Kedo Peseyie
Many Christians easily fall into the danger of thinking that the Bible is an ancient book and is not relevant to the issues we face in our modern or post-modern context. The first thing (and the only thing) to be said about these Christians is that they certainly do not know their Bible well enough, or, they do not understand the context they live in today. he more I read the Bible, the more I realize that it is not only a modern book, but it is the only book that is way ahead of the modern and post-modern context. After all, it is the authority that gives us a clue of the beginning of time and the end of time. Someone rightly said that the Bible is more up-to-date than tomorrow morning’s newspaper. This short story is my modest effort to set the parable of the Good Samaritan in our context so that the readers can get the feel of the impact and the scandal it created to the original hearers.
The Confrontation
On one occasion where all the leaders of the Church and the professors from Seminaries were gathered, a professor, an expert in Biblical interpretation stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” His intention was not to learn from Jesus, but to test Him. After all, he was the expert and he wanted to see if Jesus knew as much as he did.
“What is written in the Bible”, Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”
The professor was not surprised that Jesus answered with another question because this was the way Jewish Rabbis often taught their pupils: by questioning them. He answered with a technically correct answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all you mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.”
Jesus said, “You have answered correctly”. But the next sentence of Jesus was something that the professor was not expecting: “Do this and you will live”.
When he heard the second part, the professor knew that he was entangled in something more than a classroom debate. All along he was trying to avoid the uneasy connection between knowledge and practice. “It is my business to know and teach, not to practise,” he thought. He was not seeking a lecture on life from Jesus; he was merely asking for His opinion. But now Jesus was demanding that he be responsible for his knowledge. He tries to think of a way to get out of this predicament. He thinks of the first commandment “Love your God” and realises that he cannot ask, “Who is God?” without showing his ignorance and spiritual depravity. That would be foolish. He decides to question the second commandment by asking that “neighbour” be defined. And so the question: “Who is my neighbour?” He knew who his neighbour was, but he was merely trying to limit the scope of the commandment to some convenient group like the family that sends him a leg of pork every Christmas, so that “loving his neighbour” would not be so difficult if it excluded the group of people he particularly disliked, for instance, the seminary board, or that underground faction. He wanted to get off the hook and walk away justified for the many responsibilities he had failed to perform. “Jesus,” he says, “just who is this neighbour I am supposed to love as myself?”
The professor had no idea that he was getting into bigger trouble by asking this question. Though he was pretty smart himself, he was about to find out that Jesus was the smartest man that ever lived. Jesus replies with that famous parable of the Good Daily-Wage-Labourer, more popularly known as “the Good Samaritan” in the Bible.
The Parable
A man (The victim) was going from Wokha to Zunheboto, when he fell into the hands of cadres from one underground faction (The robbers). They stripped him of his clothes, seized his car, took all his money, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A Reverend (The Priest) happened to be driving down the same road, and when he saw the man he steered his car to the other side. He did feel a pinch of pity for an instant. “But wait”, he thought, “the cadres must be still around. I shouldn’t be involved for my own safety if this is a factional clash. My congregation needs me, and besides, the wounded person is of another tribe, and he must be from another denomination too. This area is full of that denomination. There are a lot of his tribesmen around this place, they will come to his rescue and he will be OK.” And so the Reverend drives on, for he was almost getting late for the communion service where he was going to serve the Lord’s Supper.
After a few minutes, a senior office worker of one of the biggest Church association in Nagaland comes by the same road (The Levite). When he came to the place and saw the wounded man, he slowed his car a little bit, but he too steered to the other side. He also felt a tiny pinch of pity for an instant. But his head was too occupied with the budget, the prayers letters, the appeal letters for funds for the building project, and the ten different committee meetings next week, that this pity quickly faded without any effort. In fact he was a very practical man, too practical you might say, that while he drove away, he said to himself, “the wounded man surely has enough strength to walk to the nearest clinic, besides I have meetings to attend.” And as he drove away, he shot up a quick arrow-prayer which he learned from a prayer seminar, “Lord, help that man help himself, amen.”
And after a few minutes a Daily-Wage-Labourer from another state also comes down the same road pushing his wooden cart to fetch water. He was the kind of person who had no idea what a seminar was. He had never seen the inside of a church. And because he was not driving a car, he saw the wounds of the man very clearly. He came to where the man was; and he saw him and took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on wine (for he carried some wine). Then he put the man on his wooden cart and pushed him to the nearest lodging house and took care of him. The next day he took out a fifty rupee note and gave it to the owner of the lodge. “Look after him”, he said, “and when I return, I will contact his family and reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”
Jesus asked, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
The professor replied, “The one who had pity on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Our Response
Allow to highlight some issues and characters in the story.
The Hero: the real hero was a Samaritan, a person of mixed race with the Assyrians, a social class that was totally unacceptable to the Jewish society. To make a Samaritan a hero of a story would be revolting to a Jew.
The Villains: the real villains are not the robbers. The real villains are the people who pass by the victim—the priest, the Levite, religious folks, and those considered to be pillars of community.
The Hearers: the person to whom this story was addressed was an expert in the Law, a Jew, and a religious leader. We can imagine how revolting it would be to be told to imitate a Samaritan.
The Issues: There is the issue of tribalism, social and racial discriminations, religious superiority, prejudices, neighbourliness etc.
It is said that Jesus’ story never ends until the readers respond. His stories are never to amuse. They disturb our safe social and religious reputations. They challenge they way we look at ourselves in society, and the way we look at society. They are told with the purpose to change the hearts, minds and attitudes of the readers. James W. Sire writes, “The issue is not ‘Who is my neighbour?’ but ‘Who am I to be?’ You are to be a neighbour, and that means that everyone with whom you have contact is the object of your concern.”
Are we ready to respond? Do we see the through our shallow and dangerous prejudices? Can you hear the pointed words of Jesus: “Go and do likewise”? Remember, it’s not over yet…until we respond!
(The writer can be reached at kpeseyie@yahoo.com)
