Nebraska Synod ELCA

by Wendy DeBoer, Nebraska State Senator

We live in a time of pronounced divisions. It is often a time of fear. It is comforting for me to remember that in these times, God is where God always is: in us, sitting with us, and in our neighbor.

I have been thinking a lot about the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is sometimes lost on us just how contentious it was between the Samaritans and the Jews. This wasn’t a mere inter-religious squabble. There was violence and persecution. The Samaritans had built their own temple to Yahweh. Samaritanism was an attack on something absolutely fundamental to Jewish belief—the single temple in Jerusalem. On the other hand, Jewish insistence that their temple was the only temple completely attacked the identity and existence of the Samaritans.

So when a lawyer asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” and Jesus replies with the story of a Samaritan acting as a better neighbor to a Jew than the Jewish leadership (the priest and the Levite in the parable), it must have raised eyebrows. It’s a pretty radical story. A radical story about loving even the neighbors whose very existence insults us, attacks our identity. The Samaritan takes care of a Jewish man—it’s crazy. Jesus instructs the lawyer to “Go and do likewise,” a mandate to radical neighborism.

Jesus must have known that we wouldn’t be able to perfectly follow this rule, and it’s important to note that the injured man was incapable of being an active threat to the Samaritan. The parable illustrates that, ideally, we ignore labels like “Samaritan” “Jew” “Liberal” or “Conservative.” We look at individuals for who they are, what they need, just as the Good Samaritan didn’t see the injured man as Jewish first, but as an individual in need. I think the parable tells us to be in relationship with an individual, not discard a whole group of people.

In the Legislature I have found that sitting with folks and developing relationships with them individually has brought new insights to me, has sometimes changed my mind, and has sometimes changed their minds. I have found that being in relationship with someone is a much better way to persuade them, to build a community with them, and to seek the common good with them. It involves listening a lot and asking the question “why” repeatedly.

I was asked to write an article about “What’s Next?” My first response is to reject thinking about groups as monolithic. I’ve made a lot of wrong assumptions about people because I attributed group qualities to an individual. Participate in the political process in person as much as possible and use social media for this purpose sparingly. Get to know people in non-political activities: sports or music or board games. Get to know your neighbor individually and sincerely ask them why they believe or act the way they do. Share your hopes and fears. Groups are easy to dislike, individuals are much more difficult.

Wendy DeBoer is a Senator in the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature representing District 10. Prior to her election she graduated from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago with a Masters in Theology and was working on a PhD at Syracuse University in Philosophy of Religion. She was writing a dissertation on hope when she was elected.