There are many who would take this passage and damn the priest and Levite and praise the Samaritan, saying that all are our neighbours. That we should be hospitable, which we ought, and that means that we should bring those of need into our homes and our protection.

They have not considered who our neighbours are, and who our friends are. Consider Sister Dawn, who is a genius with synthaesia: she wrote this morning on the borgyface

C major tastes like Chinese “white cloud cake.” Flour and sugar, in solid blocks that melt in your mouth.

G’night brain, please go to sleep. oh, and “Get a job!” Tomorrow. OK?

I would love Dawn to have a job. She is brilliant, but very quirky. But she is not my spouse nor daughter, nor an aunt. There is a fair amount of weirdness in my genome, Do I have a duty to her? SHould I bring her in?

And what should I do for my enemy: Is he my neighbour?

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

(Luke 10:25-37 ESV)

Inside my family and neighbourhood are not merely Europeans. I married a Kiwi Chinese doc (Docs should never marry docs: I know about three medical marriages who have made it to 30 years. Just don’t). Two decades of living cross culturally was a continual challenge. Dawn is not European: I would help her if able (but she lives six time zones away). I’ve helped people in the crossfit box lately. We cannot say that all of our race or nation are neighbours.

Christ said that the victim was our neighbour. I don’t think he said it was the robbers. I think some of our rules and people who think Christianity is a virtue spiral would say that.

As if we have to go beyond what is sensible.

The Priest and Levite were going to the temple where they had to be ritually clean. if they touched a dead body, they would not allowed to minister. They let their concern for ritual purity and public virtue stop them from helping a bleeding man.

The Samaritan had no such restrictions: he was not a Jew. He was not allowed in the temple. And he was practical. He did first aid, transported him to an inn, and paid for the innkeeper to look after him while re recovered.

He did not take him home. Firstly, it was a distance away: the Samaritan did not live in Judea. Secondly, he knew no true Jew would speak to a Samaritan. and thirdly, it is not sensible.

I would help Dawn, and the people from the gym, bu they are not family.

For within the home, we serve the Lord. Our care for the others is to glorify God. It is not to show we are holy. In fact, it could be the opposite. The Samaritan, after all, is the one who had to wash the stranger’s blood off his hands.