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Being
the Person in the Ditch
July
14-15, 2007
Fr.
George Smiga
Luke
10:25-37
Jesus'
favorite way of teaching was by parables. And no parable has
only one meaning. For example, when we hear today's parable
about the good Samaritan, we immediately place ourselves in
the role of the Samaritan. We imagine that the parable is
telling us to help others in need as the Samaritan does. This
is a valid and common way of understanding the parable. In
fact, we even have “Good Samaritan laws” which tell us that
we cannot stand idly by while someone is in dire need. So
helping someone else is certainly a valid way of reading this
parable. But it is not the only way of reading the parable.
A
very different and more profound way of reading the parable
occurs when we identify not with the Samaritan but with the
man who fell in with the robbers. As long as we see ourselves
as the Samaritan we are the helpers, we are the ones giving
to others. When we see ourselves as the man who fell in with
robbers we become the ones who need help, we are the ones
who must receive. When we see ourselves as the Samaritan,
the parable calls us to give to others in need. When we see
ourselves in the role of the man in the ditch, the parable
asks us to realize how God saves us. From the perspective
of the man in the ditch, this parable is about the way that
God helps us, the way that God brings us to salvation.
So
imagine yourself in this parable. You are the person walking
down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho . You are attacked
by the robbers who strip you and beat you and leave you in
the ditch half dead. You are in dire need and you wait for
someone to help you. Your heart rises as you see two honorable
and respectful people coming down the road, the priest and
the Levite. But neither of them stops to help you. Then you
see a Samaritan coming down the road. Now remember, at the
time of Jesus, Jews and Samaritans were enemies to one another.
In the world of the parable, seeing a Samaritan come down
the road is seeing your enemy come down the road. Now then,
you see the person you like the least, the person who has
hurt you the most, the person over whose injuries you have
brooded day after day. That person is now coming down the
road. What will he do? Will he attack you? Will he ignore
you? No. He stops to help you. You are now saved, but not
in any way that you could have suspected. You are saved, but
not by anyone you would have chosen to save you.
And
this is the point of the parable. From the viewpoint of the
man in the ditch, this parable tells us that God will save
us, but not always in the way we expect or even desire. The
parable tells us that God is in charge, and God will decide
how salvation comes. Often God will lead us to life in ways
that surprise us and even shock us. We all want life, life
for ourselves and for those that we love, and we turn to God
and we ask for life. God hears our prayers and answers them,
but not always in ways we anticipate. Sometimes the road to
life is painful. Sometimes it passes through disappointments
and failures. Sometimes we arrive at life only through the
agency of people we do not like and would rather avoid.
God
will save us. God will bring us to life, but on God's terms,
not on our terms. We do not get to choose the way in which
salvation comes, we can only embrace it when it arrives. That's
why the fundamental stance of any Christian is one of surrender.
However it comes, our role is to surrender ourselves to God's
mercy, knowing that God might choose to give us life in ways
that we cannot anticipate and sometimes in ways we would not
prefer. In the gospel, the lawyer asks Jesus the question,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” To that
question, this parable answers, “Find your place in the ditch
and wait.”
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