It was not until I was an adult that I realized the common title for this parable, "The Good Samaritan" would have been considered an oxymoron: "a combination of contradictory or incongruous terms,"¹ to Jesus' Jewish audience. "Samaritan" was not just a neutral word to identify nationality or ethnic origin (perhaps no term for nationality is). For the Jews, the Samaritans were so lowly regarded that to call someone a Samaritan was an insult, an ethnic slur. In fact, when Jesus confronted the Jews about their lack of belief in him, they responded by calling him a "Samaritan and demon-possessed" (John 8:48). Using the words "Samaritan" and "good" in the same sentence would probably have never occurred to the Jews of Jesus' time.

Spencer Perkins and Chris Rice expand on Jewish beliefs about Samaritans, saying, "Jews didn't see the Samaritans as their neighbors. Samaritans were half-breeds, the scum of the earth, outcasts. The Jews believed that if a Jewish person's shadow happened to touch a Samaritan's shadow, it would contaminate the Jew. If a Samaritan woman entered a Jewish village, the entire village became unclean."² It appears that the expert in the law whose question elicited the parable could not even bring himself to say the word "Samaritan;" when Jesus asked who had been the neighbor in the story, he responded, "the one who had mercy on him" (Luke 10:37).

Jesus was doing more than telling a story about a kind-hearted man with a donkey. He was doing more than chastising religious leaders for being in too much of a rush or too concerned about ceremonial cleanliness to see another human's need. He was elevating a despised group of people, making an outcast the hero and role model: "Go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37).

The Bad Samaritan
A real-life encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan is narrated in John 4:1-42, the story of the woman at the well.

Verse 4 states, "Now he had to go through Samaria." Samaria was geographically right between Jerusalem and Galilee. The most direct route between the two places was straight through Samaria, but "good Jews" often took a longer route, skirting Samaria, in order not to be tainted. Jesus could have gone around Samaria on his way to Galilee, just as most Jews did at that time. But he knew that his disciples needed to learn a lesson about God's love for others, regardless of their ethnic or religious background, and they would learn best by living through this lesson. He also knew there were many Samaritans in Sychar hungry for salvation. These may have been the imperatives in his mind, compelling him to go through Samaria.

Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman teaches much about a cross-cultural witness. Many suggest that the woman was at the well at this time of day (not when most women came), because she was a woman of ill repute. She was trying to avoid the gossip, whispers, and stares.

Jesus knew all this and broke the social taboos by asking the woman for a drink. The woman quickly pointed this out. She held certain expectations of male Jews. Jesus was breaking down her stereotypes.

When we venture into contact with people from a different country or ethnic group, they have ideas about "people like us." Some of the stereotypes people in other countries have about Americans include: loud, rude, rich, selfish, wasteful, ignorant, and violent. Many have formed their concepts of a "typical American" based on television or movies. The first time I visited my husband's family in Chile, people kept complimenting him by saying, "Oh, she's so simple." I was somewhat offended, until my sister-in-law explained to me that she expected me to be accustomed to the lifestyle portrayed on the TV series "Dallas!"

Is your life anything like the lives of most people portrayed by Hollywood? Probably not, yet we are tainted by what others believe about Americans and by the actions of Americans in the past. Indeed, I teach about Latin America; consequently, I know most about what the US has done there historically, but the kind of activity described below has happened in many places around the world.

The millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt recognized the potential value of an interoceanic canal between the Atlantic and Pacific. He thought the best place to build it would be Nicaragua. He started to transport people, in particular those coming from the East Coast to the gold rush in California, across Nicaragua using carts and boats.

To help him in this goal of building a canal across Nicaragua, Vanderbilt hired William Walker, a mercenary and soldier of fortune born in Tennessee. Before going to work for Vanderbilt, he and a group of 46 men invaded Mexico, and he proclaimed himself "President of the Republic of Lower California."

Later, in Nicaragua, Walker became involved in a local political conflict. He helped one group gain power in 1855, but in 1856, he carried out a coup and proclaimed himself president and English the official language of Nicaragua. The Nicaraguans kicked him out in 1857, but he stubbornly returned and was killed there in 1860.

Walker is one example of the historical attitude of some Americans toward Latin America. They saw it as a playground, thought the people should not be in charge and could not be sovereign as a nation, and choose their own language or leader. Central Americans were seen as savages without law, and it was the "white burden" to go clean up these countries and straighten them out.

When Latin Americans think about people from the United States, these are some of the ideas in their collective memories. We may clamor that it is unfair to judge us in this way, for we were not part of those actions. We may not even know they happened! Nevertheless, they form part of some peoples' stereotypes of a white American.

We may have the best intentions and greatest respect for people, but we must be aware of the stereotypes that others have about us, when we participate in cross-cultural ministry. Truly, showing great respect and love for the people with whom we interact includes making the effort to learn something about their history, including how the US has interacted with their homeland.

In fact, back in the story of the"Bad Samaritan" in John, we see how Jesus did just that with the Samaritan woman. In verses 10-14, Jesus picks up on the historical belief the Samaritans held about the significance of this well, Jacob's well. This was one point of pride that the Samaritans had. "Because the water is moving and not from a cistern, the ancients called it 'living water' -- a term to which Jesus gave a new and special meaning."³

Jesus also knew enough about the Samaritans and their beliefs to approach the woman wisely, to reveal himself as Messiah, in the way she would recognize. The Samaritans believed that the Messiah would come as the taheb, a prophet who would "reveal the truth."⁴ When Jesus told her about having more than one husband, he was not just revealing something about her; he was revealing himself to her as Messiah. When she said to the townspeople, "Come and see someone who knows everything I've ever done," she clearly was identifying him to her fellow Samaritans as the awaited Messiah.

When we learn about others' belief systems, with the purpose of sharing Christ's love with them, it communicates that those individuals have value, because we have taken the time to try to learn something about them.

We need to learn about other religious beliefs to know what key points might be used to communicate the message of salvation and grace of the Gospel. That does not mean we change the Gospel to make it fit others' beliefs, but to learn about the key beliefs and figures and metaphors or symbols, and think about how Christianity is different or similar.

When the Spaniards brought slaves from Africa, they tried to convert them to Christianity. They sought similarities in the stories of different saints among the pantheon of African gods. They would say things like "Saint Barbara is like Changó." Unfortunately, this tactic backfired in Latin America, and the African slaves continued to pray to Changó, disguised as Saint Barbara. They changed names only, not religions. We need to be able to find ways to open communication, while clearly communicating the uniqueness of Christ.

The Other Samaritan's Jesus was a wise teacher, and he knew that his disciples carried the same prejudices of their culture and generation. Jesus' instructions to the disciples on their first mission trip were, "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel" (Matthew 10:5-6). Early on, he knew they would be unable to overcome their cultural and historic prejudices.

Jesus tested the disciples' readiness for a cross-cultural encounter. Luke 9:51-56 records, "As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, 'Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?' But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village." The Samaritans were unwilling to receive this band of Jews on their way to Jerusalem, perhaps in part because of the historic debate over the proper place to worship God. And James and John, righteously indignant, wanted to use their newfound power as Jesus' disciples to punish them. Neither side was able to cross over the cultural divide in this case. Jesus rebuked the disciples but not the Samaritans, and went on his way.

If Luke is written in chronological order, we see Jesus patiently teaching the disciples to see Samaritans through his eyes after this incident, for the parable of the Good Samaritan is in the following chapter. Both Jesus and Luke emphasize that the one grateful leper of the ten healed was a Samaritan (Luke 17: 10-19).

Jesus didn't give up on the disciples or the Samaritans. He specifically included them in Acts 1:8: "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria...." It was finally the post-Pentecost disciples who went into Samaria, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Cross-cultural conflict did not end with these early followers of Jesus. Like the New Testament church, we may hold stereotypes that have to be broken down by the Spirit of Truth (for example, Peter's vision of 'unclean' Gentile foods in Acts 10 and 11). We may stumble. We may be rejected. But we cannot ignore Jesus' command to make disciples of all nations, including those who live in the neighborhood next door.

Some questions to get started:
Regarding the parable of the Good Samaritan, Perkins and Rice ask the pointed question, "Who would Jesus use as the neighbor if he were speaking to you? The story says our neighbor is especially those different from ourselves, maybe those we despise, those who separate themselves from us..."⁵

With whom do you regularly interact that is of an ethnicity, race, or cultural background different than yours? What do you know about the culture and history of that group? What do you know about interactions between that group and your own culture? What can you do to learn more?