George Zimmerman and the Good Samaritan

GO and DO LIKEWISE, says Jesus.  Be merciful, as the Good Samaritan was merciful.  Be a Good Samaritan.  We know this.  Be a helper.  Be a good neighbor.  Let’s say we all want to do the right thing.  Give each other the benefit of the doubt.  Even this lawyer here wants to do the right thing.  At least he is concerned enough with the law to want to do the  right by it.  He believes the law is from God and so obedience to it is not an option.  He wants to be compliant.  What he gets from Jesus is unsatisfactory.  You know the law, do it and live.  Love God.  Love your neighbor. So he asks, “But, who is my neighbor?”  To whom am I responsible?  Who must I love? And this is where the good Samaritan story comes from. Because we all want to do the right thing, don't we?   

But I don’t love all of my neighbors, do you?  I don’t dislike them.  I also don’t intentionally harm them or help them.  I live near them.  That is why they are my neighbors.  I suppose I am good for an emergency.  One time, one of our neighbor’s daughters got hurt and was bleeding.  We helped her, cleaned the wound, stuck a band aid on her.  I guess we were good Samaritans that day.  But in the case Jesus’ presents, I’d say most of us are not involved at that level.  I’ve witnessed a few accidents on the road and not stopped.  I called 911 once.  We have actually made the world better and safer.  Thank you 911.  Thank you first responders.  Thank you paramedics.  Thank you police.  Thank you military personnel.  Thank you Emergency room doctors and nurses.  Thank you Good Samaritan Hospital.  We have systematically samaritanized a work force around public safety and emergency medical assistance.  This is great. Most of us are off the hook.  We are not responsible.  Now occasionally you here of the citizen hero; found someone and brought them to the hospital, delivered baby in walmart parking lot.  You know the stories.  But as for you and me, we needn’t go vigilante in order to go and do likewise.  None of us is batman. We can be thankful for the professionals and get out of their way.    

Of course the other aspect of the story Jesus tells is the inherent racism and prejudice between Jew and Samaritan.  You see the story has a punchline and that is that a Samaritan is the good guy.  Two of the most religiously observant Jews, no. But a Samaritan.  Yes.  He’s the one.  It betrays a certain logic though.  To have any connection, one must assume prejudice, maybe even hatred.  Of course this still exists.  But do we like to admit it?  What contemporary prejudiced to you hold?  That is the person to insert in the story.  A more familiar version of the story might be:  a southern white cotton plantation owner was attacked and beaten and left for dead today.  You know who saves him? This negro boy. Can you believe it? Tune it at 11 for this story of an unlikely hero.  Doesn’t that sound ridiculous now?  Now, in the Middle East Jews and Arabs don’t get along. But there are Jews married to Arabs.  There are Muslims and Jews and Christians working and living together as neighbors, too.  The Good Samaritan story falls apart if we first confront racial and ethnic hatred. We know better by now.  This is not a post-racial America, but don't we know that racial prejudice is unjust and ought to be confronted and rejected?  Everyone knows that the heart of the Good Samaritan story says that a good neighbor does not allow racial or ethnic prejudice to prevent one from doing what is right, merciful, good.  

I suppose a headline news story that addresses what it means to be a good Samaritan is the George Zimmerman/ Trayvon Martin case.  A man on neighborhood watch carrying a firearm sees a suspicious black boy and follows him.  He calls 911 and ignores the dispatcher’s suggestion that he not give chase.  At some point a confrontation ensues between the armed man and the unarmed black kid.  In the end, the kid is killed.  Zimmerman was acquitted yesterday.  I don’t know all the facts of the case.  I don’t know the law in Florida giving someone the right to self-defense.  But here’s one implication of the verdict; you see someone you don’t like in your neighborhood, chase them out.  Use deadly force if necessary.  Even if the person is an unarmed black kid.  You are justified in doing so.  This is as close to saying to hell with the Good Samaritan story as we can go.  Zimmerman’s shooting is not the way of Jesus

What does Go and Do Likewise mean for us? Don’t shoot?  Call 911?  Avoid conflicts?  Stay safe?  Our question is not the lawyer’s Who question. Ours is How? How do we show mercy to others?  That is our question. What is mercy?  How might I be merciful to someone? Figure that out and out will imitate Christ and you will have life.  Amen.