by Rev. Eric Folkerth

Sunday’s Gospel lesson was the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

But after worship I found myself still drawn to the story. As you know, it’s a story about the question, “Who Is My Neighbor?” But I had something of an epiphany Sunday afternoon that I’d like to share with you now. Allegorically, this parable can also teach us about ourselves.

Inside your very being, your soul, your mind, your heart, you are ALL of these characters, AT THE SAME TIME. Some of them are likely more obvious to you at times than others.

Let me explain…

Sometimes we are a Wounded Traveler, foolishly traveling a dangerous road alone…

We over-estimate our ability to control our life and surroundings. We misjudge how dangerous the road is and set out on a dangerous road, alone, instead of asking for help.

When we are harmed, left for dead by the side of the road, we can say terrible things to ourselves…

“You should have known better…you deserve what you got. You fool…you should have never tried to walk this road by yourself. You should have asked for help earlier.”

“You SHOULD have…”

Sometimes we are the Wounded Traveler, and we are hurting by the side of the road.

———————-

Sometimes, we are the robbers. We are our own Inner-Bandits.

It could be that our self-harm comes from previous trauma….from generational harm we have internalized…from messages our parents gave us, or some external abuser first visited us.

Some days we engage in self-harm. We self-sabotage the best intentions of our own Wounded Traveler. We make goals. We have good intentions. (The Inner-Traveler often starts out hopeful and confident…)

But soon after, we “rob” ourselves of our own future. As Paul once said, “I do the very thing I hate…”

Our Inner-Bandit “beats up” ourselves.

And then we often“beat up” ourselves for beating up ourselves.

It can be a horrible cycle of self-shame, self-recrimination and self-loathing.

We do this, not because we are flawed, but because we are human.

———————-

Sometimes, we are the religious leaders; an Inner-Aloof Priest “walking by” our Wounded Traveler…

This is the part that all of us who call ourselves Christians need to really hear. Because instead of taking time to love ourselves —to stop and aid our bleeding, wounded, selves— our Inner-Priest just “passes by on the other side.”

When we are this character, we tell ourselves we have “important” work to do. We can’t stop for self-love or self-care.

“I’ll just power-through,” our Inner-Aloof Priest tells me, “I’ll be fine.”
“Sure,” as I look down to notice, “I’m bloodied and in shock… but somebody else will come and help me….or maybe if I just ignore it…that gaping wound will go away…”

This next part is important to say: Our Inner-Aloof Priest often appears “together” to the external world. Maybe we can even quote scripture, or lead a prayer group. But, we are in denial about our own needs.

This happens, as with the other characters, not because we are flawed, or because religious belief is flawed. But because we are human.

———————-

So, those are the first three characters:
Inner-Wounded Traveler.
Inner-Bandit.
Inner-Aloof Priest.

Contemporary Christian mystic, Jim Finley says it this way: “In meditation we catch ourselves waging violence on parts of ourselves. This is the seedbed of War. All violence is the act of acting out our own violence toward our own heart.”

Read that over several times until the powerful truth of it seeps deeply into your being.

This is why so many of us find prayer and meditation to be hard work.

Because there’s always a lot going on in there…these characters fight for our attention.

But, when we are in our “right mind,” ( to use Jesus’ phase…) we are *also* that one, final, and blessed character: We are our own Inner-Good Samaritan.

The Samaritan's part of the story is powerful, and teaches us important parts of self-love as well as love of neighbor.

Jesus teaches that when the Samaritan looks upon the injured person, “he was moved with COMPASSION.”

Longtime readers of mine will recall that THIS IS MY FAVORITE BIBLICAL WORD.

It is such an under-appreciated word. It only appears in the Gospel a few times, but it’s alway important when it does.

“Compassion” in this passage is the Biblical word, “Splagchnizomai.”

Compassion/Splagchnizomai means something like: To be moved, as in the bowels, hence to be moved with compassion, to feel compassion. It denotes a deep seated “feeling” and “emotion,” a visceral reaction of love, compassion and empathy.

When we are in our right mind, and when we see our Inner-Wounded Traveler by the side of the road, our journey to healing begins with self-compassion. It is only when I speak, and act, compassionately toward ourselves that we can truly heal.

If we choose the self-critical voice of the Inner-Wounded Traveler, the self-harming voice of the Inner-Bandit, or the self-denying voice of the Inner-Aloof Priest, we will stay stuck in the ditch. It is only when our Inner-Samaritan’s voice of compassion speaks that we can truly find our way home.

Our Inner Samaritan understands that inner healing takes time, resources, and energy.

We tend our wounds…
We spend our resources…money, treasure on “self-care.”
And we do it again the next day too…

When our Inner Good Samaritan acts in self-compassion —when we do it again and and again over time and with intention— our Inner-Wounded Traveler can heal.

Time and again, people tell me, “Eric, sometimes I say things to myself that I would never say to another human being…”

We all do this. I do it. As we’ve said: This is not because we are flawed. This is because we are human.

But, you know and I know those voices are relentless.

We are the Wounded Traveler.
We are the Cruel Bandits.
We are the Aloof Priest.

They all live inside you. And inside of me.
And they always will.

What I’m suggesting today is that this iconic parable allegorically suggests Jesus’ roadmap to our true selves.

When you own harsh inner voices, and they rear their heads and rule your life —as they will always try to do— listen for the compassionate voice of your own Inner-Good Samaritan.

Their compassionate voice and their loving actions are the true voice of God in your life, and a crucial part of how your Inner-Wounded Traveler heals.