GO AND DO LIKEWISE Sermon for July 15, 2007
Scripture: Deut. 30:11-14, Luke 10:25-37
Most of you here probably are familiar with the Good Samaritan story. Let me quickly do a little background for you. Our story starts out with a lawyer asking Jesus a question. Now in those days lawyers did not have the greatest reputation. They were rich and popular, but it should not have been surprising to anyone standing there that day when a lawyer swaggered up to Jesus with a question—actually, two questions, trying to catch Jesus and trip him up. Actually the lawyer’s first question was most legitimate, especially for someone who had all his material needs met and was now focusing on the spiritual. As he wondered about his life, he wanted to be assured that he would not die so he asks Jesus what did he have to do to have eternal life. Jesus answer was pretty straightforward and clear: Love God and then love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. Yet this lawyer, as lawyers tend to do, wanted more of the details, “Just so I know Jesus, who indeed is my neighbor?” And then Jesus answered with the familiar parable.
Now a little geographical background: this road from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, near Jericho, descends more than 3600 feet in a little less than 20 miles. Not only was this road very steep, it was also very treacherous. The terrain was such that there were lots of crevices and caves for bandits to hide in. This was a very dangerous road. Our victim has evidently encountered some of these robbers who have beaten him and left him half dead. Jesus tells us about three men who come upon this suffering man: the first two, a priest and a Levite passed by on the other side. Although this seems very uncaring to us, these men were not bad people. There are several excuses that the commentaries give for this behavior. You have probably heard some of them: the body on the roadside could have been a plant by robbers to lure other travelers into stopping, at which they too could have been robbed and even killed. One of the excuses most often given is that touching a corpse would have defiled the priest and the Levite and disqualified them from performing their duties in the Temple. (One of my references points out that the priest and Levite were traveling from Jerusalem where the Temple was—so much for that excuse.)
The parable continues with a Samaritan man coming and bandaging the victim, carrying him on his donkey to the inn and even paying for the innkeeper to care for him; in other words the Samaritan showed great compassion. The Samaritans, remember Quick review of Jewish history: Samaritans were outcasts and had been for over 400 years by the time Jesus was telling this story. No Jew in his right mind would associate with a Samaritan on any level if it could be avoided. Samaritans were regarded as unclean, descendants of mixed marriages that followed from the Assyrian settlement of people from various regions in the fallen northern kingdom. While Samaritans saw themselves as Jews, no racially pure Jew would ever consider a Samaritan on equal footing.
We all have our Samaritans: those people that we don’t want anything to do with, those folks that we ignore, neglect, avoid because of where they live, the color of their skin, their beliefs, their class, their ethnicity. Growing up in my family it was Jews and African Americans. For many today it is an Arab, a Muslim, an illegal immigrant, a Mexican, people with AIDS, criminals, drug users. We all have our own lists.
Do you have any idea how many people are hurting, are lonely, feel unloved and worthless? When a tragedy happens such as at Virginia Tech, we sometimes get a glimpse of the many “neighbors” to whom we are not showing compassion. Jesus answers the lawyer with directions to love God and neighbor. At the end of the story it is obvious to the lawyer that the neighbor is the one who shows mercy and compassion. Then Jesus says to him, “Go and do likewise.”
There’s an excellent article in the July issue of The Progressive Christian about the Virginia Tech incident written by Hak Joon Lee and entitled “When Community Disappears.” He points out that in every school massacre in our country the prominent thing is that the killers were not only loners, but they were suffering from excessive feelings of isolation. They were often either neglected or bullied. The author concludes that the only way to prevent such tragedies is for us to reach out, care selflessly for others—in terms of the Good Samaritan: show mercy and compassion. To quote Lee, “At the very least, when we fail to pay close attention to others we also fail to identify those who may pose a danger to themselves and to others….Some form of social caring or attention is indispensable for living with each other in safety.” He goes on to say that “From a Christian perspective, hyper-individualism and indifference are unbiblical….Reaching out is at the center of Christian theology. God’s very nature is to reach out in overflowing love, just as God’s goal in history is the creation of community.” Just as in the Good Samaritan “reaching out is to cross artificial lines and categories—the lines between God and humanity, between nationalities, between Jews and Gentiles, and between genders…”
Martin Luther King, Jr talked about going further than making the world a neighborhood but that it is necessary to make it a brotherhood (and I would add sisterhood). King says that if we do not live together as family “we will all perish together as fools.” Building community is the only effective and lasting option to stop tragedies like Virginia Tech as well as to prevent the wounds that cause the violence of the life around us. Manufacturing more guns, building more gated communities, practicing residential segregation, isolating our selves from those that are different will only lead to more tragedy. If we don’t reach out to strangers and build a beloved community for all, we are not following Jesus’ command to go and do likewise.
Barbara Johnson has written a poem that complements The Good Samaritan to a certain degree:
A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out.
A subjective person came along and said, "I feel for you down there."
An objective person came along and said, "It's logical that someone would fall down there."
A Pharisee said, "Only bad people fall into a pit."
A mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit.
A news reporter wanted an exclusive story on his pit.
A fundamentalist said, "You deserve your pit."
An IRS agent asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
A self-pitying person said, "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my pit."
A charismatic said, "Just confess that you're not in a pit."
An optimist said, "Things could be worse."
A pessimist said, "Things will get worse."
Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit!
The important difference in this poem from the parable in Luke is that Jesus does not say that he is the only one to show compassion, the only one to lift the man out of the pit." He says, "You go. You do it. You are called by God to live out your love by loving your neighbor as yourself."
As people of faith, deep down we already know the answer to “Who is my neighbor?” Just as our Hebrew Scripture lesson for today says that the answer is not too hard for us. “The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” The incarnation was God’s way of coming to us, reaching out to human beings to build a community. Pentecost was another time that God reached out to us through the Holy Spirit as well as his showing us the need to reach out to others, no matter what their language or background. For us here at Deering Community Church, reaching out will require commitment and the willingness to be vulnerable. Evangelism, which is another word for reaching out, is not just about sharing church doctrines and theology, it is about embodying the love and compassion that Jesus talks about in today’s Gospel lesson. Whether individuals, churches, or nations, we are not meant to live alone. We are made to share our lives with each other. May God give us the strength, the courage, and the faith to do so. Amen!!
Most of you here probably are familiar with the Good Samaritan story. Let me quickly do a little background for you. Our story starts out with a lawyer asking Jesus a question. Now in those days lawyers did not have the greatest reputation. They were rich and popular, but it should not have been surprising to anyone standing there that day when a lawyer swaggered up to Jesus with a question—actually, two questions, trying to catch Jesus and trip him up. Actually the lawyer’s first question was most legitimate, especially for someone who had all his material needs met and was now focusing on the spiritual. As he wondered about his life, he wanted to be assured that he would not die so he asks Jesus what did he have to do to have eternal life. Jesus answer was pretty straightforward and clear: Love God and then love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. Yet this lawyer, as lawyers tend to do, wanted more of the details, “Just so I know Jesus, who indeed is my neighbor?” And then Jesus answered with the familiar parable.
Now a little geographical background: this road from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, near Jericho, descends more than 3600 feet in a little less than 20 miles. Not only was this road very steep, it was also very treacherous. The terrain was such that there were lots of crevices and caves for bandits to hide in. This was a very dangerous road. Our victim has evidently encountered some of these robbers who have beaten him and left him half dead. Jesus tells us about three men who come upon this suffering man: the first two, a priest and a Levite passed by on the other side. Although this seems very uncaring to us, these men were not bad people. There are several excuses that the commentaries give for this behavior. You have probably heard some of them: the body on the roadside could have been a plant by robbers to lure other travelers into stopping, at which they too could have been robbed and even killed. One of the excuses most often given is that touching a corpse would have defiled the priest and the Levite and disqualified them from performing their duties in the Temple. (One of my references points out that the priest and Levite were traveling from Jerusalem where the Temple was—so much for that excuse.)
The parable continues with a Samaritan man coming and bandaging the victim, carrying him on his donkey to the inn and even paying for the innkeeper to care for him; in other words the Samaritan showed great compassion. The Samaritans, remember Quick review of Jewish history: Samaritans were outcasts and had been for over 400 years by the time Jesus was telling this story. No Jew in his right mind would associate with a Samaritan on any level if it could be avoided. Samaritans were regarded as unclean, descendants of mixed marriages that followed from the Assyrian settlement of people from various regions in the fallen northern kingdom. While Samaritans saw themselves as Jews, no racially pure Jew would ever consider a Samaritan on equal footing.
We all have our Samaritans: those people that we don’t want anything to do with, those folks that we ignore, neglect, avoid because of where they live, the color of their skin, their beliefs, their class, their ethnicity. Growing up in my family it was Jews and African Americans. For many today it is an Arab, a Muslim, an illegal immigrant, a Mexican, people with AIDS, criminals, drug users. We all have our own lists.
Do you have any idea how many people are hurting, are lonely, feel unloved and worthless? When a tragedy happens such as at Virginia Tech, we sometimes get a glimpse of the many “neighbors” to whom we are not showing compassion. Jesus answers the lawyer with directions to love God and neighbor. At the end of the story it is obvious to the lawyer that the neighbor is the one who shows mercy and compassion. Then Jesus says to him, “Go and do likewise.”
There’s an excellent article in the July issue of The Progressive Christian about the Virginia Tech incident written by Hak Joon Lee and entitled “When Community Disappears.” He points out that in every school massacre in our country the prominent thing is that the killers were not only loners, but they were suffering from excessive feelings of isolation. They were often either neglected or bullied. The author concludes that the only way to prevent such tragedies is for us to reach out, care selflessly for others—in terms of the Good Samaritan: show mercy and compassion. To quote Lee, “At the very least, when we fail to pay close attention to others we also fail to identify those who may pose a danger to themselves and to others….Some form of social caring or attention is indispensable for living with each other in safety.” He goes on to say that “From a Christian perspective, hyper-individualism and indifference are unbiblical….Reaching out is at the center of Christian theology. God’s very nature is to reach out in overflowing love, just as God’s goal in history is the creation of community.” Just as in the Good Samaritan “reaching out is to cross artificial lines and categories—the lines between God and humanity, between nationalities, between Jews and Gentiles, and between genders…”
Martin Luther King, Jr talked about going further than making the world a neighborhood but that it is necessary to make it a brotherhood (and I would add sisterhood). King says that if we do not live together as family “we will all perish together as fools.” Building community is the only effective and lasting option to stop tragedies like Virginia Tech as well as to prevent the wounds that cause the violence of the life around us. Manufacturing more guns, building more gated communities, practicing residential segregation, isolating our selves from those that are different will only lead to more tragedy. If we don’t reach out to strangers and build a beloved community for all, we are not following Jesus’ command to go and do likewise.
Barbara Johnson has written a poem that complements The Good Samaritan to a certain degree:
A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out.
A subjective person came along and said, "I feel for you down there."
An objective person came along and said, "It's logical that someone would fall down there."
A Pharisee said, "Only bad people fall into a pit."
A mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit.
A news reporter wanted an exclusive story on his pit.
A fundamentalist said, "You deserve your pit."
An IRS agent asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
A self-pitying person said, "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my pit."
A charismatic said, "Just confess that you're not in a pit."
An optimist said, "Things could be worse."
A pessimist said, "Things will get worse."
Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit!
The important difference in this poem from the parable in Luke is that Jesus does not say that he is the only one to show compassion, the only one to lift the man out of the pit." He says, "You go. You do it. You are called by God to live out your love by loving your neighbor as yourself."
As people of faith, deep down we already know the answer to “Who is my neighbor?” Just as our Hebrew Scripture lesson for today says that the answer is not too hard for us. “The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” The incarnation was God’s way of coming to us, reaching out to human beings to build a community. Pentecost was another time that God reached out to us through the Holy Spirit as well as his showing us the need to reach out to others, no matter what their language or background. For us here at Deering Community Church, reaching out will require commitment and the willingness to be vulnerable. Evangelism, which is another word for reaching out, is not just about sharing church doctrines and theology, it is about embodying the love and compassion that Jesus talks about in today’s Gospel lesson. Whether individuals, churches, or nations, we are not meant to live alone. We are made to share our lives with each other. May God give us the strength, the courage, and the faith to do so. Amen!!
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 1:20 PM
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