This past Monday was "Human Trafficking Awareness Day"--which is timely since it seems that much human trafficking happens around the Super Bowl, which is less than a month from now. The fact that this happens--that adults and children both get kidnapped and sold into lives of sexual slavery--is tragic and scary. It leads to "stranger danger"--the need for caution around those people whom we don't know, particularly that children should be cautious around adults whom they do not know (although, as it turns out, most abduction of children isn't done by strangers, but by people whom the children already know).
"Stranger danger" is an appropriate thing, but not if taken to its ultimate extent--in which case, everyone one hasn't already met is a stranger, including friends of the child's parents, any new teacher, and untold number of people. Taken to extreme, this means that no one can ever be trusted. It would be impossible to go to summer camp, or welcome the new kid in the class at school. It is good to be cautious, but not to be essentially paralyzed with fear.
Jesus tells a story where the stranger--not only someone not known before, but someone immediately suspicious and feared because of cultural prejudice--ends up being the most caring person in the story. The stranger who compassionately helps a man who has been robbed and beaten is described as being truly a neighbor--and Jesus has already made clear (drawn from his own Jewish religious heritage) that loving the neighbor is the second greatest commandment. Hospitality--welcome for those we don't know--is a key value in our Christian faith--and part of how we motivate hospitality is to recognize that those we don't know are those we don't know YET.
In the story Jesus tells, the stranger who becomes the neighbor--the "Good Samaritan"--represents Christ. In the story, the man who is beaten and robbed meets Christ in the stranger.
Irish poet William Butler Yeats, 1923 Nobel Prize winner, is credited with this quote: "There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met."
NEW TESTAMENT Hebrews 13:1-3
1 Let mutual love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.
GOSPEL Luke 10:25-37
25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 26 He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ 27 He answered, ‘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.’ 28 And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’
29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ 30 Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ 37 He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’