It isn't my job.....is it?

The Good Samaritan is a story of the unexpected. That someone should get robbed and seriously injured, unfortunately is not unexpected. That someone should help, I hope, is not unexpected but the point of the story is not about helping, well not really, the point of the story is about the sheer scandal of those who walk by, those who should help but whodeclare – it is not my job.

Then whose job does it become, Jesus asks his followers, well the one who you would least expect, the one who truly has no ties to the man and no real obligation to help.

The world which Jesus lived in was a world of strict social convention and ancient custom but things had gone mightily astray. Luke returns to the theme of the outsider and the disempowered time and time again. Samaritans, women, children, the sick all are drawn in and woven into the story of the Kingdom.

Jesus is relentless in his demands for a new vision. This passage comes after the sending out of two groups of disciples and their return, in amongst these evangelism stories he gives teaching on what sort of kingdom this is – a kingdom where he will go to his death because his power is not of this world. But if his power is not of this world his compassion rests, not with the religious elite, but with those who live in the Kingdom and live with Kingdom values now.

Not only do the priest and the teacher represent Judaism but so does the man laying on the ground, lifeless. The interaction between the man robbed of all possession and then nearly of life and the religious officials is that of the people of Israel and the temple cult in Jerusalem, high and lifted up and utterly out of touch.

Restoration comes not from inside the system but from outsides it, the man's life is owed to someone who is natuarally his enemy. Luke, of course, may well not have been a Jew and the person to whom he addresses both his Gospel and Acts, Theolphilus, almost certainly was not. His interest in the story is obvious – that ailing Judaism might be lifted from its dusty grave by those outside of it, those traditionally thought unworthy and unclean.

But in Luke's multi-layered story telling the Samaritan might also be seen to be Jesus himself – although Jesus was a Jew and not a Samaritan, he put himself outside of that traditional leadership group – he was neither official teacher or priest. But God is not sending salvation through the old way of doing things, through those who would walk by, but through a different and unheard of form of generosity.

The “It's not my job” mentality is often deeply rooted in our psyches. We have people paid to do things and if they are not doing them we should complain. Of course, in a society such as ours there is an element of truth to this – if the dustmen (garbage collectors) are leaving rubbish strewn down our streets it might be expedient for us to pick it up to prevent vermin but we will also call the council and complain, and rightly expect it not to happen again.

Social services, medical and psychological services, state benefits – all of these exist to ensure a minumum standard of care for people. We cannot all offer counselling, give out unemplyoment benefit or do heart surgery – on that level there are things that are not our jobs – but is this the same as walking by on the other side?

At the same time we cannot hold every single piece of human suffering in our hearts and minds – it would simply crush us. But this is not what the Samaritan does, he sees one person in distress and he reaches out. There is no miraculous healing in this story, no thunderbolt from heaven, just sensible, human, kindness. Luke even mentions the money the Samaritan leaves.

The Samaritan does not heal the man, he simply brings him to a place where he can be healed. The Samaritan does not wait around for the man to get better, to make sure he is alright, he trusts the inn keeper to look after him. We do not even know whether the man would have had a chance to say thank-you.

In other words, the Samaritan in a vital link in the chain of the man's recovery but he does not bring that recovery to its end – full health – he simply provides a possibility and walks away. He makes the man his “job” at that moment.

This then is a model for our behaviour. First of all let's remind ourselves that Luke is talking about Kingdom values and in Christ's arrived and arriving time of Kingdom there are no rules about who is in and who is out – Jews, Samaritans, old, young, women, the sick – all are invited to live Kingdom lives.

Kingdom lives do not walk by one the other side of human suffering, they take a healthy and practical approach to it. They engage with those who are suffering and offer possibility. We are often too impatient with things like grief and illness, we want the quick cure. We are often too patient with politicians and global economics because we think that change takes time.

Offering possibility, hope, space for change is something which we are called to as Christians. We are to be outward looking and inward growing. The world and its needs are God's job and therefore our job. The Samaritan is crystallised in time as someone outside who offers help – but the chances are this would have been a one off for him – it is not every day one comes across victims of serious crime.

Of course if you saw someone dying you would try to help but what about the other things which Jesus asks of kingdom-dwellers, opening doors on hearts and lives, sliding shuttered windows open in people – is often slow and patient work. The sort of engagement which is neither dramatic nor particularly public.

What about understanding why some starve whilst others feast, why there are not jobs, why money works at the whim of some and the peril of many. Are we engaged in that, or are we walking by.

Jesus knew what he was asking – the shock of Samaritan helping Jew is as nothing compared to the shock of kingdom people who are truly engaged in the world which we live in. Imagining possibility for every person in this world, imagining God's love for them and then moving towards that vision of inclusion in our job, whoever we are.