A Teachable Moment: Loving Our Enemies
Last night at the end of my walk with our dog Taji and son Theo in east Las Vegas, we were almost finished, when I looked behind me and in the fading light of late dusk I saw the dark outline of an adult laying on the sidewalk with a cellphone lit up and a dog on a leash.
Something didn’t seem right, so I jogged the three houses down and shouted “are you okay”? The person didn’t answer. Getting closer, I shouted again and the person who I could now understand to be elderly mumbled “no”. They were very disoriented. I didn’t want to get too close in case our dogs went at it, but got as close as I safely could and told him I’d be right back after I got my dog and son home. There were some people a few houses down getting into a truck that I saw as I was going home and I told them we had a neighbor down the way who was in trouble and needed help and I would be right back.
When I got back, they had helped the man up and were helping him walk to his son’s house a few houses away. He had a massive goose egg on his head and was still disoriented.
We helped him get inside and told his son he should go to the ER.
My running route today with Taji was on the same route. Running is my chance to think and sometimes pray. As I ran, I couldn’t help but think of last night and how that story relates to the parable of the Good Samaritan. I then got to thinking of the radical nature of that parable and what it might look like today. I don’t personally have enemies per se. I have people I have had difficult interactions with for sure. What would I do if an enemy was in the position of my neighbor from last night? Or, as in the case of the parable of the Good Samaritan, what if I was disoriented after a fall and one of my enemies came to help me?
Or, placing it in the context of the geographical and geopolitical location of the original parable, Jesus might tell the parable the way illustrated below if he were telling it today (October 14, 2023). (Scripture paraphrased from the Common English Bible):
Luke 10:25-37
25 A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?”
26 Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?”
27 He responded, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”
29 But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied, “A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death. 31 Now it just so happened that a priest was also going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. 32 Likewise, a Levite came by that spot, saw the injured man, and crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. 33 A Palestinian, who was on a journey, came to where the man was. But when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. 34 The Palestinian went to him and bandaged his wounds, tending them with oil and wine. Then he placed the wounded man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day, he took two full days’ worth of wages and gave them to the innkeeper. He said, ‘Take care of him, and when I return, I will pay you back for any additional costs.’ 36 What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?”
37 Then the legal expert said, “The one who demonstrated mercy toward him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Love God with everything, and love your neighbor, friends. Even your enemies. It’s how we inherit eternal life.