Chotard Doll

Dear Companions on the way,

A lawyer stood up to test Jesus, and asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? He is even able to give the right answer to Jesus….Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind….and your neighbor as yourself. So far so good.

But then he equivocates; who is my neighbor? That’s the hard part. We can work at loving God, and even hope we might be doing a decent job. But my neighbor? Really?

A wonderful theologian, Ken Bailey, who grew up in a middle eastern culture, gives a helpful perspective to the story of the Good Samaritan. This Samaritan is an underdog himself, despised by the Jews as impure. And he is following the road away from Jerusalem after the priest and the Levite, who represent the cream of society. Both of them turned away.

So Ken Bailey says the Samaritan is like an Indian in the old west, who finds a white man stripped and bleeding on the road. He binds his wounds, and transports him on his own horse to Dodge City. Entering the saloon, he rents a room and cares for the man himself. The next morning he gives money to the bartender, and asks him to care for the man, promising to repay him whatever else he spends.

Imagine how dangerous that act of mercy was!

Crossing borders of any kind is risky, and costly. But Jesus says, Go and Do likewise. Go. Do. Those are action words. I am struck by the fact that the difference between doing charity and feeling charity is considerable. We can’t conjure up love from nowhere. But we can go and do, and then maybe, affection will follow. We will be changed by our actions.

Faithfully,

—Chotard