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Episode Synopsis "What Must Faith Do?"
The Parable of the “Good” Samaritan is a very familiar text. But it is often forgotten that the parable itself is Jesus’ response to a Jewish Scripture scholar’s question: “Who is my neighbor?” The scholar is not asking the question sincerely, seeking clarity with an eye to obedience, but to “justify himself”— to create the widest possible space between the Bible’s demands and the responsibility to obey. Jesus’ parable portrays the hated and heretical Samaritan as the hero. He’s the one who demonstrates the lavish grace, compassion, and love of God and neighbor; the orthodox Scripture scholar seeks a comfortable, “correct answer” that can help him exclude people from his sphere of concern. But Jesus gets to the heart of the matter asking, “Who acted as neighbor?” To that, the scholar can only reluctantly reply, “The one who showed mercy.” “Go, and do likewise, Jesus says.” Apparently, with Jesus, orthodoxy without orthopraxy is simply hypocrisy. Note: The painting associated with this podcast (visible on the church website podcast page) is "The Good Samaritan" (detail) by Ferdinand Hodler.
In God we trust