Luke 10:30-37
Chris O’Rear, M.Div., M.M.F.T.
Service of Healing
Belle Meade United Methodist Church
Nashville, Tennessee
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
My counseling work is informed by two primary psychological
theories. However, there are other
theories that I can draw on when I feel it is appropriate for a particular
client. One of those theories is GestaltTheory. Gestalt theory has a unique
approach to interpreting dreams that involves looking at every element of a
dream as if it represents some aspect of the dreamer. For example, a client of mine recently told
me of a dream in which he was explaining God’s grace to another man. In a Gestalt-kind of reflection on that
dream, we noted that the ideas of grace that he believes in his head and can offer others do not always translate into giving himself grace for things he has
done. So, we wondered if in the dream, one
part of him needed to teach another part of him about grace.
In
preparing for this service, I realized that the same way of thinking might be
applied to Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan.
There is always a bit of risk in pressing any analogy or story too far,
but I decided to try it.
As
you recall, In Luke 10, Jesus is having a conversation with a man who asks Jesus
what he should do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus asked him what was in the law and what he saw there. The man answered that we should love God with
our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus said that this was true and if the man would
do this, he would live. Just to be sure
he was on the right path, the man asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied, “A man was
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who
stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now
by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by
on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he
came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But
a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved
with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his
wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal,
brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The
next day he took out two denarii,[a] gave
them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I
will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which
of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands
of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed
him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
If
we are to examine this passage with a Gestalt-like lens, then it seems we must
first look at the man who was robbed and beaten. Perhaps you have known the horrible feeling
of literally being robbed of your belongings, but it is more likely that that many
of us can identify with being robbed of trust we had in another person or
having certain dreams taken from us. We
might feel beaten up by difficulties at work, financial struggles, physical
issues, or perhaps we have suffered the woundedness of literally being
assaulted or taken advantage of. Life
can be very difficult and there are times when we can feel “half dead” and
wonder if we can go on. Depression,
anxiety, grief, betrayal, and losses of a many kinds can all rob us of hope and
joy. We may, at times, feel as if we
have been left by the side of the road and wonder who will come to help us?
In
our examination of this passage, we might suggest then, that the Priest would
represent our religious tradition or our faith. Surely, if we just have enough
faith or if we pray the right way or pray long enough, things will get
better. At least people say these things
to hurting people way too often and it is like the person just passes us
by. They don’t understand what it is
like to hurt the way we do. Religious
platitudes and clichés are rarely what hurting people need.
The
next character we encounter is the “Levite”.
Though the descendants of Levi were set apart as a priestly tribe, not
all were priests. Others of the Levites
were set apart to assist in worship in various ways. They would have also been scholars of the
Jewish law and would have sought to keep themselves ceremonially clean. It is in this vein, that I imagine the part
of us that views our emotional hurts and woundedness with contempt. When we think about hurts, we might think of
ourselves as weak or we might hate that we can be so vulnerable as to be hurt
by another. We can too often judge our
hurts. We might try to make sense of
them by thinking that we deserved what happened to us or that they were part of
God’s punishment for us. In the same way
that we might not offer help to a person in need if we think their situation is
their own fault, we can also be judgmental of our own situations and feel like
we don’t have the merit to warrant attending to our needs. Like the Levite may also have felt, we might
be concerned about how much time it will take if we try to address the
need. People sometimes think that if
they really allow themselves to look at their hurt and feel their feelings of
sadness and anger that those feelings will take over. There is a fear of opening a wound that we
are afraid will never heal. We are
sometimes afraid that if we seek help for our brokenness that it will take too
much time or be too expensive (emotionally or financially), but the Samaritan
is our true example here.
The
Jews and the Samaritans were not friends.
There was great tension between them.
In the same way that we might feel dislike or hatred for our hurts. We sometimes want to reject the parts of us
that can be hurt and the parts that cause us pain, but our hurts are not our
enemies. They should not be strangers to
us. The Samaritan of the story is moved
by compassion, puts aside his prejudice and decides to treat the wounded man as
a person instead of a problem. The
Samaritan goes over the hurt man and investigates his wounds. He takes the time to tend to each one. The man on the road was not going to get
better by being ignored. He was not going to heal by treating him like a
problem. He could only heal when someone
took the time to compassionately examine and evaluate the wounds and to provide
treatment as he was able.
There
is one last lesson we take from the Samaritan man. He did as much as he could by himself, but
when the hurt man required more than the Samaritan could do, he asked for help.
He did use some of his own resources to
pay the innkeeper, but he could not stay in the town and just care for the
wounded man. So, he enlisted help. Too often we feel that we should know how to
take care of all our problems. We think
we should be able to heal ourselves or fix everything ourselves. We may even see asking for help as sign of
weakness, but this story of Jesus demonstrates that we can only do what we can
do and then it is ok to ask someone else to help who can do more than we can by
ourselves.
So,
our Gestalt reflection kind of works, I think.
We are all subject to hurt, disappointment, injury, illness, loss,
betrayal, and more. Ignoring the hurts
and feelings we have, doesn’t make them go away. True healing comes when take the time to live
out of love, even for the parts of ourselves that we don’t like. Healing comes when we take the time to
examine our hurts, identify them and allow ourselves to experience whatever
feelings they bring. We have to remember
that healing is not something that just happens with time and it is not
something we can always do all by ourselves.
It is not a weakness, but a sign of courage and wisdom to ask for help
when you need it. Jesus said if we offer
compassion to the one in need, as the Samaritan did, we will live. Of course, we are to offer that compassion to
all we come in contact with as well, but we must also learn to love ourselves
and have compassion for ourselves.
Because Jesus also said, “Love your neighbor in the same way that you
love yourself.”
How
can you offer yourself some compassion?
