the singularity of being and nothingness
Posts tagged Good Samaritan
A Generosity That Transcends Morality
Apr 26th
(Thanks to Kevin for the inspiration!)
In Luke 10, Jesus tells the famous story of the Good Samaritan. In this narrative, the behavior of the Samaritan toward the injured man is juxtaposed with that of the a priest and a Levite to reveal the nature of the message of love which Jesus was teaching, a love which treats one's "neighbor" as oneself.
Obviously, the various facets of this story have been mulled over for countless centuries. However, while listening to a exposition of this passage this weekend, I was struck by something of an interesting idea: that the nature of love and generosity transcends morality.
Let me explain.
Generally, the attitudes of the Levite and priest are characterized quite pejoratively–after all, it is they who walked so callously by the injured man, with seemingly little regard for his life or injuries. While there is certainly a measure of truth to this characterization, I think some other considerations are warranted.
One of these considerations is that these men did not bypass the injured man out of gross neglect or comfortable apathy. In fact, it is quite possible that their hearts were moved to compassion. If this is so, why did they not then act?
Part of More >
The Good Samaritan and the Enemy
Jul 23rd
Recently, my pastor spoke about the parable of the Good Samaritan. As with other messages on this parable, the crux of the issue came down to the identification of the "neighbor" in the story. As was concluded in the message, it was the Samaritan man–not the religious elites–who was a true neighbors to the bloodied, violated man, for he alone showed care.
As I was reflecting upon this story, I was struck particularly by the identities of the characters in this parable–the three Jewish men, and the Samaritan. Most of the messages on this parable that I have heard conclude that the point of the story is that the definition of "neighbor" must be expanded beyond one's friends, family and acquaintences, and must more inclusively be defined by all humanity. While I believe this is certainly a part of the import of the story, I think a much more poignant point is being made by Jesus, the point that one's neighbor not only includes "everyone" generally, but one's enemies, specifically.
I think it is no accident that the protagonist of the story is a Samaritan. Hated by the Jews and despised for their mongrolized religious belief and praxis, the Samaritans were a More >
