Butcher, baker or candlestick maker?

A posting on Facebook recently touched me deeply and made me question a few things about myself. Perhaps more than a few things! It was a posting by Professor Jonathan Jansen: “At 37,000 feet this morning a person wearing a hijab came out of the cockpit. The man next to me spilled his coffee. Thank you, my pilot Fatima Jakoet, for a smooth and pleasant flight.”

In Luke 10:30-37 we read the well-known story of the Good Samaritan who stopped to help a fellow who had been beaten, stripped naked and left for dead on the side of the road. We believe the story tells us “Do unto others as you would have them do to you”. But perhaps there is more to the story to discover.

The priest and a Levite saw the beaten man but decided to cross over and pass him on the other side of the road. The Good Samaritan however took pity on him, bandaged him, put him on his donkey and took him to an inn where he paid the innkeeper to look after him. Jesus asks which of these three was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers. Of course as with the disciples we are quick to answer that it is the one who showed mercy. The victim in the story also does not seem to object to the Samaritan helping him instead of the priest or Levite.

After reading Professor Jansen’s post I found myself asking from which neighbour was I prepared to accept help. The butcher, the baker or the candlestick maker? Does it have to be someone like me? Could I accept a black man, woman, Muslim or LGBT person to be the neighbour who comes to my aid – to be my neighbour? And how available am I to those who I struggle with recognising as my neighbour?

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