind of girl that they had been warned away from!

It is still painful and unreal for me to realize that my own family abandoned me at my worst hours. I wish with all my heart that my own family had had enough Love in their hearts to gather me up in their arms and bring me home to heal.

But how grateful I am for each and every kindness I received from my classmates. The truth is, I could not have survived without them. I had to stay in school, since going home was not an option. My classmates collaborated to make sure that I was able to stay in school.

I learned a lot from this experience. I learned that even a stanger can become a beloved Neighbor.

I learned not to allow myself to be boxed in by labels, categories or names. Love knows no boundaries. Sometimes, Love-- even from one who simply happens to be walking by-- is enough! God's Grace is enough.

I learned that sometimes your relatives do not act like family; but you can find Brothers and Sisters anywhere.

[Related posting, "The Kindness of Strangers", July 5, 2013].


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