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“Who is My Neighbor?”:
Modern Slavery in the Global Context and Christian Response

By
Paul Yang
G Number: G10184226
FTS Box #963

TC 500
Theology and Culture
Dr. Barry Taylor
Spring 2009

Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1
Globalization and Modern Slavery .................................................................................. 2
What Is Globalization? .............................................................................................. 2
What Is Modern-Day Slavery? ................................................................................... 3
Bonded Labor or Debt Bondage ......................................................................... 3
Sex Trafficking ................................................................................................... 4
Child Soldiers .................................................................................................... 4
Domestic Servants .............................................................................................. 5
How Globalization Drives Modern Slavery................................................................ 5
Opened Eyes and Opportunities ......................................................................... 6
Supply and Demand of Labor ............................................................................. 6
Vast Illicit Profits ............................................................................................... 7
Thriving International Weapons Trade ............................................................... 8
Loving Our Global Neighbors ......................................................................................... 8
A Far One? A Near One? ........................................................................................... 9
As the Robber in the Global Slavery ................................................................. 11
As the Priest and Levite in the Global Slavery .................................................. 12
As the Lawyer in the Global Slavery ................................................................. 13
As the Good Samaritan in the Global Slavery ................................................... 14
Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 16
Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 17

Introduction

The year 2007 saw the bicentennial celebration of the Slave Trade Act, which abolished the

transatlantic slave trade in 1807. Slavery, however, still continues in various ways today. There

are millions throughout the world forced against their will, under threat of punishment and

physical abuse, to work as sex slaves, child soldiers, bonded labor, and forced labor.1 Like the

slavery of old, this modern-day slavery involves the shame and degradation of human beings.

In addition, even though many have more or less heard and known about this issue, most

choose to either ignore or forget it. After all, do we not have other important business waiting for

us to deal with? In this fast-paced twenty-first century, it seems that we do not have enough time

to care about those far away from us who might be in misery. As Christians, we might have

compassion about the poor and the oppressed, but might feel powerless confronting the issue, or

unsure about how to participate in the struggle against slavery. Furthermore, the issue of modern

slavery is also far more complex and difficult to deal with than ever before; today, it involves a

larger scale of transnational interests and international situations in the global context. As

Christians, what is our role and moral obligation in the issue of slave trade in today?s global

economy?

This paper aims to contribute to the discussion on the relation between globalization and

modern slavery, presenting a Christian response to the issue in our time. First, I will explore how

globalization influences and drives modern slavery. Second, I will address the biblical theology

concerning God?s commandment of love for our global neighbors—the enslaved and the

oppressed around the world. Finally, I will discuss the Christian?s ethical responsibility on this

issue, dreaming alongside the abolitionists of today to envision a better future in which all

1
Citizenship Foundation, “Ending Slavery: An Unfinished Business,”
http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/lib_res_pdf/0577.pdf (accessed June 5, 2009), 5.

1

humankind can live with dignity, equality, and freedom.

Globalization and Modern Slavery

What Is Globalization?

Globalization is a process of integration and interaction that transforms local or regional

phenomena into global ones. It is formed and driven by the development of international trade

and investment, aided by the Internet and other communication technologies. The influence of

globalization can manifest in economic, technological, social, cultural, and political aspects. Yet

globalization is often used to refer to global free-market economic systems.2

In fact, the idea of globalization is not new. Many scholars think of sixteenth-century

Europe as the origin of globalization, since Europeans in that time established worldwide trade

connections, bringing their culture to different regions through colonization. Others point out that

the late nineteenth century was a period of intense globalization, because millions of people

migrated and international trade also expanded greatly. 3

However, the policy and technological developments of the last few decades have indeed

initiated an explosive growth of cross-border trade, global investment, and migration. First of all,

the development of communication and transportation technology is undoubtedly the principal

driver of globalization. Advances in information and transportation technology help various

individual economic actors—consumers, investors, and businesses—to identify and pursue more

economic opportunities, to more easily transfer their assets, and to better collaborate with global

partners. Furthermore, over the past two decades many countries have started adopting

2
Globalization 101, “What Is Globalization?” http://www.globalization101.org/What_is_Globalization.html
(accessed June 5, 2009).
3
Frank J. Lechner and John Boli, The Globalization Reader (Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2008), 2.

2

free-market economic policies to increase their productive potential and to create more

opportunities for international trade and investment. This trend certainly facilitates more

international corporations and enterprises in establishing production and marketing arrangements

with foreign partners.4

What Is Modern-Day Slavery?

When the concept of slavery is mentioned, the image that arises in the minds of most people

is the transatlantic slave trade that happened two hundred years ago. Millions of Africans were

shipped from continent to continent and enslaved as forced laborers in the plantations in the early

1800s. In addition, we have probably read or heard about the achievements of abolitionists in

history, finding inspiration in their courage and resolution to fight for human rights and dignity.

Thus, to modern minds slavery is part of our history rather than a present reality. Yet, the truth is

that slavery continues today. 5

According to a 2005 International Labor Organization report, there are more than 12 million

people currently being enslaved around the world. The actual figure, however, may be much

higher because a great deal of slavery is hidden. Some estimates even place it at over 20 million. 6

These people (most are women and children) are sold and exploited like objects, forced to work

and lead lives as slaves. Here I will introduce some forms of modern slavery.

Bonded Labor or Debt Bondage

Bonded labor or debt bondage is probably the least known form of slavery today. A person

4
Globalization 101, “What Is Globalization?” (accessed June 6, 2009).
5
Anti-slavery, “What Is Modern Slavery?” http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/antislavery/modern.htm (accessed
June 5, 2009).
6
Citizenship Foundation, “Ending Slavery,” 27.

3

becomes a bonded labor when his or her labor is demanded to repay the borrowed money or

owed debt. The person is then trapped into working for very little or no pay, often for seven days

a week. However, even though the real value of their work is undoubtedly greater than the

original money borrowed, their wages are too low to pay off the debt. Millions are enslaved in

bonded labor all over the world.7

Sex Trafficking

“Sex trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced

by force, fraud, or coercion.”8 The patterns which lure victims into the situation of sex

trafficking include:

1. A promise of a good job in another country
2. A false marriage proposal turned into a bondage situation
3. Being sold into the sex trade by parents, husbands, boyfriends
4. Being kidnapped by traffickers9

Kara argues that at the end of 2006 approximately 1.2 million of women and children in the

world have been abducted, deceived, seduced, or sold into forced prostitution, made to service

hundreds if not thousands of men before being discarded.10

Child Soldiers

There are more than 250,000 child soldiers involved in over 30 areas of conflict around the

world, from Colombia, and across Africa and the Middle East, to South Asia. Some children are

abducted from their schools or even off their beds, while others are recruited after seeing their

7
8
National Human Trafficking Resource Center, “Sex Trafficking Fact Sheet,”
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/fact_sex.pdf (accessed June 5, 2009).
9
Ibid.
10
Siddharth Kara, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (New York: Columbia University Press,
2009), ix-x.

4

parents slaughtered. Once recruited, they are brainwashed, trained, given drugs, and then sent

into battle with orders to kill. Some of these boys may not even be ten years old; girls,

meanwhile, are often coerced into becoming sex slaves or “soldiers? wives.”11

Domestic Servants

Huge numbers of children and young women are forced to work as domestic servants, since

their families are so poor that their labor is necessary for survival. They are more vulnerable,

cheaper to hire and are less likely to demand higher wages or better working conditions. This is

common in South Asia, South America, and Africa.12

How Globalization Drives Modern Slavery

Is globalization is simply a phenomenon involving the rapid expansion of international trade

and the opening up of national economies to the influence of the global market? The answer here

is no because there are more dimensions regarding globalization. “The expansion of international

trade and the revolution in communication technologies are best seen as preconditions for

globalization, not as globalization itself.”13

Lechner and Boli argue that globalization means “more people across large distance become

connected in more and different ways.”14 In this way, the world gradually and inexorably

11
Ann O?Neill, “Stolen Kids Turned into Terrifying Killers,” CNN.com,
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/02/12/child.soldiers/index.html (accessed June 6, 2009).
Anti-slavery, “Child Soldiers,” http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/antislavery/childlabour.htm#soldier (accessed
June 6, 2009).
12
Anti-slavery, “Why Do Children Work?” http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/antislavery/childlabour.htm#why
13
Bob Goudzwaard, Mark Vander Vennen, and David Van Heemst, Hope in Troubled Times: A New Vision for
Confronting Global Crises (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2007), 140.
14
Lechner and Boli, The Global Reader, 1.

5

becomes a “single place,”15 creating a complex network of interdependence reflected in the

emergence of a global culture and consciousness. As a result, local events are inevitably

interwoven with global ones; individuals in global networks become “subject to global forces

and governed by global rules.”16 From this premise, let us begin to explore the relation between,

and the driving power behind, globalization and modern-day slavery.

Opened Eyes and Opportunities

Through the development of communication technology, access to information today is

much easier than ever before. Those in the undeveloped countries or poor areas now have

unprecedented opportunities to communicate with others abroad. In addition, relatively cheaper

and more convenient transportation technology makes it possible to leave one?s own place. These

contributing factors allow many in poorer countries to have their eyes opened to new vistas of

opportunity, motivating them to try their luck or take risks. 17 Human traffickers often prey on

this kind of mentality and deceive victims by pretending that they can provide better jobs in

urban areas, or offering chances overseas. Unsuspecting victims— most of them are women and

children—are then eventually brought to a remote and unknown place, and forced to engage in

sex slavery or work in sweatshops.

Supply and Demand of Labor

As globalization creates the new freedom for millions of potential workers to move from

their poor areas to the places that need them, it is the hunger of multinational employers for

15
Lechner and Boli, The Global Reader, 2.
16
Ibid, 4.
17
Moisés Naí Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy (New York:
m,
Doubleday, 2005), 90.

6

low-waged workers that drives slavery in these days. 18 The way they exploit vulnerable poor

job-seekers includes unreasonable minimum wages, dangerous working environments, long

working hours, or abuse from employers themselves. The suffering of slaves is connected to the

western consumerism through globalization. As Bales argues,

Slaves in Pakistan may have made the shoes you are wearing and the carpet you stand on. Slaves in the
Caribbean may have put sugar in your kitchen and toys in the hands of your children. In India they may have
sew the shirt on your back and polished the ring on your finger.19

Vast Illicit Profits

The tremendous profits from global trafficking in persons make it difficult to diminish or

eliminate. “Human trafficking,” according to the United Nations, “has become big business.” 20

The UN experts estimate the total market value of illicit human trafficking is in excess of $32

billion. Out of this, about $10 billion derives from the initial “sale” of individuals, while the

remainder represents the estimated profits from the activities or goods produced by the victims of

this barbaric crime.21 Criminal agents and traffickers around the world create “networks of

efficient intermediaries who take advantage of restrictive laws and international borders to

connect supply and demand at a high price.”22 The global value chain of sex industry includes

recruiters, procurer of documents, transportation providers, corrupt officials, pimps, ship crews,

local guides, and miscellaneous others.23 Therefore, human trafficking is a global moral issue as

well as a global economic issue.

18
Naí Illicit, 90.
m,
19
Kevin Bales, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (Berkeley: University of California Press,
2004), 3-4.
20
UN News Center. “UN and Partners Launch Initiative to End ?Modern Slavery? of Human Trafficking,”
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=22009&Cr=slave&Cr1 (accessed June 6, 2009).
21
Ibid.
22
Naí Illicit, 106.
m,
23
Ibid 98.

7

Thriving International Weapons Trade

Today most parts of the African continent are still plagued by poverty, violence and

suffering. Almost all of the ten poorest countries in the world are in Africa, 24 and poverty is

always the major and direct cause of slavery. Ironically, “according to the United Nations, since

1990 the small-arms trade has fueled close to fifty wars around the world, especially (though not

only) in Africa.”25 Vast amounts of cold war-era overstock have flowed into Africa through the

international weapons trade,26 and it is also one of the most important reasons why there are so

many civil wars in Africa. As a result, numerous wars bring about poverty, which in turn creates

a conducive environment for traffickers and recruiters to enslave those vulnerable women and

children as forced labors, sex slaves, and child soldiers.

Loving Our Global Neighbors

The church today often faces the question about how it ought to confront globalization. If

we cannot adapt and adapt speedily, it is sometimes said, we will be left behind. Yet it seems to

me that this question here is in fact misplaced. From a biblical perspective, it is globalization that

has to face the church. “We must judge ?the pattern of this world? and decide under the counsel

of the Holy Spirit what is good and what is not good about it.”27 As the apostle Paul says, “Do

not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your

mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and

perfect will” (Romans 12:2). Therefore, we are not called to adjust or accommodate to

24
Maps of World, “Top Poorest Countries,”
http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-poorest-countries-map.html (accessed June 6, 2009).
25
Naí Illicit, 15.
m,
26
Ibid.
27
William D. Taylor, Global Missiology for the Twenty-First Century: Reflections from the Iguassu Dialogue
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 60.

8

globalization, but rather to speak to and save the enslaved and oppressed, who are caught up in

the wave of globalization, just as those witnesses did with all the previous tidal wave in human

history.28 We are called to be witnesses of God?s love, compassion, and justice for the young

woman held in forced prostitution, for the worker illegally detained and tortured, and for the

child sold into slavery.

The Scriptures reminds us, “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners,

and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:3). We need to

recall the plight of the oppressed and imprisoned. Furthermore, Christ taught us that to love our

neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40), which means to treat them the way we would like to

be treated (Luke 6:31),29 stands as the core of our faith. Hence, through the parable of Good

Samaritan I will address why and how to love our global neighbors—the oppressed, the

marginalized, the disadvantaged and the vulnerable around the world.

A Far One? A Near One?

Luke 10:25-37 describes a profound and meaningful conversation between Jesus and a

certain lawyer who seeks to test him. Though in the beginning Jesus is confronted by this lawyer,

by the end it is Jesus, through the parable of Good Samaritan, confronting “the layer?s

assumptions about the world, about the identity of the neighbor, and about God?s call to a certain

way of life with neighbors.”30 This narrative provides us with clear and fresh ethical practices on

the issue of slavery these days in the global context.

The confrontation begins with the lawyer?s question regarding eternal life. Jesus does not

28
Taylor, Global Missiology for the Twenty-First Century, 60.
29
Gary A. Haugen, Good News about Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World (Downers Grove, Ill.:
InterVarsity Press, 1999), 39.
30
Douglas A. Hicks and Mark Valeri, Global Neighbors: Christian Faith and Moral Obligation in Today's Economy
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.,2008), 8.

9

answer him directly but turns the question back on him, asking him to declare the common

understanding of the day as found in the Torah; the lawyer responds with what are commonly

known as two greatest commandments: love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself. 31

The lawyer?s response seems to manifest their common assumptions of ethical life based on

loving God and loving neighbors. However, it soon becomes evident that their shared ethical

framework is in essence different from each other?s.32

We should remember that the lawyer?s original purpose is to test Jesus, and not simply agree

with him. So the lawyer, desiring to justify himself, soon asks another question, “Who is my

neighbor?” Jesus responds with what has become one of the best-known parables, that of “the

Good Samaritan.” Most scholars agree that this seeks to teach us how to love others as ourselves.

Yet, if we pay closer attention to some details in the story of Good Samaritan, we would find

other imaginative ethical practices in our way of neighborly life.

To begin with, the Greek word for “Neighbor” (plēsion) literally means “near one.” Thus,

we can read the lawyer?s question as “Who is my near one?” In other words, the question raised

by the lawyers asks, “who is the one who is ?near? enough for me to pay attention to?” or “who is

the ?near one? whom the Torah commands me to love?” 33 Jesus? response, citing the Good

Samaritan story, fully explains the importance of the spatial implications of near and far.

In the parable, a certain man who is going from Jerusalem to Jericho falls into the hands of

robbers, being stripped, beaten and left half dead. The robbers drawing near to this man, in some

way, become his neighbors (that is, “near ones”), 34 but treat him in a destructive and harmful

way. After the robbers come a priest and Levite. They approach the injured man, becoming his

31
Hicks and Valeri, Global Neighbors, 8.
32
Ibid.
33
Ibid, 9.
34
Ibid, 10.

10

“near one,” but soon choose to pass by on the other side. The final character, however, comes

toward the beaten body lying on the side of the road. Rather than passing by on the other side, he

shows compassion for the wounded man. Unlike the robbers, priest, and Levite, the Samaritan

acts as a real “near one” for the man in need of help.

As the Robber in the Global Slavery

I want to discuss some ideas from this story and its relation to the issue of modern-day

slavery. First of all, when we read this text, which character do we identify with? I think the least

possible one would be the robbers. Even if we may not think of ourselves as good people, we are

unlikely to regard ourselves as bandits who rob, attack, and even kill others. Yet, deceived by the

illusion of economic prosperity and drinking ourselves from the benefits of globalization, we

unconsciously become one of those who exploit the poor and oppressed in the third world

through globalized economic and commercial activities. Consider this example that Haugen

raises:

World Vision India, a Christian relief and development agency, recently introduced me [Haugen] to a
ten-year-old girl in a little village in the state of Tamil Naidu. Her name is Kanmani. From 8:00 in the morning
until 6:00 at night, six days a week, she is required to complete 2,000 cigarettes a day. If she doesn?t work fast
enough, her overseer strikes her on the head. Her ten-hour work day is broken only by a single thirty-minute
lunch period. At the end of a long week she gets her wages—about seventy-five cents. Worst of all, she has
been working like this for more than five years.35

Kanmani is simply a typical case of bonded labor. The question I want to ask here is this. Who is

it that consumes those cigarettes? The poor child laborers, or consumers in the wealthy countries?

It seems that global capitalism helps us not only to efficiently control resources and engage in

economic activities, but also to more effectively exploit the poor and the vulnerable in the third

world.

35
Haugen, Good News about Injustice, 43.

11

As the Priest or Levite in the Global Slavery

Traditionally (or by definition), Jesus? contemporaries would have regarded the priest and

Levite as the “near ones.”36 Yet, in the parable told by Jesus they are the “far ones,” since they

do not stop to help the injured man. Even though they have been taught by the commandment of

God to love neighbors as themselves, they still choose to pass by on the other side. We can be

certain that they do not understand the true meaning of God?s commandment of love because all

commandments are “summed up in this one rule: ?Love your neighbor as yourself?” (Romans

13:9). Unfortunately, Christians today seem like the priest and Levite who possess knowledge

about love but lack of any action of love for the oppressed and the needy. The fact is that we

often choose to ignore or forget the reality human suffering and misery, even though we have

ourselves once been moved to sadness about it. Haugen gives us a good example to illustrate this

idea. During the early stages of development, an infant has no capacity to maintain interest in

anything that is not immediately before its eyes. When a brightly colored ball or rattle is held up

before babies, their eyes seizes new thing with urgent curiosity, trying to touch, feel and embrace

it. Yet, as the toy is moved out of infants? sight, they do not look for it or even express any

disappointment that the toy is no longer there to explore, because they have not yet developed

the mental capacity for “object permanence.”37 We are often just like infants in this regard; as

the saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind.” We feel sorry but still pass by those far ones—the

young women held in sex slavery in Cambodia, the bonded laborers illegally tortured in Brazil,

and the child soldiers forced to kill people in Uganda.

36
37

12

As the Lawyer in the Global Slavery

At the beginning of the conversation, the lawyer and Jesus seem to share the same ethical

framework: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and

with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). It

soon becomes clear, however, that the lawyer does not understand the real meaning behind God?s

commandment of love. At first, he wants to justify himself by asking, “Who is my neighbor?” He

seems to believe that no matter how Jesus responds he will be able to answer with pride and

certainty, “All these I have kept since I was a boy” (Luke 18:21). Jesus knows his intent so that

through the Good Samaritan story Jesus reverses the question from “who is my neighbor?” to

“what does it mean to be a neighbor?”—that is, to act neighborly. 38 Jesus sees the pride in the

lawyer?s heart that causes him to think of himself as a good person who has enough love toward

God and neighbor. Yet, what this lawyer needs to understand is that he is simply a sinful man

whose love is limited and insufficient. Jesus wants the lawyer to humbly ask the question, “what

does it mean to be a neighbor?” This is really a profound lesson for us, since like the lawyer we

often behave as if we have already fully understood and obeyed God?s commandment of love.

But if we do so we are simply being as narrow-minded and ignorant as the lawyer. Therefore,

what we have to do is to return to God, humbly asking for his grace and power to love our global

neighbors.

In addition, Jesus also wants to break “the cultural context of the lawyer [that] has limited

the concept of neighbor to a very specific subset of individuals.”39 Like fish that do not perceive

the sea, the lawyer?s question (“who is my neighbor?”) reflects a restricted view of the realm of

the concept of “neighbor.” Thus, Hicks and Valeri argue that the particular power of the parable

38
39
Ibid, 12.

13

is not only to define what neighborly action look like but also to create new imaginative

possibilities that challenge the restricted view of neighbor. That is, Jesus pushes the lawyer to

rethink his neighbor boundaries if they are not nonexistent.40 Jesus? teaching here certainly helps

us to prepare our mind to face our own false and limited “neighbor-view.”41 Like the lawyer, we

often set various kinds of boundaries between the needed and us, boundaries such as distance,

ethnicity, culture, and even personal likes or dislikes. However, the boundary that “exists

between the coffee grower in Latin America and the computer consultant who stops as Starbucks

each day has collapsed over the past decades”42 through the wave of globalization. Thus, for us

who seek to be faithful disciples of Christ, what we should do is to ride the wave of globalization

to witness to God?s love, compassion, and justice for the oppressed, the marginalized and the

vulnerable in this global village.

As the Good Samaritan in the Global Slavery

As for the Good Samaritan, Hicks and Valeri argue that “the one expected to be and act like

a far one becomes a near one by going to the injured man and acting with God-like

compassion.”43 In the previous section, I discussed how Jesus uses the story of the Good

Samaritan as an example to break up neighbor boundaries for the lawyers. Here, I want to

address one of the most intriguing concepts in the parable—“compassion.” Instead of passing by

on the other side, the Scripture describes the Samaritan as the one who has compassion on the

injured man (Luke 10:33).

Bailey observes that the robbers take money from the man, while the Samaritan spends

40
41
Ibid.
42
Ibid, 14.
43
Ibid, 11.

14

money on the man; the robbers beat the man, while the Samaritan binds his wounds; eventually,

the robbers leave him for dead and depart without promise of return, while the Samaritan put the

injured man in the care of others, and he promises that he will come back. 44 We can see that real

compassion brings about true healing, love, and rescue into the lives of the enslaved people

around the world. Yet, what is real compassion? Haugen states that compassion “is infinitely

easier to state than it is to believe—especially during the long stretches of silence when we

picture the cries of the oppressed arcing out from the earth only to be lost in a dark, endless void

that neither hears nor speaks.”45 However, we believe that our God has compassion for those

who suffer injustice, since the apostle Paul tells us that He is “the Father of compassion” (2

Corinthians 1:3) and the psalmist also describes that “our God is full of compassion” (Psalm

116:5). In fact, the word “compassion” is derived from the Latin words pati and cum, which

together mean “to suffer with.”46 Therefore,

compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion,
and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to
weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable,
and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.47

When we look at compassion in this way, it is clear that compassion involves more than just a

general disposition of kindness or tenderheartedness. Likewise, through God?s

name—Immanuel—“we recognize God?s commitment to live in solidarity with us, to share

our...pains, and defend and protect us, and to suffer all of life with us.”48 Hence, we can believe

that God is present, in a sorrowful, mysterious solidarity, at the rape of all the world?s prostitutes,

44
Kenneth E. Bailey, Poet and Peasant: A Literary-Cultural Approach to the Parables in Luke (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1976), 73.
45
46
Henri Nouwen, Donald McNeill, and Douglas Morrison, Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life (Garden
City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1982), 3.
47
Ibid, 3-4.
48
Ibid, 13.

15

and at the moment the last breath of hope expires from the breast of each of the millions of little

children languishing under bonded servitude. 49 Today, this God is calling us to walk into the

suffering and misery of the oppressed all over the world, beyond our fleshy limitations,

prejudices, cultural mythologies and convenient stereotypes. This is what the powerful parable of

the Good Samaritan seeks to teach us.

Conclusion

The wave of globalization causes more and more people across large distances to become

connected in a multitude of ways. Many recognize that the world is increasingly becoming a

“global village.” However, everything always has its pros and cons, and globalization is also

without exception. Indeed, the impact of the global illicit trade has caused tens of millions of

oppressed and enslaved in this global village to suffer injustice, whether through the human

trafficking, forced labor, or sex slavery across the world. We need to make a decision as to which

character we want to be in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We can join with the global vested

interest groups to exploit the oppressed, like the bandits in the Good Samaritan story. We can

choose to ignore or forget their suffering, like what the priest and the Levite do. We can even act

like the lawyer, as if what we devoted to the needy and the vulnerable was enough. But what if

we chose to respond to God?s calling to be Good Samaritans to our global neighbors, loving with

compassion, being passionate for justice, and acting to rescue? If we are able to respond to this

calling, we will be one step closer to a future in which all humankind can live with dignity,

equality, and freedom.

49

16

Bibliography

Anti-slavery. “Child Soldiers.”
http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/antislavery/childlabour.htm#soldier (accessed June 6,
2009).
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