Goodies and Baddies

I used this short homily at both our 8am and 6pm services today. It's based upon Luke 10.25-37 (The Parable of the Good Samaritan).

I’m not sure if any of you are familiar with the Austin Powers films? They’re a spoof on the classic James Bond films with our super-spy hero battling super-villains. We have our goody and our baddy. If we had any doubts who we should be rooting for our baddy is called “Dr Evil”, so it’s pretty clear. 

In one memorable scene a henchman, who must be evil because he works for Dr Evil, is mowed down by a steam roller, driven by our hero, and killed. What happens next is played for laughs but is ridiculously clever. We cut to a women happily baking in her kitchen. The phone rings and it’s The Evil Corporation sadly informing her of her henchman husband’s death. We learn the henchman was a model husband and step-dad and his loss devastates his family.

How many films have we watched where nameless “baddies” were killed off by the heroes? But it’s ok because they were the baddies. Films very often have this very black and white approach to who’s good and who’s bad, often relying on our own prejudice to help us root for the hero. In Die Hard the baddy is German, in Back to the Future the baddies are Libyan, in other films they may be Russian, ugly or scarred, or in the Case of Star Wars, English. Sometimes they’re even a priest.

The thing is we all have prejudice however subtle, and much of the time it can be cultural, as with the people Jesus was living amongst hating Samaritans. If in first century Palestine you’d put the words “good” and “Samaritan” together in a Jewish community they would’ve been outraged. It’s hard for us to get our heads around how radical Jesus was being here because “Samaritan”, through our familiarity with the parable represents compassion, kindness and goodness. 

The Jews hated Samaritans. Hated. In the words of retired bishop and theologian Tom Wright Samaritans were wrong. Everything about them was wrong. Wrong worship, wrong theology and wrong behaviour. Religious division going back centuries caused this particular people to be despised by the Jewish community more than any other. 

Now not only is this man from a despised people portrayed as the goody of our story, but the upright Jewish people – the priest and Levite – are the baddies. This would have been outrageous to the listeners. 

Now I don’t believe the priest or the Levite were bad, they were just misguided in how to serve God. They were trying to keep the law, stay undefiled, by not touching what was potentially a dead body. and yet in the Samaritan we see grace and love and mercy. We see God reflected in this despised man who asked no questions about who the victim was or how he got to be there. He cared for him and ultimately saved his life. 

So we have to ask the uncomfortable question, who do I have any prejudice or preconceived ideas against? Because they are our neighbours. Are we antisemitic? The Jews are our neighbours; Islamophobic? The Muslims are our neighbours; Homophobic? The LGBTQ+ community are our neighbours; Misogynist? Women are our neighbours; Xenophobic? All races are or neighbours; anti-immigration? Immigrants are our neighbours? Faithful? Atheists are our neighbours; Atheist? People of faith are our neighbours…and the list goes on and on.

I said in my sermon last week there is no “us” and “them” just a universal “us” as a whole, every person we meet is our neighbour, everyone we connect with or interact with is made in God’s image and loved.

If we are people who profess to love Jesus and follow his teachings we can't ignore any person we meet in need, no matter what our perceptions of them, no matter whether we judge them as being “good” or “bad”. This really is one of the most radical things Jesus has taught us, and one of the most difficult to live out.