Originally posted October 26th, 2005.
You probably already saw this on MySpace. I’ve just relocated it for safe keeping…
As promised, here is the blog on Ruth and the Good Samaritan (heretofore abbreviated GS). They’re both really good stories-particularly good when you read them in light of one another. You probably know the story of the GS. It often gets summed up with the bromide that Christians are supposed to be nice to other people, no matter who they are. Ok, but we may be missing something, and that something has to do with the other part of this story. As so often happens with Jesus’ parables, this parable is the middle part of a sandwich, ocurring between two halves of a discussion Jesus is having with an uppity young religious smart-aleck (heretofore abbreviated UYRSA). The UYRSA asks what he must do to have eternal life and Jesus gives him the obvious answer-Love God, and love your neighbor. The UYRSA, who probably already knew the answer, then says in his best know-it-all voice, “Ah, yes, Jesus. But who exactly is my neighbor?”
In his very Jesus-y way, Jesus doesn’t give the man a straight answer. Instead, he tells a story: A bunch of rich religious people ignore a man who has been beaten and robbed. Then a Samaritan–a person of no social standing and an ethnic and religious half-breed–shows him kindness.” So far so good. Then Jesus really pulls a Jesus on the UYRSA: He answers his initial question with a question. He asks him, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The UYRSA replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” So Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus wasn’t worried about helping the UYRSA define who was or wasn’t his neighbor. He wanted him to help see the following point: When you act like a neighbor to someone, they are your neighbor. The onus is not on the other person to fall into the right neighbor categories. The onus is on you to treat people like a neighbor no matter what.
So back to Ruth. She wasn’t a neighbor, she was an outsider. But she chose to act toward Naomi in a neighborly way. Boaz chose to treat her as a neighbor. Christians are meant to create the sort of communities where we practice neighborliness to everyone we come across. Who is your Ruth? Stop wondering if that person is supposed to be your responsibility for which to care, and start acting like they already are.