“The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”(1) Some things never change: “The man wanted to justify his actions.” That practice goes back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve sinned, and they tried to justify it! And we have been trying to justify our sin ever since! What sin? Every sin – including the sin of racial bigotry, ethnic discrimination and inhumanity against our fellow man.
Over the past week, we have been bombarded with tragic reminders of the continuing destruction that results from the sin of racial bigotry and ethnic discrimination. But it didn’t just start in recent weeks, it goes back hundreds of years in this nation, and thousands of years in human history. Each one of our previous generations has made its own feeble attempt to ignore, deny, justify or even advocate for its existence. But as we have again been reminded this week, it is still with us in all of its destructive ugliness. Pastor Tony Evans has been quoted to say, “Racism isn’t a bad habit. It isn’t a mistake. It is sin. The answer is not sociology, it’s theology.”
The religious leader who asked his question to Jesus had no interest in changing his own behavior. Rather, he was seeking justification for his sinful behavior. Interestingly, Jesus responded with a story that spoke to the very heart of the sin of bigotry, discrimination and false justification.
By the way, Jesus never said that this story was a parable. It could very well be an actual occurrence in the life of one or more of the people that Jesus was addressing at the time. Don’t forget, Jesus knew everything about everyone who was within the sound of His voice. The same Jesus, who more than likely had written in the dirt the secret sins of the religious leaders who had brought forth the woman caught in adultery, was able to use actual events in the lives of some of those within the sound of His voice to teach a truth. Perhaps it was an experience straight out of the life of the religious leader who had asked the question. Perhaps it is an experience straight out of our lives!
The enmity between the Jews and Samaritans went back hundreds of years. They had justified it through their religious beliefs. They had passed on their hatred from one generation to the next. The hatred had become so intense among the Jews that the Pharisees were known to pray that no Samaritan would be raised at the resurrection. And Jewish boys learned at a young age that if you really wanted to insult or belittle someone, you would call that person a Samaritan.
You know how the story goes. A Jewish priest and Levite both pass by a Jewish man who has been robbed, beaten and left for dead on the side of a road. It is a Samaritan who stops and has compassion on him. The Samaritan shows love to someone who very probably hates him because of his ethnicity. He risks his own life by stopping on this dangerous road and he spends money out of his own pocket to care for him. And he wasn’t seeking any credit or honor for what he was doing. Instead, he felt compassion and “showed him mercy.”. There was no earthly reason for him to do what he did – giving of his time and his resources – without expecting anything in return.
The story was in response to the religious leader’s question. And the question had been in response to what Jesus had previously said: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”(2) The Samaritan didn’t do for the Jew what the Jew had done for him. He didn’t do it because he thought the Jew would do the same for him. He did it because that’s what “loving your neighbor as yourself” means.
Loving your neighbor doesn’t only mean that you don’t hold enmity toward another person because of their race or ethnicity. Loving your neighbor also can’t be passive. The religious leader had wanted to have an intellectual discussion about “who is my neighbor?” Jesus forced him to consider one in need. How easily do we talk about abstract ideals and never personally provide any practical help? Getting involved personally will require getting your hands dirty. It will require allowing yourself to be inconvenienced. And there’s always the possibility that your effort won’t be appreciated. The “expert” wanted to make the issue philosophical; Jesus made it practical!
Our response to the issues of racial and ethnic discrimination also cannot be philosophical; it must be practical. Earlier this week I listened to the heartfelt response of Pastor Bryan Loritts on a podcast as he outlined three key areas where our response must be seen:
It begins in the family. Racism is a learned behavior. If you want to eradicate it, dads, moms, you have to see yourself as the tenured professor of your home and you’ve got to teach and disciple your kids into a healthy anthropology that sees and bestows dignity on everybody and refuses to treat people less than or greater than because of the color of their skin.
Also, it’s government. …We don’t put our hope in government…. We want to leverage government to enact just laws…. The problem is government can change laws; it can’t change hearts….
So, thirdly I would say the Church. … We’re not just dealing with behaviors. We’re not just dealing with expressions. We’re dealing with the essence; and the biblical perspective says, ‘I do racist things because I have a bad heart.’ If I want to really root that out, I can’t just deal with your hands. I’ve got to deal with your heart…..
The picture we see of the Church in the Bible is people from every language, people, tribe and nation gathered around the throne worshiping God. And we can’t be sending out missionaries from our churches to see that accomplished around the globe if it’s not happening in our churches at home. Our churches need to be an example of people of all races and ethnicities coming together as “neighbors” in proximity and empathy with one another, as together we present our worship to the God who created us all.
It is long past the day that we need to draw the line in the sand and say we will no longer walk past the one lying on the side of the road. We will no longer justify our sin. Rather, we will repent of our sin and love our neighbor as ourselves – all of our neighbors!
Portion excerpted from Walking With The Master, Ch. 47
(1) Luke 10:29
(2) Luke 10:27