Ephesians 2:14-22
Luke 10: 25-37
The recent terrorist attacks in
France, Lebanon, and Baghdad, as well as the crash of the Russian airliner likely
due to a bomb, are horrible reminders of how hatred and spiritual blindness keep
many people from seeing those of different beliefs and heritage as their
neighbors or even as human beings. That was certainly a common attitude in the
time and place in which Jesus Christ was born for the salvation of the world. For example, the Romans thought that they alone
were civilized humanity, the human race itself, in a way that justified their
occupying Palestine and oppressing the Jews (and many others) in cruel ways. The Jews thought themselves superior to the
Gentiles and especially hated the Samaritans.
When
Christ followed His first sermon in Luke’s gospel with the reminder that great
Old Testament prophets at times had blessed Gentiles and not helped Jews, the
crowd literally tried to kill Him. And
if that were not enough, Luke also provides us with the parable of the Good
Samaritan, which concept was to the Jews a shocking contradiction in
terms. If there was any group of people
whom they did not view as their neighbors, it was the Samaritans. From their
perspective, there could be nothing good about any of them. Unfortunately, such ways of thinking are all
too familiar to us today.
In
these dark times, we must remember that our Savior was born to overcome such
hatred and division. As St. Paul wrote
“Christ is our peace.” He unites Jew and
Gentile—all humanity-- in Himself, for He fulfills the ancient promises to
Abraham, the law of Moses, and all the teachings of the prophets, making it
possible for all peoples and nations to become truly human through faith in Him
as the God-Man. He destroys the pathetic competing definitions of who is worthy
of being treated as a human being, as someone who bears God’s image and
likeness. He does that through the Cross
by which He conquers sin and death. These are the consequences of our
estrangement from the Lord and the cause of our estrangement from one another. Our
alienation from other people is a sign of our alienation from God. Through Christ’s victory over the grave and
Hades, those who had been strangers and foreigners to the spiritual heritage of
Israel—and bitter enemies of one another-- are now made “fellow citizens with
the saints and members of the household of God.”
Ancestry
and nationality are irrelevant in His Kingdom. When St. Paul wrote that Jew and
Gentile “both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” and are “members of the
household of God,” he was referring to people of all nations and cultures who
have faith in Christ. Regardless of who we are by worldly standards, we join
together in the Orthodox Church as the building blocks of a holy temple with
Christ as the chief cornerstone and the apostles and prophets as the
foundation. We are “built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit”
along with all the other members of the Body around the world, from generation
to generation. That is the perspective
from which our worldly divisions are shown to be ultimately meaningless. As those who have died to sin and risen to
new life in Christ, we must be vigilant in refusing to define ourselves or
anyone else by the petty rivalries over which our Lord has triumphed, or to
harbor hatred in our own hearts even for those who commit terrible crimes. For if we do so, we abandon the way of Christ
and risk losing our own souls to the forces of darkness. “Christ is our peace,” and His Church must be
a light of reconciliation shining in the darkness of bitter hatred. The same must be true for each of us as
members of His Body.
That is a
message that many people do not like to hear because it destroys the basis of
our prideful inclination to build ourselves up by putting others down, by
defining our worth in contrast to other people’s worthlessness. That is precisely what the lawyer in today’s
gospel lesson was trying to do by asking “And who is my neighbor?” He was trying to justify himself by narrowing
down the list of people whom he had an obligation to treat as human
beings. That was a very self-serving
question that he probably expected to be answered in a way that would encourage
him to think of his own people as worthy and everyone else as unworthy. Of course, the Savior shattered those
expectations by telling a story in which righteous Jewish leaders disregarded
the obvious and profound needs of one of their own nation, while a hated
Samaritan cared for the man with extraordinary generosity.
Of course, this
parable shows us that whoever is in need is our neighbor, no matter who the
person is. There are no boundaries to
our obligation to love, even as God’s love knows no limits. If we ourselves as
Gentiles and sinners have become heirs to the promises to Abraham through
Christ’s mercy, who are we to say that anyone is not deserving of our care, attention,
and forgiveness? The parable also shows us that true righteousness is not
limited by nationality or ethnic heritage.
In this parable, it is also not limited by religion, for it is the
Samaritan who loves his neighbor as himself.
He obeyed God’s law more faithfully than did the Jewish priest and
Levite. Perhaps he reminds us of those
in the parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25 who are surprised to learn
that they served Christ when they served those in need.
As we begin the
Nativity Fast, the 40-day period of preparation for Christmas, we want to
become more like that Good Samaritan who cared so conscientiously for someone
who thought of him as a hated enemy. Even as Christ was born to save the entire
world, including those who tried to kill Him from infancy, we who are in Christ
must become icons of His humble love that knows no bounds. We especially must abandon all attempts to be
like that lawyer in the parable who wanted to justify himself by narrowing down
the definition of a neighbor. There may well be people in our families,
workplaces, neighborhoods, and schools who view us as their enemies. There are
others whom we probably view as our enemies, including those we do not know
personally. That should be no surprise,
as Christ Himself had enemies and told us to expect to be treated as He was. And
when that happens, we must follow His example. Remember that when they nailed Him
to the Cross, the Lord prayed “Father, forgive them for they know not what they
do.” The leaders of the Jews and the
pagan Romans collaborated in His crucifixion, and He prayed for them all.
Most of us have
lots of room for growth in forgiving our enemies, treating everyone in need as
our neighbors, and overcoming the many divisions that separate us from
others. If being faithful to Jesus
Christ were a simple matter of receiving a commandment and obeying it perfectly,
we would not need the spiritual disciplines of Advent to help us gain the
spiritual strength to welcome Him anew into our lives at His birth. Preparing for the Nativity requires much more
than simply observing the American holiday season or even going to late-night
services on December 24. It requires
deliberate, intentional steps that will open us to the strength necessary to
manifest Christ’s life in our own, to be so united with Him that we shine with His
holiness, love, and mercy for a broken and distorted world. He is the healing and restoration of what it
means to be a human being in the image and likeness of God. He invites us to participate in Him as the
God-Man, calling us to become like an iron left in the fire of the divine
glory.
Let us do that by finding
ways to help those we view as strangers, foreigners, and enemies in our own
lives. Let us do that by mindfully
refusing to accept even our own thoughts about who is worthy of our time, attention,
and service. Let us do that by reaching
out to someone this Advent who needs our friendship, support, and
encouragement, as well as by struggling to cleanse our hearts of hatred toward
anyone. When nourished by prayer and fasting, these acts of forgiveness and
service will become blessed channels for preparing our souls as mangers for the
Prince of Peace. And then, by God’s
grace, we will grow in our ability to love and forgive, and bear witness to the
salvation that our Lord has brought to a world that still knows hatred and
division all too well. 
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