The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. George Pejakovich, Assistant to the Dean
Grace Cathedral
7/11/10

Luke 10:25-37

THE GOSPEL FOR TODAY IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS AND FAMILIAR PARABLES OF JESUS. ALMOST ANYONE WHO HAS EVER SAT IN A CHURCH PEW FOR A WHILE HAS HEARD THIS PARABLE, AND, IN FACT, MOST CHRISTIANS COULD EVEN RECITE IT, IF NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATELY BUT ABLE TO RECITE THE GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE STORY. WE ALL KNOW, WHEN WE HEAR THE WORDS, “THE GOOD SAMARITAN,” TO WHAT THE SPEAKER REFERS. SO FAMEOUS IS THIS PARABLE, THAT THERE ARE SECULAR ORGANIZATIONS THAT TAKE THE NAME, “GOOD SAMARITANS,” AND THERE ARE “GOOD SAMARITAN” LAWS IN SOME STATES THAT PROTECT THOSE WHO STOP TO ASSIST AT ACCIDENTS FROM LAWSUITS RELATED TO THEIR ASSISTANCE. THE INTERESTING THING, INTERESTING TO ME AT LEAST, IS THAT THE WORDS “GOOD” AND “SAMARITAN” NEVER APPEAR TOGETHER IN ANY SENTENCE IN ALL OF SCRIPTURE; NOT EVEN IN THE PARABLE ITSELF.

AS I MENTIONED A FEW WEEKS AGO, THE SAMARITANS WERE UNIVERSALLY DESPISED BY THE JEWISH PEOPLE. SAMARITANS WERE A MIXED RACE OF THOSE JEWS LEFT IN THE FORMER KINGDOM OF ISRAEL AND THOSE OTHER TRIBES AND NATIONALITIES SETTLED BY THE CONQUERING ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. THEIR RELIGION   IMMITATED THE WORSHIP OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE, BUT WITH INCORPORATED PAGAN ELEMENTS. THEY EVEN BUILT A POOR COPY OF THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE IN THEIR CAPITOL IN SAMARIA. THE JEWS CONSIDERED THE SAMARITANS SO CORRUPT AND UNCLEAN THAT, WHEN PASSING THROUGH SAMARIA TO GET FROM GALILEE TO JUDAH, THEY WOULD STOP JUST INSIDE THE BORDERS OF JUDAH TO KNOCK THE DUST OF SAMARIA OFF THEIR SANDALS AND CLOTHES. TOUCHING A SAMARITAN, OR EVEN TALKING TO ONE, MADE A JEW RITUALLY UNCLEAN, SO IT IS NO WONDER THAT THE SAMARITANS RETURED THE HATRED OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. THE PHRASE “GOOD SAMARITAN” WAS AN OXYMORON.

JESUS HAD JUST PASSED THROUGH SAMARIA ON HIS WAY TO JERUSALEM, WHEN HE WAS APPROACHED BY A LAWYER, A SCRIBE WHO WAS AN EXPERT ON THE TORAH, WHO WANTED TO TEST HIM TO SEE IF JESUS REALLY KNEW THE LAW OF GOD. THE QUESTION THE LAWYER ASKED JESUS WAS AN EGOCENTRIC ONE; “WHAT MUST I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE?” JESUS TURNED THE QUESTION BACK ON THE LAWYER BY ASKING HIM WHAT HE INTERPRETED FROM HIS STUDY OF GOD’S LAW. WHEN THE LAWYER ANSWERED WITH, “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,” JESUS TOLD HIM THAT HE GAVE THE CORRECT ANSWER; “DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE.”

HOOKED BY HIS OWN ANSWER, THE LAWYER TRIED TO JUSTIFY HIMSELF AND GET THE UPPER HAND OVER JESUS BY ASKING HIM, “AND WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?” TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY THE PHARISEES, SADUCEES AND SCRIBES, THE ONLY ONES WHO COULD POSSIBLY BE CONSIDERED AS A NEIGHBOR WAS A FELLOW JEW. ALIENS, GENTILES, SINNERS, AND SAMARITANS WERE ALL CONSIDERED AS UNCLEAN, AND COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS A NEIGHBOR. NOW, THE LAWYER HAD JESUS TRAPPED, BECAUSE IF HE SAID ANYTHING OTHER THAN IT WAS ONLY THE RITUALLY PURE WHO WERE HIS NEIGHBORS, HE WOULD BE IN OPPOSITION TO THE ACCEPTED INTERPRETATION OF THE LAW OF GOD.

SO JESUS TOLD HIM THIS FAMEOUS PARABLE ABOUT THE MAN WHO WENT DOWN FROM JERUSALEM TO JERICHO, WAS ATTACKED BY BANDITS, AND LEFT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD TO DIE OF HIS WOUNDS. BY CHANCE, A PRIEST CAME ALONG, RETURNING HOME AFTER HIS SERVICE AT THE TEMPLE, AND, SEEING THE WOUNDED MAN, PASSED BY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD. NEXT, A LEVITE (SORT OF LIKE A DEACON) CAME BY, AND HE, ALSO, PASSED BY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD. BOTH OF THESE “RELIGIOUS” MEN PUT THEIR EGOCENTRIC CONCERN FOR THEIR PERSONAL RITUAL PURITY AND PERSONAL PIETY AHEAD OF THEIR COMPASSION FOR A FELLOW HUMAN BEING. IF THEY HAD TOUCHED THE WOUNDED MAN, GETTING HIS BLOOD ON THEM, THEY WOULD BECOME UNCLEAN, AND WOULD HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THE INCONVIENENCE OF THE PURIFICATION RITUAL. FINALLY, A THIRD MAN CAME ALONG, AND HE WAS A SAMARITAN. HE HAD COMPASSION FOR THE WOUNDED MAN, AND, AFTER TREATING HIS WOUNDS WITH OIL AND WINE, BANDAGED HIM AND SET HIM ON HIS OWN DONKEY, AND TOOK HIM TO AN INN TO RECOVER. HE EVEN DUG INTO HIS OWN PURSE TO GIVE THE INNKEEPER TWO DENARII TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE FOR THE WOUNDED MAN, AND TOLD THE INNKEEPER THAT HE WOULD PAY WHATEVER MORE IT COST TO CARE FOR THE MAN ON HIS RETURN. THEN, HE LEFT WITHOUT WAITING FOR EVEN A WORD OF THANKS. “WHICH OF THESE THREE,” JESUS ASKED THE LAWYER, “WAS A NEIGHBOR TO THE MAN WHO FELL INTO THE HANDS OF THE ROBBERS?” THE LAWYER, IN HIS ANSWER, COULD NOT EVEN SAY THE WORD “SAMARITAN,” SO REPLIED, “THE ONE WHO SHOWED HIM MERCY.” NOW, JESUS’ RESPONSE HOOKED THE LAWYER IN HIS HEART, MIND AND SOUL, AND TURNED HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE LAW OF GOD UPSIDE DOWN AND INSIDE OUT; “GO AND DO LIKEWISE.”

LOVE FOR GOD IS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT LOVE FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR. LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR DOES NOT MEAN LOVING THOSE YOU THINK OF AS YOUR NEIGHBOR, BUT DOING LOVE AS THE NEIGHBOR OF ALL THOSE WHO ARE IN NEED. TRUE RELIGION IS NOT TRUE UNLESS IT IS EXPRESSED IN LOVE AND MERCY FOR THOSE IN NEED, AND LOVE AND MERCY IS MEANINGLESS UNLESS IT IS EXPRESSED IN DIRECT ACTION. LOVE FOR OTHERS WITHOUT ACTING OUT THAT LOVE IS MERELY EMPTY EMOTION AND HYPOCRITICAL EGOCENTRIC PIETY. LOVE FOR GOD IS NEVER A MATTER OF HOW PERSONALLY HOLY AND PIOUS WE ARE, BUT ALWAYS OF HOW WE EXPRESS THAT LOVE IN SERVICE TO OTHERS IN NEED. EVEN A SAMARITAN CAN LOVE GOD BY DOING LOVE FOR HIS NEIGHBOR; A WOUNDED JEW WHO, IF HE WERE ABLE, MIGHT HAVE REFUSED HELP FROM ONE HE THOUGHT SINFUL AND UNCLEAN. BEING A NEIGHBOR AND LOVING GOD BY DOING SO, MEANS DOING LOVE EVEN TO THOSE WHO HATE AND DESPISE YOU. THIS IS THE LAW OF GOD; TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL OF YOUR BEING, AND TO DO SO BY LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.

AS WE CELEBRATED THE BIRTHDAY OF OUR NATION LAST SATURDAY, MEMBERS OF THIS CONGREGATION GAVE THEIR TIME AND EFFORT TO FEED LUNCH TO THOSE WHO OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE GONE HUNGRY. IN THE MONTHS WITH A FIFTH WEDNESDAY, MEMBERS OF THIS CONGREGATION SPEND THE BETTER PART OF THE DAY PREPARING AND SERVING LUNCH FOR OVER FOUR HUNDRED PEOPLE AT “LET’S HELP.” THESE ARE THE KINDS OF SERVICE TO OTHERS THAT ARE THE EXPRESSION OF BEING A NEIGHBOR TO THEM, AND IN BEING A NEIGHBOR, WE SHOW GOD’S LOVE FOR THEM IN CHRIST AND, IN SO DOING, WE EXPRESS OUR LOVE FOR GOD. THERE ARE MANY OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO BE THE NEIGHBOR GOD CALLS US TO BE, AND TO TRULY LOVE GOD WE MUST SHOW THAT LOVE BY LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS.

OUR LOVE AND WORSHIP OF GOD CAN NEVER BE EGOCENTRIC PIETISM, BECAUSE CHRIST CALLS US ALWAYS OUT OF OUR CONCERN FOR OURSELVES TO SERVICE TO OTHERS. OUR WONDERFUL AND BEAUTIFUL TIMES OF WORSHIP TOGETHER ARE NEVER JUST FOR THE COMFORT AND CONSOLATION OF OUR SPIRITS, BUT ARE ALWAYS A TIME OF RENEWAL AND PREPARATION FOR SERVICE. WHAT WE DO HERE IS NEVER AN END IN ITSELF, BUT ALWAYS A MEANS OF PREPARING, EQUIPING AND STRENGTHENING US FOR OUR CALL OF SERVICE TO OTHERS.

THAT WONDERFUL KIDS SHOW OF FRED ROGERS, MISTER ROGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD, WAS WRONG IN ONE RESPECT. IT IS NOT WHETHER YOU WANT TO BE MY NEIGHBOR, AS HE SANG EACH SHOW, BUT ALWAYS, AND EVER, WHETHER I WANT TO BE YOUR NEIGHBOR. WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE PRAYING, “LORD, HELP ME BE A NEIGHBOR TO THOSE IN NEED. I WANT TO BE A NEIGHBOR.” THAT, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, IS WHY WE ARE HERE; TO LEARN HOW TO BE A NEIGHBOR IN THE NAME OF CHRIST.
AMEN