July 14 Amos 7:7-17, Lk. 10L25-37
With Amos. we are compelled to examine the distinction between justice and charity. Here, however the issue seems to be one borne more of idolatry and being an outsider threatening punishment than a justice isssue per se. If one holds to the idea of divine punishment for corporate acts and inaction, should we fear the hand of God in the way we treat our brothers and sisters or congratulate ourselves on the immense steps toward justice made in most of our lifetimes?
My issue out of an Amos perspective is that we use the Good Samaritan story to justify our important charity work but we neglect justice often. Justice would work to make the dangerous road to Jericho crime-free. Justice would break up the bandits. Justice would have a proper hospital for the wounded man to find care.Justice deals with structures and the public realm, and charity is the helping hand for a basic human need. quite simply, the need for charity would be far less if public justice were more evident in our land. Before social security programs, the poverty rate with the elderly was enormous. So-called poor houses or old age homes were filled with folks being housed as they waited for death.In the TV show, the West wing, the staff was considering making some incremental changes in policy. they were not seeking perfect jsutice, but thye were seeking to make life a little easier.
Sometimes we miss the punch of this story because we are unaware of the ethnic and religious prejudice between Jews and Samaritans. we could approach it by calling it the good meth maker and dealer, or the kind pornographer, the generous strip club booker. In other words, the story packed punch because this was the last person the hearers of Jesus would ever expect being the hero of a story. It would be like Republican celebrating that only Presdient Clinton presented budget surplus in his last budget proposals.It would be like Democrats realizing that Richard Nixon signed the EPA and Bush the Second created a vast expansion of Medicare with prescirption plans. In Places in the heart Sally field creates of community of the marginal to try to save her farm, where the people are bound together in common need. In the story by jesus, the Samaritan seems to be motivated beyond any hint of self-interest, but sheer compassion.
When I wonder what Jesus would do if he were alive today, i sometimes like to think that his parables would be transformed into movies. Schindler’s List was turned into a movie. The last person one would consider as a helper, a womanizing munitions maker and overall corrupt deal maker would save the lives of over 1,000 people during the Holocaust.When we read that the Samaritan felt compassion or pity, the word is better read as punched in the gut, gut wrenching. for Schindler it was the sight of a little girl in a red coat being shot for sport by a nazi uniform.
Last week, we spoke about Paul’s admonition fo rus to carry our fair share of the load. that means that we find a balance for carrying our own burdens as best we can but also reahcing out with a helping hand for those whose burdens threaten to crush them.Today, I would extend that to trying to keep the balance between the concrete side of active charity, an act of the compassionate heart, and the more abstract, impersonal call to justice. In the end, our readings today push us toward considering the Christian role of healing: the violent bleeding, the social wounds, the open space to provide healing at home, hospital, or hospice.
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