It was heartening to listen to recent oral submissions to the Justice Select Committee on proposed amendments to the Summary Offences (Move on Orders) Bill, and the respect shown by MPs to members of the public who spoke with conviction and insight.
The bill proposes giving police additional powers to “move along” rough sleepers and the homeless, aiming to protect businesses and retail areas from those most vulnerable in our communities. One consequence, however, is that people who need help will become less visible to us.
Jesus might well have wanted to speak to the Select Committee, as he spent most of his time with those who needed help and often challenged the political and religious authorities of his day. His message remains relevant: to serve our neighbours, not only those who look like us or live like us, but all who share the image of God in their humanity.
The story of the Good Samaritan is rich with cultural and political nuance. In the original story, a man is robbed and left for dead; several people pass by, but it is a Samaritan—someone least expected to help—who stops, tends to the man’s wounds, and ensures he is cared for.
In their submission to the Select Committee, Bishop Ana Fletcher and Archbishop Justin Duckworth offered a modern retelling: “There was a man traveling from Newtown to Thorndon. On the way he was attacked by robbers who took his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead. A Cabinet Minister was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him, he moved him on. Then a Member of Parliament showed up; he also moved him on. A gang member came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds, lifting him into his Ute, made him comfortable in an Airbnb.”
If you are wondering how we can live with compassion by serving our neighbours, you are warmly invited to St Andrew’s every second Sunday at 10am. We don’t offer certainty, but we offer an invitation: to lean into humanity’s problems, not move them on.
