Freely, freely, you have received.
Freely, freely give.
This is half of the chorus of an old camp song that I used to sing. I came across it again this past week while up at Camp Marshall. Not only did it bring back memories of my youth, but it struck me as an appropriate chorus for today's gospel.
Today we heard the parable of the Good Samaritan. We know this story -- a man is beaten and left for dad, two righteous people pass by, a foreigner helps him and pays for his care, who was the neighbor? We all know the story, so today I want to focus on t he man asking the question.
A lawyer stood up to text Jesus. When we think of 'testing,' we might be thinking 'trap.' Because it does seem, doesn't it, that the religious elite are always trying to trap Jesus in some Catch 22 from which he can't get out of.
The Law says we should stone women like her, what do you say?
Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?
Where do you get your authority?
But I think this was less about trapping Jesus than it was testing him out. You know how it is -- you have a certain idea about some issue, so you ask someone a question to see where they stand. I get this vague question a lot from people hoping to get a standard, pat answer on which to either approve of me or, more often than not, to vilify me.
"Father, what do you think about gays?"
"Father, what do you think about Muslims?"
"Father, what do you think about . . .?"
I personally think people are less concerned about what I really think than they are with finding reasons to say, "That's why I don't attend church or believe in God."
So the lawyer was testing Jesus to see if he would give an appropriate answer.
And couched in that fishing expedition is the desire to further exhibit your rightness. First you find out if the person generally agrees with you. Then you get more specific to see if they have the details right. And that desire to be right above all else comes in what happens after Jesus answers the initial question.
But wanting to justify himself, he asked, "Who is my neighbor?"
At camp last week, the adults spent part of our time looking at boundaries and barriers. Part of this was brought up because of our examination of a passage from Romans, and part of it was because I came across this topic after reading the blog of a priest I once served under.
The basic gist of this is that boundaries define who we are. Boundaries are also movable and permeable -- they can be expanded and shrunk as needed, and they can allow people to come and go with ease.
Barriers, however, are impermeable and unmovable. They are designed to keep "us" safe and "them" out. And there is no easy access in or out.
They lawyer wanted to know if the people he chose to allow past his carefully constructed barriers were his neighbors. So Jesus tells him a story about boundaries and barriers. The barrier constructed was that of the Law. Both the priest and the Levite held to those barriers, sure that allowing the injured man in, or allowing themselves to go outside, would jeopardize their standing as holy men.
And then along comes a man who understands about God's boundaries. The boundaries of God encompass all of creation. The boundaries of God are love. In love, God created and said it was good. In love, God chose Israel to be an example to all nations. In love, God rescued that nation from slavery. In love, God sent his only begotten Son to bring all people to him. And the Church is called to exhibit God's love to the world.
We need to be careful that we don't fall into the trap of confusing barriers with boundaries. We need to be careful to not end up like the lawyer, looking for tightly defined answers to general questions.
God created the world out of love, and we freely received that gift. God gave us his Son out of love, and we freely receive his body and blood. In short, love is the boundary by which all our actions should be based.
And he bandaged him, cared for him and paid his expenses.
Freely, freely, you have received.
Freely, freely give.
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