“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).
Jesus once told a compelling story about a man headed down to Jericho from Jerusalem. The man was accosted by robbers. They stripped him and beat him within an inch of his life, leaving him for dead alongside the road.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus thought it important to mention that the robbers had “stripped” the man? Isn’t being beaten, robbed, and left for dead enough? Why stripped? What’s his point?
Perhaps he knew that the best way to dehumanize a person or a particular group of people for that matter is to strip that person of his or her identity. Perhaps this is why black slaves were thought to be less than human (four-fifths human); if they are a little less than human that makes it easier to keep them chained in slavery. If you believe that a woman’s identity is tethered to her male counterpart, then it would be easier to claim male dominance over her.
Stripping a person of his or her identity dehumanizes that person. Just maybe this was Jesus’ point all along and we simply missed it.
So, as the story goes, a priest and a Levite pass by the naked beaten man and they ignore him. They perhaps glanced his way but his nakedness blinded them. He was just too anonymous to offer compassion and aid. Chances are, seeing this naked man, neither one considered that he just might be a father, or a son, or a husband, or a brother to another human.
But then a Samaritan appears (an outsider). He cares for the man even though he has no idea who he is, or where he came from (remember he’s naked).
So what differentiates the Samaritan from the two religious guys who passed by earlier? Well, the Samaritan sees this beaten man as a fellow human being, in spite of his nakedness. The man’s identity is not lost to the Samaritan.
He is a neighbor worthy of assistance and compassion.
Jesus tells this famous story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate what love of God and love of neighbor looks like on the ground, in real time! The verse cited at the top provides the basis for the Samaritan’s actions. The love ethic of Jesus proves the fuel for such courageous actions towards anyone whose identity has been diminished or defaced or devalued.
Our government’s current immigration policy is unfolding on our southern border. It is just too tempting to scapegoat these immigrants as murderers, rapists, drug pushers, or even terrorists. It’s an effective way to stoke fear in the hearts of people. But it does something far worse: It dehumanizes them. It paints them as being something less than human . . . it strips them of their God-given identity!
Does it not make it easier to separate children from their parents when neither is considered human enough to deserve compassion and aid?
I understand the fear that has gripped so many Americans who support this Administration’s immigration policies and practices. I also recognize the dangers implicit in allowing everyone to cross over our borders. Yet I also understand the need for vulnerable people to be scapegoated in order to settle down the populace and to assuage their fears. It’s an age-old game that we humans have been playing forever.
Yes, I am in favor of improved immigration policies, but I also know that for every child and parent that is separated a piece of America’s soul dies. We need a serious immigration policy upgrade to be sure.
But any policy or future upgrade that is based on fear-mongering and the dehumanization of strangers and immigrants would be unacceptable in my view. As Christ-followers we are called to live by the Great Commandment: Love God with all we have and love our neighbors as ourselves.
Do we have to ask who our neighbor is?
