Brother from Another Mother

Overcoming stranger danger with love of neighbor

10/09/2017

Luke 10:25-37 There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him.

            You have probably heard the familiar phrase, “stranger danger.” It’s often taught to children to warm them to be wary of adults who are both stranger and suspicious. It’s a healthy instinct to develop to avoid potential danger and harm.

            However, recently child psychologists are rethinking the phrase as being too far-reaching. Why? Well, because in some instances a child may need to approach a stranger for help. Callahan Walsh, an advocate at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said: “Oftentimes kids are in a situation where they will need to reach out to a stranger for help, whether they’re just being lost, or if there’s an actual abduction” (“Experts warn against teaching the phrase ‘stranger danger’,” ABC News, March 31, 2017). In other words, you can’t live your whole life avoiding stranger. Sometimes, a stranger may be the only one who can help you.

             Both Scripture readings today present examples of finding help from strangers. In the book of Jonah, Jonah has stowed himself on board a ship of strangers. When they find themselves in peril of their lives, Jonah says: “Pick me up and throw me into the sea, that it may quiet down for you.” That is, prefiguring how Jesus would offer himself to save humanity, Jonah sacrifices himself for perfect strangers. In the gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, who helped a man who had been robbed and beaten half to death. But the real crux of the parable is that the Samaritan was a stranger to the Jews, but he was the one who helped; while the very familiar priest and Levite failed to be a good neighbor. Today’s Scriptures are saying the same thing as Callahan Walsh: rethink “stranger danger” because sometimes the only one who can help you will be stranger.

              My friends, may I suggest to you that we replace the phrase “stranger danger” with two other catchy phrases, namely, “brother from another mother,” and “sister from another mister”? King of catchy, huh? Have you heard these phrases before? They redefine “stranger” from being someone we should fear to becoming someone we should befriend. Clearly Jonah and the Good Samaritan thought of those they helped as a “brother from another mother.”

             Here are a few more modern-day examples. Pope Francis’ love for the poor, the immigrants, the prisoners and the refugees paints a poignant picture of what it means to see others as a “brother from another mother” and a “sister from another mister.” The Holy Father is very much like Jonah and the Good Samaritan because he never met a stranger, certainly not one who was a danger. Last Friday, a lady stopped me in the parking lot to ask me for money. I told her that I don’t give people cash, but I did listen to her story and enjoyed her company. I would not arbitrarily give money to my brother or sister, if I felt it wouldn’t really help them; if I felt it would create greater dependency in them. I recently saw a picture of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and another current Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg vacationing together, and they were riding on the back of an elephant. And my cousin was the elephant driver! (Just kidding.) These two justices could not be more polar opposites in their legal opinions, but they still were friends. Scalia was a brother from another mother, and Ginsberg was a sister from another mister.

             Folks, stranger danger is still a good thing to teach your children. But that should be balanced by teaching them a healthy love of strangers, too; indeed, we should treat them to see strangers as brothers and sisters in Christ..

Praised be Jesus Christ!