Go and Do Likewise
My daughter will be 5 in April. She recently started preschool here in Portland. We drive the seven minutes every day from our home to the school. On the way there she asks lots of questions. Like, lots of questions.
“What’s your favorite color?”
“Why is that neighbor on a bike?”
“Where is that neighbor going?”
“Why is that neighbor parking there?”
...and when we’re at the grocery store, she asks similar questions:
“Why is that neighbor buying potatoes?”
“Why does that neighbor not have a cart?”
“Why is that neighbor going down that aisle?”
...and on the way to church Sunday mornings, she asks even more questions:
“Why does that neighbor have a blanket?”
“Where are all of these neighbors going?”
“Which neighbors will I see at church today?”
I know enough to know that her language development and how she sees the world is largely shaped by the ways I interact with the world; however, every time she talks about a neighbor, I’m taken off-guard. We live 3 miles away; we’re not really their neighbor. We live on the other side of town; these are someone’s neighbors, but not our neighbors. That car has California license plates; they’re not even close to being our neighbor.
That doesn’t seem to matter to my daughter. When we were in LA over the New Year’s holiday, she wanted to know what all the neighbors were doing there, too.
She must be learning about Jesus.
Jesus can be a frustrating character. He rarely answers a question directly. Like a good counselor, he reflects back on your question or tells a story to help you get to the heart of what you knew to be true in the first place.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is found only in Luke’s gospel. We know that in Luke’s gospel, the teachers of the law, enforcers of the law, and religious authorities are often those in power who challenge Jesus. Just follow the rules, Jesus, and nothing will happen! Just do what the law says, and we will all live in harmony! Just engage those in power with respect and the world will live in peace!
Sound familiar?
Here’s the story, in case it’s been a minute since you’ve heard it:
A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?”
He responded, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”[a]
Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”
But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied, “A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death. Now it just so happened that a priest was also going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. Likewise, a Levite came by that spot, saw the injured man, and crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. A Samaritan, who was on a journey, came to where the man was. But when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, tending them with oil and wine. Then he placed the wounded man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, he took two full days’ worth of wages and gave them to the innkeeper. He said, ‘Take care of him, and when I return, I will pay you back for any additional costs.’ What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?”
Then the legal expert said, “The one who demonstrated mercy toward him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
My daughter was with me the day that Renee Nicole Good was killed in Minneapolis. As a queer 37-year-old mother of a nearly 5-year-old who has spent several days at vigils, interfaith services, and doing legal observer work, this one hit close to home. My housemate, also a clergy person, and Rev. Karyn went to a vigil that night hosted downtown and at the ICE facility on Macadam. Because my daughter was with me and I didn’t know what the temperature (actual and metaphorical) would be, we stayed home.
We turned up the ringer on my phone in case our housemate or Rev. Karyn needed to call us for help. It was our job to help support our neighbors in Minneapolis, and we did that by waiting on the other end of the line should chaos, tragedy, or disaster strike those we love.
I was explaining to my daughter what had happened, which was a challenge. I told her that someone was hurt and died in Minneapolis because they were helping their neighbors, and now it was our job to help our friends who were going into the city to support our neighbors here. It was our job to be their helpers, should they need helpers.
“But mom!” she retorted. “There’s so much to do and that’s barely anything!”
She wasn’t wrong.
Jesus told stories over and over again that caused the public to look at who he was, to look at the work that he did, and to see that sometimes law and order do not protect, assist, or otherwise aid the vulnerable.
Rev. Karyn and I have been at the ICE facility together twice. All other times we have gone separately – it ensures there’s someone who can answer the phone if something happens. We go to speak hope and light to our neighbors. Every time I have been there, a bus has pulled in behind the concrete wall empty and left full – full of our neighbors being taken to Tacoma, where they are likely taken further to other facilities.
Each of these beloveds are our neighbors. Each one reflects the image of God. As we celebrated the Christmas season we remembered that Jesus was a brown-skinned son of an unwed couple traveling far from the home they knew to uphold the law. Then, when we acknowledged epiphany just two weeks later, we recognized the refugees that the family became when they were told their lives were in danger and the defiance of the Magi who returned home by another away, skirting the rules they had been given in favor of life.
I’ve been listening to “Plowshare Prayer” by Spencer LaJoye and have shared this music with a few groups in the congregation now. There is one line that sticks out to me every time.
Amen to the victims of our law and order.
As our world continues to move toward...something, may we look at every being through the eyes of my 4.5 year old and see them as “neighbor”. May we see the love of God in every person who passes our way. May we be present in places that may be dangerous and risk our reputations, and maybe even our lives, for the sake of the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Bishop Robert Hirschfield this week, speaking particularly to those clergy serving in his diocese, stated: “I have asked the clergy of the diocese to make sure their affairs are in order and they have written their wills...now is not the time for statements. It is time to put our bodies between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.”
I’ll keep showing up, and keep doing just that. The next Interfaith Witness at ICE on Macadam is at 2:00 pm on January 21. I’ll be there with my collar and stole, proclaiming a Gospel that is in direct contrast to the Christian Nationalist narrative that is so prominent in our community.
Won’t you join me?
Yours in Community,
Rev. Rachel