Brief synopsis of the readings: We begin in Deuteronomy where Moses enjoins his people to obey God’s commands. He tells them that God’s Law “is not beyond your strength or beyond your reach.” Moses ends with: “[T]he Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance. In Luke’s Gospel a lawyer attempted to trip up Jesus by asking what is required to achieve eternal life. When Jesus tells him that he must love both God and neighbor the lawyer responds by asking: “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable describes a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho but is beaten, robbed, and left half dead. A priest and a Levite both saw him but “passed on the other side.” Soon a Samaritan happened by and was moved with compassion. He provided first aid and then took the man to an inn. The next day the Samaritan gave the innkeeper money to care for the man with the promise that if the man needed more care he will provide on his return visit. Jesus then asked the lawyer which person proved himself a neighbor. The lawyer replied that it was the man who took pity on the unfortunate. Jesus then told the lawyer to go and do the same.

Well these readings should be easy: it’s a parable we all know about. A man gets mugged and a Samaritan takes care of him. What’s complicated about that? If the priests uses Eucharistic Prayer II I should be home in time for the first pitch.

The phrase “Good Samaritan” has become a cliche for many of us. If you drive your RV (recreational vehicle) to campgrounds as you travel you’re aware of the discounts you can get from the Good Sam Club. It features a logo of a smiling man with a halo over his head. If you come to the aid of a stranger you are shielded from liability if something goes wrong by Good Samaritan laws. Simple, right?

Let us not forget that the lawyer intended to find a way to trap Jesus and make him appear foolish. It happens frequently in the New Testament and it never works. But when the lawyer asks: “Who is my neighbor?” he brings this to a whole new level. Is it proximity (those who live close to me)? Or is it shared experience (those my family has known for a long time)? Or is it those I care about (my community)? Or is it something more?

One of the advantages of traveling is that you can, in a sense, choose your neighbor. The priest and the Levite used this to their advantage by stepping around to avoid the man. They relied on distance to avoid responsibility. And they probably had ready made excuses for not lending a hand: I didn’t know who he was. What if he was a robber who was himself beaten? What if he was someone of ill repute who was not deserving of compassion? What if this was a trap with other robbers in hiding?

But the Samaritan chose another “path.” Two thousand years removed from this passage, we may not be aware but Jews and Samaritans were sworn enemies. A Jew who encountered a Samaritan would likely fear that he was more of a threat than a priest or the Levite. Jesus’ choice of a Samaritan as the hero must have greatly puzzled his audience: a Samaritan as my neighbor? What kind of nonsense is that?

So who is our neighbor today? If this was a tricky question in Jesus’ time, it’s even trickier now. While there were travelers and merchants during Jesus’ time most people lived their entire lives within a few miles and with a small community. That’s not so today. It’s rare in my experience that anyone stays closes to home for his entire life. For my part I currently live about 2500 miles from where I was born and have visited 38 of our 50 states. Am I neighbor to some who lived next door in a place I haven’t lived in 30 years?

Or is everyone my neighbor? Through advances in mass communication (Facebook, CNN, etc.) we are all aware of what is happening on the other side of the world. We see images of war, famine, drought and we feel compassion, but also helplessness. What if they are my neighbor and I can’t help? This has caused many of us what we call “compassion fatigue,” the overwhelming guilt over suffering we can’t heal. This is grist for another day but sometimes compassion fatigue can numb us to the suffering we can heal.

This is hardly new to the 21st Century but somewhere along the line, and for many reasons, we decided to draw neighborhood lines ourselves. In our history we’ve sometimes chosen religion, sometimes profession, sometimes wealth.

And for reasons that elude me, we’ve sometimes chosen the level of melatonin (which determines the darkness of our skin). In other words we’ve attached skin color to intelligence, worthiness of respect, and place in God’s Kingdom. Intelligent and worthy people had low levels (and white skin) while others were subservient. And anyone below you is not your neighbor.

But how do we square that with today’s Gospel? Even the lawyer who wanted to trap Jesus admitted the Samaritan chose to be the robbery victim’s neighbor and Jesus told him to “go and do the same.” It also means that if you are a Samaritan you need to reach out to the Jew and if you are the Jew you need to reach out to the Samaritan.

If our neighbor is anyone we encounter, regardless of the situation, that person is our neighbor. In other words, the divisions we make, the lines we draw, no matter how sincere, fall apart in this parable. When we signed on to be one of Jesus’ disciples we gave up on the right to decide who our neighbor.

When we decide to love our neighbor we are not done following Jesus. We must also acknowledge that we don’t choose our neighbor and that’s the hard sell. Our neighbor may have a different skin color, or a different religion, or a different sexual orientation. In fact our neighbor may be registered in a different political party.

Remember that next time a Samaritan comes to your aid. But especially remember that when a Samaritan needs your help.