Bad Samaritans on a Small Planet:
Rethinking 'Neighbors' in an Ecosystem

Timothy C. Weiskel
Director, Harvard Seminar on Environmental Values
and the Environmental Ethics & Public Policy Program
at the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life
Harvard Divinity School

St. John's, Lafayette Square
Washington, D.C.

Sunday Service
3 May 1998

Copyright, ©1998, Timothy C. Weiskel, All Rights Reserved
Archive Version:
http://EcoEthics.Net/Sermons/Samaritans.htm

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       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?" 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 right; 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, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast 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 inn-keeper, 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 neighbor ...." He said, "The one who showed mercy on him." An Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
Luke, 10:23-37

       There is a troubling aspect to much of scripture. Just when we think we've figured it all out, the words seem to change their sense, revealing new levels of possible meaning some of which are neither clear nor comfortable. This is particularly true of the parables -- that is, those stories which collectively represent the "teachings" of Jesus preserved in the Gospels. Almost all of them take a narrative form with a troubling, ambiguous or hanging ending where we the readers are called upon to supply the meaning.

       The typical situation is one in which Jesus is asked a testing -- sometimes agressive -- question (rather like a modern day press conference, I suspect). In response he tells a story with a ending that takes the form of a question posed back to the questioner.

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