The Neighbour
1990 (Year A), 23 September /
Pentecost 16
St Peter de Beauvoir Town
Mr and Mrs Lewis’ three-month-old granddaughter was ill; she’d been rushed into Bethnal Green Children’s Hospital with whooping cough. Their daughter had gone with the child to hospital, and since she’s left they’d heard nothing. They were absolutely desperate for news and wanted to know if I could take them up to see her. When we arrived at the hospital it was already dark and we walked up the ward looking through the windows into all the small rooms. The sister saw us, asked who we were and then said she wanted to see us in the office. My heart sank fearing that the next few hours would be taken up with sitting with this couple while they began to grieve the death of their grandchild.
The sister came in, dimmed the lights and told us that the mother had been sent home to rest because there was no more she could do. I sat behind the couple as the nurse talked to the grandparents. She said that the child was very seriously ill but would not die. ‘Do you understand what I’m saying to you?’ she kept saying. ‘She is very ill, she might get worse, but your grandchild will not die. Do you understand what I’m saying? I want you to go home and tell your daughter what I’ve said to you. I want you to tell her that her baby will not die. Do you understand?’ I watched spellbound and as we slowly left the ward Mrs Lewis turned to her husband and said, ‘Wasn’t it good of that nurse to spend so much time with us?’ I asked how long how long we’d been there. ‘Oh, it must’ve been half an hour at least,’ she said. I’d looked at my watch as we went in – we’d been there just less than five minutes.
I had no doubt that Christ had been in that room. Christ in the person of the sister had brought healing to the grandparents, who could then heal the mother, who would then play her part in the healing of her child. I have no doubt who was the good neighbour there. I wish I could do likewise – it was a stunning performance.
The story is a wonderful one, not only is it a modern parable of good neighbour but understanding its essential elements will enable us to be as Christ would have us be. The nurse was present with the two grandparents, not as we are in so many of our relationships – those visits to the relatives that we would really rather make be with. We can say that we’re there with them, but that’s about all we can say. They are charitable to us, and are prepared to put up with very little. They are grateful that we bothered at all and thank us for our visit. That nurse was attentive and healed them, and then she allowed them to go on and play their part in the healing process. The most memorable neighbour, the Good Samaritan didn’t heal the wounded traveller all by himself – he was attentive to the needs of the wounded man and then allowed another to help in his healing.
The parables Jesus told all have this essential element. Of the neighbour being present – being attentive to the person’s needs, but not having to do everything themselves, allowing others to play their part.
And the good neighbour doesn’t minister to imagined needs. The neighbour listens to what is said and hears it. The good neighbour sometimes hears what’s only hinted at, or maybe not even spoken at all. That’s the hard part. But it means that when the man with a withered arm asks for his arm to be healed, that’s what happens and he’s not given a new set of clothes or something else equally inappropriate. The Samaritan is attentive to the needs of the man he found on the road and gives the aid that’s appropriate.
How do we react to our neighbours when they ask things of us? How do we work to make Christ present with the people we meet, as he most surely was in that hospital ward. The fourteen children downstairs provide us with graphic and sometimes painful example. They are those who we would rather not have here. They are those who make demands on us which we would rather not meet. They are those who inconvenience us, those who embarrass us by our own wealth. They are those who invade us and take over our space. And yet the King still says, ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren you did it also to me’.
The encouragements go on and on, ‘Remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some have entertained angels without knowing it’. This is not an optional extra, a command made to those who are much better or much more wealthier than we are. Nor is it a command which ceases when we are tired and would rather rest. Even there, when the man says, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are in bed with me; I cannot get up and give you anything?’ I tell you, though he will not get up and given him anything because he is tired, yet because of importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
The care and love of our neighbours is fundamental to our lives, our ministry to them is crucial, for it is there that Christ is recognised and made manifest again and again. So may God give us courage to serve him in our neighbour, may Christ give us vision to see him in all we meet. May the Spirit reveal to us what we should say and do. AMEN