Most everyone is familiar with the parable of the good Samaritan ( Luke 25-38) , but the beauty of the Parables is the more you read them, the more you get out of them.
Often reconciliation requires that we be open to a new way of thinking. Things we believe to be absolute, may not be so clear after all.
Take the lawyer who asks Jesus right before the parable of the Good Samaritan how to inherit eternal life. Jesus sent him back to books — “What was written in the law?” The lawyer knew the code — Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus tells him he has given the right answer.
But like a typical lawyer, the man wants to justify himself and put limits on his duty to love one’s neighbor, so he asks, “And who is my neighbor?” Then Jesus turns the lawyer’s world upside down by telling the famous parable. For the lawyer a Samaritan was a heretic, incapable of being a neighbor, much like many people think of people of other faiths than one’s own today. But Jesus in just a few words throws such ideas out the window, those who show mercy, those who act out of love regardless of their faith or differences, are our neighbors.
Reconciliation doesn’t mean putting aside our beliefs, much like Jesus didn’t ask the lawyer to change his. Reconciliation is much more dramatic. It means recognizing that a person you may believe to be completely wrong on some issue of significance is on the same journey as you. It means trusting God and not seeking to overwhelm with your passion and argument the individual, but instead being open to a change of heart and a desire to understand your neighbor’s position and point of view, as well as your own.
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