For
most of us who have grown up in a ritualistic church going set-up we
would be pretty familiar with all the popular stories of the Bible,
including the parables of Jesus. We get so used to listening to them
as time-pass stories or seeing them staged at occasional religious
functions like the nativity scene at Christmas, but that is it. The
tragedy for today's ‘modern’ Christians is that we get so
familiar with those stories that we fail to apply them to our lives
today. After all, isn’t the Bible supposed to be the guidebook for
Christians along life’s journey?
The
parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37) is another story that
we often fail to look beyond its mere narrative. But I think it still
speaks in volume if we closely follow it. And as I see it, the
parable has pointers to who a ‘true’ Christian is. Just a recap
of the story in a nutshell: A man traveling to Jericho was robbed and
beaten to a point of near-dead; a priest came the same way but walked
away from the other side; a Levite also passed by but ignored him and
walked away; finally, a Samaritan came along, saw the wounded man and
helped him.
If
we look at the context, the priest and the Levite were people who
have businesses at the Lord’s temple and yet they failed miserably
in what they claim to profess (For instance, “Love your neighbor as
yourself” [Lev. 19:18]). On the contrary, the one who was
supposedly an alien came to the rescue of the unfortunate man. It is
important to understand that the Jews at that time despise Samaritans
as outcasts and even refer to them at the level of dogs. (One can
also infer this from Jesus' discourse with the Samaritan woman [John
4: 1-26]) Perhaps, the Samaritans also treated the Jews likewise. And
yet, Jesus did an outrageous thing by presenting the Samaritan as the
true ‘neighbour’. Of course, the Bible did not record the
reaction of the ‘expert in the law’ or the crowd (including the
disciples) present there but it would have been certainly interesting
to behold!
Not
only did Jesus upheld the Samaritan but he even told his listeners to
“Go and do likewise” (v. 37). For Jews it must have been an
insult to the injury: first, Jesus projected the Samaritan in the
positive light and then told them to make him their role model! I
believe Jesus chose the character of the Samaritan deliberately to
make a point about the relationship of the Jewish people with other
people groups living side by side with them. Jesus commended the act
of the Samaritan to imply that we need to look beyond who the person
is. The Jews, as we know, considers themselves ‘chosen people’
and therefore thinks highly of themselves.
Now,
let us consider the situation of our contemporary society, more
specifically of the relationships we share with communities living
next to us. Let me take the case of the Naga Christians in Manipur as
an example. I don’t think we’re any better than the Jews the way
we think ourselves superior to communities living next to us.
Religious bigotry is perceivable everywhere. Perhaps, our identity in
Christ has not really sunk in to help us think beyond our subjective
selves. But if we are to qualify ourselves as followers of Christ
then we certainly need to broaden our definition of who our
‘neighbour’ is. If Jesus were to come in our midst today I’m
sure he would have used the Kukis or the Meiteis or other people who
are not of the same people groups in his parable to teach us a
lesson. And as I see it, most conflicts within communities in the
state would have been better monitored had churches and Christians
looked deeper into the Bible for answers.
The
relationship between different communities in the state can turn
volatile any time because the old wounds have not really healed. And
so, I think we need to be more cautious and act with a clear
conscience. And the Word of God can be the light to light our way.
Jesus said, “So in everything, do to others what you would have
them do to you for this sums up the Law of the Prophets” (Matt. 7:
12). Most rules or laws made by man are normally stated in a negative
way, like “Don’t do this…”, “Don’t do that…”, etc.
But Jesus instead put it the other way round and tells us to “do to
others”, implying a positive attitude towards our relationship with
others. Generally, human tendency is to reciprocate to anything done
to her/him. Good or bad, most of the time we only respond to the
action done on us, and, perhaps, with the same measure precisely.
Yet, Jesus instructs his followers with a different philosophy, that
is, to be the first in doing good things for others. That way we can
be certain nothing negative comes our way!
Jesus’
commandment to His followers implies a rather unusual approach to
life altogether. But very seldom do we try and digest what His
teaching would mean to us as His followers today. When he says, “Do
to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6: 31) Jesus
meant that his listeners should not only to be good to those who are
good to them but to be good to everyone; not to only love those who
love them but to love even their enemies! Such kinds of teaching by
Jesus has often been considered ‘hard teaching’ by His own
disciples and modern day scholars alike. Perhaps, that is so because
Jesus was teaching contrary to the principles of the world!
The
worldly principle would persuade us to be good to those who are good
to us alone; to be bad to those who are bad to us; to love those who
love us only, and likewise. Quite often, our desires seem to have
grown to ditto others when it comes to relating with others. Somehow,
it seems difficult to initiate but easier to follow suit! Our
perspective to life is centered on our own world, so much so that
we’ve developed a worldview of displacing the ‘other’. And in a
world where ‘individualism’ is being encouraged, there is less
and less time to think beyond the ‘self’! The principle that
Jesus laid down for His followers is to first picture the ‘other’
before considering the ‘self’. He wants us to know that peace
comes from looking into the interest of others. Harmonious
co-existence of all living beings on earth entirely hinges on the
respect for the opinion or the belief that each one may be contended
with. When there is intolerance, hostilities certainly arise.
Jesus
said that if we love those who love us only, we’re no different
from any other person. In other words, He wants His followers to be
different by being more than the worldly-wise; “By this all men
will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John
13:35). Here, Jesus was talking about ‘love’ that is without any
pre-condition. To remain faithful to the teachings of our Lord today,
let us be active in doing what is good because only then can we
expect people to reciprocate in a positive way.
