(Marlow UMC 7/15/07)
Scripture Reading: Luke 10: 25-37
Prayer:
Sovereign Lord God Jehovah
Be with us we pray as we, together,
Begin to discern who our neighbor really is
Send your Holy Spirit down upon us
The giver of your knowledge and wisdom
May we have eyes to see,
Ears to hear
And a willingness to obey
And we pray this in the Strong Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior
Amen
Sermon:
How many of you remember the TV. “Show Mr. Rogers Neighborhood”? I remember it very well. I remember the neighborhood song he would sing at the start of each show. The verse I remember the most is “I always wanted to have a neighbor just like you…I always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you. So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day…since were together we might as well say. Would you be mine, could you be mine, won’t you be my neighbor. Won’t you please, won’t you please…Please won’t you be my neighbor.” (Sing) I always wanted to live in his neighborhood. He was so nice and had lots of fun and adventures each day. How I longed to be his neighbor. Now that I am older…I still want to live in a neighborhood like his…but now that I have a personal relationship with Christ…I have been given a broader view of my neighbor. It is a view that is given to us by the Word of God. A view that makes us ponder on and think…who is my neighbor.
In the Gospel Lesson from Luke 10 today…we find the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” This parable was intended to teach the lawyer…and us…that no human being was and is beyond the reach…the range…of our charity. The law of love called the lawyer…as well as us…to be ready…at any given time…to give our life for the need of another. The lawyer asks an important question. It is a question that I am sure that we have all asked ourselves, at one time or another…”Who is my neighbor?”
This Parable also tells us that what really matters is to act as the Samaritan did…in the same simplicity…governed completely by the need of the man, woman or child that confronts us.
Let’s take a look at the Parable of the Good Samaritan and see what it tells us about who our neighbor is. This is a parable that is an indictment of social, racial and religious superiority. This is a parable that shows us what happens when we are more concerned about our status and what others will think. It also tells us what happens when we set aside our differences…put others needs before our own… see others through the eyes of God…and do what God has called us to do.
First…there are four main characters in this story. There is the man who was robbed and left to die, then there is a Priest, a Levite and a Samaritan. Now lets stop for a moment and look at the characters of our story. (Pause) You have a man that comes down from Jerusalem…now the parable doesn’t tell us if this man is Jewish but more than likely he is. He has come down from Jerusalem so you can suppose that he is of Jewish descent. Next you have a priest…a Holy man of God. Now there were two types of priest, a High Priest…who I like to refer to a s a Lead Pastor…and a regular, ordinary, Priest… who I like to think of as an Associate Pastor. These were the Religious Leaders of that time. They were responsible for the Temple and there were things that they were allowed to do and things they were not. They were set apart from the rest of the people and were consecrated as holy. They were “the best of the best.” Next you have the Levite…whom I like to call the Lay Leader or Laity. The Levite was responsible for the lesser ceremonial things to be done at the temple but…they were still considered a holy man. Then you have the Samaritan…a man hated and despised by the society around him…an outcast of society. One of the “low life’s” that no one should even give the time of day. These were people who were once Jews and inter-married with pagan tribes. They were People of the Promise…God’s people and they had “turned their backs on God…They had soiled their heritage.” They were despised more than pagans…They were worse than pagans!
Now…let’s break the parable down into parts in order to see more clearly what God’s Word has to say…what insight we can glean…from this parable. They way that I see it there are 4 parts to this story…I break it down as follows:
1. The Question and answer concerning Eternal life found in vs. 25-28
2. The Question concerning ones neighbor found in vs. 29
3. The Parable of the Good Samaritan found in vs. 30-35
4. The Conclusion with question in vs. 36, the answer in 37a and a final admonition in 37b.
OK…now that we have that down…lets see where it takes us.
1. The Question and answer concerning Eternal life found in vs. 25-28
Now…here we have a Lawyer…a Scribe… who knew the law. He may have thought…I know the Law like the back of my hand. I live it, breathe it, and eat it. I can recite it in my sleep. Let’s see how much this person called Jesus really knows. Let’s see how much I can impress him. So in vs. 25…he asks, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” It is almost as if he is asking what can I do to impress God enough to assure my inheritance of eternal life?
Well…Jesus…knowing what everyone was thinking before they even spoke it…knew what this man was up to and decided to play along. So in verse 28 He asks, “what is written in the Law what do YOU read there?” Well…now the lawyer can show off his stuff. He quotes from both Deuteronomy 6:5 and Lev. 19:18 and replies, “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 your self.” Now this lawyer must have thought, see how perfect I am. I know what I know what I know. Take that! But…isn’t how this lawyer may be thinking how we may think at times. We think that if we can know all the answers to all the questions we can use our “Scriptural Prowess” and win over all those unchurched lost souls around us. Well…most times this doesn’t work. We wind up scaring away people rather than bringing them into the sheepfold. Our witness to others is less dependent on the right answers and more on the love of others. ‘If we truly love God, our neighbor and ourselves, our neighbor would be drawn to our love not our knowledge.
And then Jesus answered, You have given the right answer; do this and you will live.” Now I can just imagine the scene…the lawyer standing around with all his buddies…they high five each other…the lawyer going around saying, “who’s the man…who’s the man!”…His buddies saying “you are…you are.” (Act out) Now the lawyer stops for a moment and thinks, “Hey…I don’t mind hanging out with and having barbecues with my neighbors next door. I love them. They are awesome. We are always there to help each other but this is too easy…there must be some kind of fine print here…I need to make sure.” So he asks the probing question. So now we come to part 2 of the story…
2. The Question concerning ones neighbor found in vs. 29
The Lawyer then asks, “and who is my neighbor?” He may have been trying to find a loophole (being a lawyer). A way that he could love his neighbor only if they were getting along. He may have been thinking well…my neighbor is OK most of the time but I remember the time when my Ox got stuck in the hole and my neighbor was too busy to help. Boy did I hated him then. I always stop every thing I am doing to help him and this one time he was too busy.” He may have wanted Jesus to define who his neighbor was so that he could justify not liking some one just because they were different.
Don’t we all think that way some times? We love our neighbor and accept them because they are not irritating us at the moment. Don’t we tend to shy away from people who are different thinking they are strange and we don’t want to associate with them? Don’t we put conditions of love on people in our lives and say things like “I would like you better if…” “He/she would be a more likeable person if…” and the like at times? Don’t we shy away from and avoid people from different countries and cultures at times with out even getting to know them? Don’t we stereotype people with out even giving them a chance to prove themselves to us? Don’t we tend to judge a whole race or culture by a few that have done things that are evil? Don’t we act more exclusive within our churches at times instead of the inclusive way we are called to act by God’s Word?
The Bible states we are all made in the image of God. We All come from the same roots that began in the Garden of Eden. We are all made for God’s pleasure. Jesus came to save All people not just a chosen few. We need to start looking at each other through the Eyes of God not through the eyes of man. We need to take the log out of our own eye to help remove the speck in our fellow mans…. The next part of the parable/story, part 3, is the Parable of the Good Samaritan
3. The Parable of the Good Samaritan found in vs. 30-35
Now comes the teaching moment for Jesus. He spoke in parables because they were easier for the people to relate with. They would understand more of what was being said to them. But isn’t that still true today? I know that I find it easier to relate to a situation if some one shares their story with me verses researching the issue on the Internet.
Jesus tells of a man coming down from Jerusalem and is stripped of his clothing, beaten, and left half dead. This man has nothing to identify him. You can’t tell who he is by his clothing or speech. The robbers have taken of that by taking his cloths and leaving him half dead…unconscious. Some one who was going by might stop if they could identify him with their own ”group” of people but no chance of that happening. (Boy they could have really used a CSI team for this case).
Now after this man is left on the side of the road…a Priest comes down the road…he sees the man on the side of the road and passes by on the other side as does the Levite who comes down the road. Now…we expect compassion from clergy…we assume that they would stop and help…but…they pass by on the other side. Why would they do that? They are “people of the cloth”…they are supposed to help people in need. Maybe they were on their way to perform some religious duty…maybe they didn’t want to get their hands or cloths dirty from the mess that was there. Maybe they thought the victim was dead and because they were dead they were not allowed to touch him. Or maybe they thought that this person was faking, he was a decoy for the robbers so that they would stop to help and be robbed themselves. Whatever the reason they went by on the other side.
Now I ask…don’t we do and think the same things? We don’t want to get involved. If we get involved maybe some thing bad would happen to us. We would rather stay in our safe zone than to step out of our comfort zone and help. Are we not told to be in the world not of the world? To me…this means we need to get involved. In order to make a difference we have to “show up” and be accounted for. (Shea Farm)
The next person to show up on the ”crime scene” is a Samaritan. Scripture reads that the Samaritan “is moved with pity…compassion…he bandaged the man up, poured oil and wine on the wounds, out the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn where he took care of him. The next day he paid 2 denarii (which a that time was t days pay) to the in keeper and told him to take care of the man and when he came back he would pay for what ever the extra expense was.” Wow…now that is a friend! If I am ever down and out like that I hope that some one would treat me with that much love and compassion. Not even the traditional hostility between Jews and Samaritans stopped this man from helping this man in need. Again…this man was despised and hated by the people of this injured mans race but he was full…of …compassion for this man. What a testimony of loving others and seeing others through God’s Eyes! The last part…part 4… is radical…
4. The Conclusion with question in vs. 36, the answer in 37a and a final admonition in 37b.
At the end of the story…the parable...Jesus asks the Lawyer which one was a neighbor to the injured man. The Lawyer answers the one who showed mercy…compassion. And Jesus tells him to go and do likewise. Go…and do…likewise…what a difficult thing to do. We live in a fallen world full of prejudice, fear and suspicion. We live in a world of division and strife. We are taught the only one you can truly trust in is yourself. So…how can we go and do likewise? We hear on the news and read in the paper about people who step out of their comfort zone and to help others…even to the point that they too are in danger. They are considered heroes in our society. Go…and do…likewise. Now I don’t know about you…but I am not sure if I were in the same situation that I would be able to do the same…I hope that I would. We help the elderly person in the market get their groceries into their car. Some one has lost their wallet and we take it to the police department so that they can contact the person and let them know it has been found. We participate in a Cancer walk that supports Cancer research. Go…and do…likewise. These…random acts of kindness…these are ways we ARE doing likewise. We CAN make a difference.
Now we’ve broken it down into 4 parts…we have gone through and talked about the 4 main characters of this parable…But…I can’t help but think of a fifth character in our story…the robbers. We don’t know if them were men, women or children but what we do know is how they considered others. They had no regard for another’s life. They stripped the man, beat him and left him on the side of the road half-dead.
When you think of it…isn’t this the way that society would have us be. In our society today we are lead to believe that we are nothing unless we have it all. It doesn’t matter how you get there or who you have to hurt in the process. Just get there. Not only does society tell us that it is a “dog eat dog” world, “survival of the fittest”…but it also robs us of our peace and joy. If we want to be accepted…we want to have the “good life” we must act how society will have us act. How much joy and peace is there in that for a disciple of Christ?
In Psalm 82: 3-4… we are told to “give justice to the weak and orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” But instead…we have a tendency compromise our beliefs to just fit in, to belong. We go with the flow in order to not make waves and stand out like a sore thumb. We have made ourselves like gods…judging our neighbors by our standards not God’s. If we continue on this track…we will “be laid low” and brought down…for how we judge others…we also will be judged.
You may be thinking to yourself…well that was good for that day and age but things are different now. Society is not the same way today as it was when this was written. This was meant for the people in the Olden Days. It doesn’t apply to us now. They have Social Services that can help these people…why should I do their job? Well…Colossians 1:6 tells us that “The message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn’t diminish or weaken over time. It is the same all over the world.” No matter what…God’s truths do not change. God’s instruction to us is the same as it was yesterday…as it is today…as it will be tomorrow. God is Sovereign…it is us who change and compromise.
We have two choices in how we react to others. We can be like the Priest and Levite and make a wide birth around those who are different. We can concentrate on our differences rather than similarities. We can ignore the fact that we are ALL God’s creation therefor are bond together in the family of God. Or we can, like the Samaritan in this Parable, reach out in love and compassion to those in need around us. This reminds me of a verse in a song by the Young Bloods called “Get Together”. The verse goes…”If you hear the song I sing…you will understand…you hold the key to love and fear…all in your trembling hand…just one key unlocks them both…it’s there at your command.” Which will you chose to unlock…the fear that comes from society full of suspicion and hate or the love that is found in the Risen Lord Jesus Christ? The choice is yours.
Amen
by Pastor Ruth Foss
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