Wow now that’s a tough call. In the last two House Chapel services we have been looking at Jesus’ parable, the Good Samaritan. After all these years of teaching and preaching the parable of Jesus, I am being confronted, in a new way, with a truth that is pretty hard to take and pretty difficult to put into practice. I have enough trouble keeping my cool in Sydney traffic let alone reaching out to needy people who are people I dislike intensely and whom I might see as enemies (like opposing teams’ coaching staff who bend the rules).

 I am discovering how controversial this message was, and is, and how difficult Jesus’ request of us actually can be. The parable could equally have been named the parable of the “Good Enemy” for this is exactly what the Samaritan was in this parable. In many ways the title is oxymoronic! A virtuous enemy! Samaritans were not a special breed of “do-gooders” that went about in groups to help people in need. Samaritans were a defined ethnic group living adjacent to Jesus’ fellow Jews. Samaritans and Jews, in 1^st Century Palestine, hated each other.

When the Samaritan in the story was painted as the hero, by Jesus, there would have been “boos” from the listening crowd and people would have walked away. The authorities, especially the religious heavies, would have grown even more suspicious of this new rabbi (teacher) and his growing band of disciples. There are other examples when Jesus goes out of his way to show concern and love to “the enemy” – he blesses a Roman Centurion (Matthew 8:5ff) and counsels a Samaritan woman (John 4:7ff).

So how are we supposed to pull this off?  More importantly, how are we expected to show love towards people who we justifiably dislike, and are repulsed by? Well first of all I want to say I personally really struggle with this, so please do not think I am speaking from successful experience. One of the important things though is to take the first step, and try reaching out in care and concern to people we live and work with who we don’t particularly like. The results of this will surprise you.

I have discovered that our strength, motivation and wherewithal can be enabled, even fuelled, by realising and embracing the degree to which we ourselves are loved. Loved and accepted unconditionally by our Creator, but for many of us, also loved unconditional by our spouses and family. Psychologists would call this our “secure base”. And here is the radical aspect to what Jesus had to point us to. We don’t have to earn “being good” points with God – God’s love is there for us regardless of who we are or what we think about ourselves. As we take the incredible truth of this on-board; as we really digest this into our being then the reality of this love will be our launching pad for reaching out to our neighbour, even our neighbour who may be our enemy. One thing is sure, and that is our “enemy” will be the one most in need of our care and concern and love.

David N. Williams 
College Chaplin