A Parable for Our Time

I have had a book sitting next to my computer for three or possibly four months now.  I have intended to reflect on many of the ideas in that book in this venue.  However, the Corona Virus pandemic has shoved it to the back burner – at least until this morning when it feels right to explore it.  The book is, The Dignity of Difference by Jonathan Sacks.  I reread this book just prior to the pandemic and all its consequences that has taken all of our attention in recent months. 

Jonathan Sacks is a theologian who was the Chief  Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth and, as such, brings a unique perspective to the idea of there being dignity in  differences which has been a concept which has been more honoured in the breech than the observance in the history of humankind.  The subtitle of the book is, How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations.  I believe that what we have been experiencing in the current pandemic is just that, a clash of not only civilizations but a clash or race, creed, colour, and class especially within our civilization.  This has always been there and has been brought to the fore by the impact of the Corona Virus.  So perhaps it is just the time to explore the ideas which the author puts forward in this book.

When I read a book–particularly one of substance rather than one read for pure entertainment – I am in the habit of noting in the back cover or any other blank pages at the back of the book, ideas which are noteworthy and ones which I possibly want to return to in the future.  On turning to the book this morning, I found all the available spaces filled with annotations of things of note – a true embarrassment of riches and an indication of how valuable I found this book.  The first notation that caught my eye was page 65 “the Good Samaritan Parable expanded.”  Turning to the source, I found that it did not refer to the parable directly.  It was the following passage:

Nothing has proved harder in the history of civilization than to see God, or good, or human dignity in those whose language is not mine, whose skin colour in different, whose faith is not my faith and whose truth is not my truth.

This truth, which I believe is so important for us today, is the essence of the message in the Good Samaritan parable.  The priest and the Levite – both ‘holy men’ were not able to see any of those qualities in the man who was lying mugged at the side of the road.  The person who saw, “God, or good, or human dignity” in that person was the despised Samaritan, who could have been excused for walking by on the other side, was a person who had been treated as ‘the other’ by the Jews of that time. He was the true neighbour as Jesus forced the lawyer to recognize. 

I believe that the Good Samaritan parable is, more than ever, a parable for this time of Corona Pandemic.  We have been faced with the reality that collectively we have not seen many people as the Other - the old, Canadians of colour, the poor, migrant workers, and xxx (fill in the blanks for yourself) – and our society has passed by on the other side. 

Blessings on your journey where you never know who might by lying on the side of that journey.