Jesus had a little to say about giving for the good of another. Is it applied today?
Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back (Luke 6:30, NIV); similarly in Matthew chapter 5.
The dramatic and conspicuous rescue in Thailand, from likely death trapped in a cave, of 12 teenagers, and one adult, has occupied a lot of space in our news (see further below). What lies behind such massive giving - can it be seen as reflecting Jesus’ directive? (I do not know of any of the fine rescuers consciously influenced by Jesus.)
In contrast to the critical cave drama, there are events our news gives a little or no space; needs which do not call forth massive response, such as:
In these very pages, Luke recounts a legalistic quibble - who exactly is the neighbour anyway? In answer Jesus told the deathless story of the neighbourly Samaritan. His chosen model of fulfilment comes from the very same culture which, we heard, just rejected him.
Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant[a] walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
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| (random cave image from Pixabay.com) |
The dramatic and conspicuous rescue in Thailand, from likely death trapped in a cave, of 12 teenagers, and one adult, has occupied a lot of space in our news (see further below). What lies behind such massive giving - can it be seen as reflecting Jesus’ directive? (I do not know of any of the fine rescuers consciously influenced by Jesus.)
In contrast to the critical cave drama, there are events our news gives a little or no space; needs which do not call forth massive response, such as:
- children of refugee families in Australian detention
- Rohinga ethic cleansing survivors facing destruction from floods
- would-be refugees drowning in the Mediterranean
- victims in Nigeria of Boko Haram or Fulani herdsmen
- civilian suffering from ISIS aggression
In a famous story, Luke gives relevant content (Good Samaritan) which is told in an instructive context. Luke alone gives this information. In fact, Luke and John are the New Testament sources on Samaritans, apart from Matthew alone (10:5-6) reporting a time Jesus told his disciples to not go to the territory of Samaritans or Gentiles.
When the days drew near for him (Jesus) to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”[a] But he turned and rebuked them.[b] And they went on to another village (Luke 9:51-56, ESV).
Jesus set his direction to Jerusalem with his followers for the last time. They came to that village populated by Samaritans. (That choice seems to be a deliberate counter-cultural action.) The people of the particular village refused to accept a traveller heading to Jerusalem - that place was a centre of enmity to them. (Another pericope, in John chapter 4, reflects that antagonism of many generations.) Jesus’ friends were angry and they wished punishment to fall on those villagers. How dare mere Samaritans act like that! But Jesus turned and rebuked his disciples! They had failed the challenge. He resolved the matter by moving on. He stood by the ancient injunction: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (See Luke 10:5-28). I wonder if any local dust was shaken from their feet as the group left the rejecters? I wonder if the villagers lived to regret their action?
When the days drew near for him (Jesus) to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”[a] But he turned and rebuked them.[b] And they went on to another village (Luke 9:51-56, ESV).
Jesus set his direction to Jerusalem with his followers for the last time. They came to that village populated by Samaritans. (That choice seems to be a deliberate counter-cultural action.) The people of the particular village refused to accept a traveller heading to Jerusalem - that place was a centre of enmity to them. (Another pericope, in John chapter 4, reflects that antagonism of many generations.) Jesus’ friends were angry and they wished punishment to fall on those villagers. How dare mere Samaritans act like that! But Jesus turned and rebuked his disciples! They had failed the challenge. He resolved the matter by moving on. He stood by the ancient injunction: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (See Luke 10:5-28). I wonder if any local dust was shaken from their feet as the group left the rejecters? I wonder if the villagers lived to regret their action?
In these very pages, Luke recounts a legalistic quibble - who exactly is the neighbour anyway? In answer Jesus told the deathless story of the neighbourly Samaritan. His chosen model of fulfilment comes from the very same culture which, we heard, just rejected him.
Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant[a] walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,[b] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’
“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked (Luke 10:30-36, NLT). That questioner could not fail to acknowledge the truth, though what he did in future might have been another matter. Incidentally, note that the Jewish victim by the road is not said to ask for help - his state was the asking. Others (priest and priest-assistant) considered the state of the traveller; they saw cause to pass right on by. Unlike them, the Samaritan loved as God loves. Despised he may have been, but that was no barrier.
“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked (Luke 10:30-36, NLT). That questioner could not fail to acknowledge the truth, though what he did in future might have been another matter. Incidentally, note that the Jewish victim by the road is not said to ask for help - his state was the asking. Others (priest and priest-assistant) considered the state of the traveller; they saw cause to pass right on by. Unlike them, the Samaritan loved as God loves. Despised he may have been, but that was no barrier.
Earlier on Jesus had made plain his difficult standard of loving care, as shown above from Luke and now from Matthew: Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you (Matthew 5:42, NRSV).
The above giving depends on direct contact between the need and the person meeting the need. The situation in our “global village”, with our instant communications, is really different. Who, now, is our neighbour? How, now, are we asked? Still it is a question of taking action.
There was one occasion when an extreme giving action was specified. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. (Luke 18:22-23, NIV). This was specific to a wealthy individual, whose immediate response was grief. Jesus did not make this his standard; his standard is given above and stands as a living challenge.
Some recent commentary (see below), on the differences in responses to need, focus on the distinction between “us” and “them”. The detained children are “them”; the cave captives became “us”. The challenge from Jesus relates firstly to those who ask. That is a little simplistic - the beaten up Jew did not speak to the despised Samaritan. To see the need is the trigger to be the neighbour. I do not think Jesus left us room to dodge.
The rescue - I think the account posted by Australian Dr Richard Harris is worth reading:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-14/richard-harris-praises-everyone-involved-thai-rescue/9992780
There was one occasion when an extreme giving action was specified. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. (Luke 18:22-23, NIV). This was specific to a wealthy individual, whose immediate response was grief. Jesus did not make this his standard; his standard is given above and stands as a living challenge.
Some recent commentary (see below), on the differences in responses to need, focus on the distinction between “us” and “them”. The detained children are “them”; the cave captives became “us”. The challenge from Jesus relates firstly to those who ask. That is a little simplistic - the beaten up Jew did not speak to the despised Samaritan. To see the need is the trigger to be the neighbour. I do not think Jesus left us room to dodge.
The rescue - I think the account posted by Australian Dr Richard Harris is worth reading:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-14/richard-harris-praises-everyone-involved-thai-rescue/9992780
The issue of response or no response was discussed by expert researchers:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-14/thai-cave-tells-us-much-about-who-we-are/9991750
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-14/thai-cave-tells-us-much-about-who-we-are/9991750
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- Note: I retain in the publishers' text where they occur the references to footnotes, but usually not the notes. You can check them out by viewing the text on-line. Often they are replicated in different translations.
- Bible passages accessed via BibleGateway.com
- Image sourced from Pixabay.com
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