Bishop Anderson Jeremiah reflects on the Good Samaritan and racial justice, showing how Jesus redefines neighbourly love beyond boundaries, names racism as a distortion of the Imago Dei, and calls the Church to active mercy, justice, and solidarity in a fragmented and divided world.
In the Gospel of Luke (10:25–37), a lawyer asks Jesus a question that seems academic: “Who is my neighbour?” This was not a request for information, it was a search for a limit. The lawyer wanted to know exactly where his obligation to others ended. He wanted a boundary that kept his life comfortable and his responsibilities manageable.
Jesus, currently on his journey to Jerusalem and the cross, responds not with a definition, but with a transformative story, the parable of the Good Samaritan. He presents us with a tension between religious obedience and ethical action, reminding us that eternal life is found not in the mastery of rules, but in the practice of a love that refuses to recognise borders and difference. Jesus uses this opportunity to illustrate the character of God and the need for a transformed social relationship.
The Divine Subversion: Why the Samaritan?
To understand the weight of the Good Samaritan, we must look at the reality of the time. The hostility between Jews and Samaritans was not a mere disagreement, it was a deep seated ethnic and religious divide. Samaritans were often viewed as ritually polluting and socially “other”. A common sentiment of the day suggested that even sharing bread with a Samaritan was an act of profound compromise.
By making the Samaritan the hero, Jesus was performing a divine subversion. The Priest and the Levite, those who represented the height of tradition, passed by the victim to protect their status and safety. But the despised foreigner stopped. Jesus was teaching that the neighbour is not the one who shares your background, it is the one who acts with mercy. By integrating the love of God with the love of neighbour, this framework prevents the latter from devolving into mere sentimentality. This frames the pursuit of justice not as a political fashion, but as a divine requirement.
Seeing Through the Eyes of the Victim
Jesus invites us to imagine ourselves as the traveller, beaten and abandoned on a dangerous road. Today, that road is visible in the suffering across our globe.
We see it across the world, in instances too many to mention, where innocent lives are devastated by the pursuit and abuse of power.
We see it time and again in the institutional racism highlighted by the reports of the Racial Justice Commission, which leaves many in our own communities half dead by the roadside of opportunity within the Church.
As we observe Racial Justice Sunday, we are challenged to look at those our Church and society often push to the margins, the Global Majority Heritage communities in this country, migrants and refugees, and the displaced. Can we see them not as “problems to be solved”, but as sources of moral agency and truth?
Racism as a Disfigurement of the Divine
We must be clear, racism is a sin. It is a sin because it disfigures the Imago Dei, the image of God, in our brothers and sisters. It begins when we turn away from justice and allow prejudice to become a social norm. When we prioritise individual rights over collective mercy, we lose sight of the Gospel.
For the prophets, God’s reign is defined by the presence of justice. Its absence is, quite literally, the absence of God. Our society often seeks refuge in rules and boundaries, but Jesus calls us to a larger vision, one where the other is recognised as a bearer of God’s grace.
Our praxis shapes our holiness. The prophet Micah says, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (6:8)
A Vocation of Healing
Pursuing racial justice is not a political trend, it is a Christian vocation. Like the Samaritan, we are called to be attentive to the cries of those in pain. God does not simply watch from the sidelines, God engages in the work of transformation.
In the story of the Good Samaritan, the call to be a good neighbour brings to light the inherent theological contradiction within Christian communities that harbour racial indifference, serving as a rigorous tool for the Church’s self-examination. Through this story, Jesus critiques a theological posture where devotion is retained but justice is sidelined. We are called to move from a culture of silence to one of practical solidarity.
At the heart of our vision for every Londoner to encounter God’s love is the essential work of racial justice. Pursuing justice is more than a priority, it is the practical expression of our Christian discipleship.
We are called to be people of mercy and equity. We are invited to be “Good Samaritans”, people who become signs of God’s reign here and now. Let us embrace the challenge to work with God in bringing freedom and peace to every person, regardless of their origin, accent, or skin colour.
This Racial Justice Sunday, let us ask ourselves: Are we ready to let Jesus redefine who our neighbour really is?
