Telling Tales

A long, long time ago, in a land far away, there was a teacher who told stories. He told many kinds of stories, often to answer issues or questions that arose before him. Some of those stories became really well known. Others were lost to the ravages of time, the cost of writing material, and times of trial and persecution that made keeping all the stories alive difficult. Many of them stories are still remembered, but often not well understood.

One such tale concerned a man assaulted, robbed, and left to die on the side of a dangerous road out of town. A stranger passed by and assumed responsibility to tend the man’s wounds, clothe him, wrestle him into his own saddle, and take him to an inn along his way. There the stranger paid for the wounded man’s lodging and care, before resuming his journey. Before departing, however, he promised the innkeeper to return and take care of any other expenses incurred in caring for the man. The stranger went on his way, planning that second stop at the inn on his return to his home country.

This could have been a story about generosity. This could have been a story to encourage assuming a degree of danger and vulnerability in caring for strangers in need. This could have been a story about using our resources not simply for our own advantage, but also for the welfare of others. This could have been a story about caring for another's well-being far beyond food and shelter, including medical care and support during recovery. This could have been a story about how caring for others should not be limited to those of our own race and nation. Officially, it was a story about the extent of whom we should consider worthy of our care and attention. Even so, the story was about so much more. It applies to all of these other things it could have been about, specifically because caring for one’s neighbor means doing all of these other things.

It is a simple tale. It has, however, many applications. We could learn from it what love actually looks like, as well as to whom it should apply. We could learn from it that the resources in our hands are not simply for our personal benefit. We could learn from it that loving a neighbor requires we attend to their needs for healing, shelter, food, water, comfort, security, and recovery. We could learn from it that when a neighbor is robbed, it is as though we ourselves were robbed, that we must be part of the solution in making that neighbor whole. To be a neighbor means to act as though we ourselves caused them harm and must make things right at our own expense.

At the end of the day, the question we should pose to the tale is probably not who is my neighbor, but also to what extend are we allowing the example of this foreigner to transform how we care for those we already consider friends and neighbors. Do we even care this way for those in our closest circle? If not, it’s about time we started. If we do, it’s probably time to work on expanding the circles of our concern. If we take the story seriously, it means entirely erasing those circles, for all they really do is shut out those we refuse to include.

There is a lot more we could learn from this simple story. Just this little bit, however, could take us a lifetime. Anyone have a circle eraser handy?

— ©Copyright 2023, Christopher B. Harbin 

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