The text for today is Luke’s story of the Good Samaritan. It’s a story about a man seen as less than human who comes to the aid of a person who probably despised him. We probably don’t do that kind of thing very often, but most of us really don’t have people who really despise us, especially based on who we are.
Historically, the Jews despised the Samaritans not because they knew them personally but of who they were and what they represented. Biblical tradition has them descended from three of the 12 tribes. They built their own temple at Mount Gerizim and have their own version of the Torah. Only about 800 survive, living between Gerizim in the West Bank and the Israeli city of Holon.
They are a lesson in what happens when people are cut off from the outside world or choose to be insular. No people can be insular, cut off from the rest of the world. This is one planet, coal ash drifting from West Virginia into New Jersey and fossil fuel America polluting the rest of the world with greenhouse gasses. No one, no country is an island.
Prayer for the Day
We are so blind that we are unaware of our sin,
But you, O God, can open our eyes to the world around us;
We are self-righteous and full of pride of who we are,
And we need to be humbled so we understand our faults.
So often we evade our culpability for the evil done in our name,
And need your empowering love so we speak with courage.
In the name of the One who is the wellspring of strength,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Not for ourselves alone are we born.
- Marcus Tulius Cicero, Roman orator and statesman (106-43 BCE)
I'm starting to think this world is just a place for us to learn that we need each other more than we want to admit.”
- Richelle E. Goodrich, writer, Smile Anyway
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”
When you have it with you.
Proverbs 3: 27-28