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	July 2004
		A Quick Word The Parable of the Good Samaritan by Paul Grayston
			‘Have you got some jump leads?’ The mum (she looked young but haggard as if short of sleep), lit another cigarette and turned to call out to the toddler in the car seat, ‘Will you shut up, Desiree!’ Pretty girl, the mum, except that I’m not so keen on tattoos. From a small town an hour away. Stuck with a broken-down car, to add to what appeared to be a fairly difficult existence. With no jump leads or obvious way of helping her, I tried to be friendly and to offer lame suggestions. I couldn’t help musing how many packs of cigarettes it costs to buy jump leads or an RAC membership - but how judgemental! I walked away vaguely embarrassed. Extra In the Good Samaritan story someone stops to help a stranger. Stopping to help people in distress is the right thing to do. It is basic to civilised society and it is basic to being a Christian. Jesus said, ‘Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me’ (Matt. 25), and he instructed us to ‘go the extra mile’ to be helpful. By all means stop to help people in distress. But the famous Good Samaritan story is actually concerned with something far deeper, and far more challenging. Jesus’ story is not so much about rescuing stranded travellers, as about the more disturbing issue of exercising love and acceptance across national, ethnic and social divides. After all, the question the parable answers is, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Attitude We get to the heart of the parable if we consider how far the man who ‘fell among thieves’ must have shifted in his attitude to the Samaritan. Before all this, as a good Jew, he would have regarded Samaritans as filthy rotten vermin. After his rescue it would have been a very different story! Samaritans turn out to be valued neighbours too. Who is my neighbour and your neighbour? ‘All people’ is Jesus’ answer. There is no one we should not regard as made in God’s image and deserving of love and respect: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ Merc Reflecting on the young lady with the broken down car, I wonder if I gave up too easily and if I was too fearful of getting involved with her problems. Was I too willing to categorise and even to be a little dismissive of her and Desiree? If this had been a respectable-looking older couple in a charming but temperamental old Merc would I have tried harder to help? The Good Samaritan story is not so much about stopping to help. That’s easy! That’s obvious! It’s about something harder, something we would rather sidestep. It’s about breaking through social divides and prejudices. It’s about humbly respecting and valuing each person as a neighbour. It’s about love. Who, then, are your Samaritans?