Compassion and Convenience

           When I was in seminary, I did my fieldwork in a horrible section of Washington, D.C., the upper 14^th street corridor which was burned after the assassination of Martin Luther King.  I was appalled at the misery of the people who lived there.  There was rampant crime, prostitution and drugs.  Many of the people on the street were alcoholics, and they threatened passersby all the time.  My wife’s then cousin was the commander of the police district that patrolled the area.  We had dinner with them one night and he told us in blatantly bigoted language about the job that he was trying to do and what a herd of misfits that he had to control.  I was as appalled by his comments as I was by the area itself. 

            One day when I was driving home, about to turn right on 14^th street and go across the bridge to my apartment home in Alexandria.  I was stopped at a light.  A man banged on my window and cried out to me, “Preacher, give me ten dollars so that I can go into this liquor store and get me something to drink!”  I don’t think I had ever heard a request with less guile.  There wasn’t any doubt at all about what he wanted, or what he would do with whatever I gave him.  I didn’t comply with his request, the light changed and I got on my way back to the relative safety of Alexandria.  I am not proud of that moment.  It was propelled by fear and a great desire to get out of that area. 

            The lesson from Luke is that great parable of the Good Samaritan.  A man is beaten by robbers and left for dead beside the road.  Two men, a priest and a Levite pass by on the other side of the road because their religion doesn’t allow them to become impure by touching a man who is nearly dead.  A Samaritan, a member of a group of people considered to be impure by the Jews, stops and comforts the man, binding up his wounds and taking him on his own animal to an inn where he is lodged for the night.  The Samaritan gives the innkeeper some money and instructs him to do all that he can for him and that he will repay him when he returns.  I have to tell you, when I read that parable and think of what I didn’t do for that alcoholic in D.C., I feel like the priest who passed by on the other side of the road. 

            Jesus offers this parable to a man who has asked him what he needs to do to inherit eternal life.  He asks him “what is written in the law?  What do you see there?” The man answers with the standard formula that Jesus offered:  “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as a person like yourself.”  Jesus said to him, “that is the right answer. Do that and you will live”.  Then the man, wishing to justify himself, asked Jesus, “and who is my neighbor?”   This is when Jesus offers to him the parable of the Good Samaritan.

            And who is our neighbor?  That is the best question that you can ever ask.  It is about dealing with all of the pain of the world.  The answer, of course, is that your neighbor is the one in pain on your path.  Whoever needs you is your neighbor.  The problem with that is that it is seldom convenient to deal with our neighbor. 

            What this points to is the difference between compassion and convenience.  We are asked to love our neighbor as a person like ourselves.  There isn’t any exclusion here.  This includes everyone.  The point of Jesus’ ministry was to deal with the hurt and pain that he saw all around him.  When he found someone in misery for whatever reason, he took care of them.  I know that there are a hundred stories about his healing and comfort that were left out of the bible because there just wasn’t room for them.  He was always looking out for the people in his path.  What was their need?  How could he help?  That was how Jesus approached every day, every person.  It is also what Jesus was asking that man with the questions about his neighbor to do.  Can you imagine what this world would be like if we simply did what our Lord asked us to do?  It would be infinitely better.  The homeless would find places to live, the naked would be clothed and the hungry would be filled with good things.  We do some of this, but not enough.  We need to be Samaritans in this world.  We need to look for the wounded and the sorrowful and to take care of them.  When we do this, all of Heaven is in great joy.  

            In last week’s Gospel, Jesus sends the seventy out to be the Gospel in all of the places where he was going to go himself.  When the seventy came back and told him that even the demons responded to them, Jesus said not to be in joy because the demons submitted to them; but to rejoice that their names were written in heaven.  That is the only reward that we can expect, and it is enough.