"From a New Perspective"
Sermon Presented July 15, 2007
Luke 10:25-37
Yesterday I received an e-mail message from Tanya Braden, our parish nurse. Tanya is concerned about a man at the VA Hospital who is beginning chemotherapy treatments for small cell lung cancer next month. He and his wife live in Bruce Crossing, MI and they are unable to drive back and forth for the treatments because of the distance. They can't afford to stay in a hotel - or even at a Charity House because even the latter costs an unaffordable $40 a night. Tanya asked if I would check and see if anyone in the congregation could open their home to help them for a period of four to six weeks.
That message was no accident! My sermon text is about The Good Samaritan, and here I am presented with an opportunity to be a neighbor to a stranger in need. I immediately thought of all kinds of excuses. I will be gone part of this time. I'm having company in August. I don't cook! I'm accustomed to being by myself, and beside, the man will probably be sick much of the time and I can't stand the smell of vomit. But with all of these excuses, I kept returning to the text and Jesus' admonition to show love to my neighbor. What will I do? Will I stop and bind up the wounds or will I walk on by and hope that someone else will be there to help?
Let's look at this most familiar text! The genre is story - parable to be exact, and this is one of our favorites. Read Luke 10:25-37.
Many recently published books about how to "grow a church" advise the pastor to spend less time on pastoral care and more on administrative and organizational duties. The premise is that it isn't time-efficient to care for the flock! (My parents' church grew very large, and even though my parents were active members there for more than 60 years, the senior pastor seldom came to visit them when they were hospitalized or when Mom was in a nursing home.) I know that pastoral care is time consuming and if this is the only emphasis of the pastor, the church will suffer. However, I don't see pastoral care as a burden but a privilege, and I don't pay much attention to the experts. Maybe if I adhered to the new rules, we would grow, but I would miss ministering to people in their joys and crises. Let's look at our text and see what it says to us!
A good teacher challenges students with mental and verbal exercises, and Jesus does that when he asks the attorney to participate in his learning. Instead of answering the lawyer's question directly, Jesus asks him what the law says and he answers appropriately from laws recorded in Deuteronomy (6:5) and Leviticus (19:18). But when Jesus tells him to obey what he quoted, the legal expert tries to justify himself by asking for a definition of "neighbor". This exchange precipitates the parable.
The caregiver, a Samaritan, is hated and distrusted by his Jewish counterparts, and yet he is the only one who shows compassion to the victim of the attack - a Jew. His compassion overcomes his personal hurts and feelings of rejection by the Jews and he acts with love. Perhaps he can teach us what it means to move past our own hurts so that we can respond compassionately to our enemies. Jesus tells us that we may need to look among those we reject for signs of God's presence and power.
More than half of this parable focuses on the Samaritan's actions of pity toward the injured man: cleaning and bandaging his wounds, loading him onto the donkey, caring for him and leaving him in the care of the innkeeper with money and the promise to pay for any additional expenses. This shows the extent to which Jesus wants us to go to assure positive results from our commitment to love. We can't stop with the minimum. The Samaritan was extravagant in his shower of love, and Jesus wants us to enter whole-heartedly into caring relationships with those in need. We need more than justification for our actions; we need to offer love to those in need.
I recently watched the first season DVDs of the CBS series Joan of Arcadia, based on the concept that Joan sees and hears God in the form of ordinary people - children, the elderly, the weird, and the beautiful - at unexpected times and places. After a while, Joan expects to find God, where at first she couldn't believe it was God speaking to her. This fictional series vividly emphasizes the understanding that God's wisdom and compassion can be manifest in and through anyone. We can learn from those in need, and the victims can find Christ in our loving acts.
I would like for you to examine with me the needs of victims. People who are victimized usually suffer for many years after the abuse occurs. Sometimes there are physical disabilities like a limp, loss of sight or hearing, or brain damage, but other times, as with rape, sexual abuse and war, there are nightmares and a more severe psychological damage called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - a condition that can affect mental health for a lifetime if under-treated or ignored. Knowledge that someone cared enough for the victim in our story that he went to the effort and expense to see that he was cared for, would go a long way to heal more than just his exterior wounds.
I wish I could know for certain when I need to act compassionately. If someone is lying naked and bloody on a hot and dusty road, it's obvious that help is needed. But sometimes we can't tell! It isn't always obvious! Sometimes people lie! The Samaritan helped the injured man because he had compassion for him. The innkeeper must have had compassion for him and trusted that the Samaritan would return or he wouldn't have agreed to provide additional care. We want to be compassionate - at least most of the time, but we don't want to be taken advantage of when no legitimate need exists!
The injured Jewish man must have been filled with gratitude. He was given a new lease on life by someone he had been conditioned to hate. The loving act of this stranger changed him and challenged his prejudices. There would have been no lesson here were it not for the injured man in the road. There must be someone willing to receive our help for the help to be delivered.
I have three friends in the Kansas City area who are medical doctors. Each volunteers at the Kansas City Free Health Clinic, providing medical care for those who cannot pay for services. No matter how much they want to serve the needy, unless those in need avail themselves of the services, the doctors would waste their time. The patients must trust that the doctors are competent and that they care. They must swallow their pride and seek free services. When the doctors come on a regular basis, people believe they care and then can trust them in times of need. My doctor friends represent the Samaritan and the needy patients represent the one who was robbed and beaten. The Good Samaritan shows mercy and the victim who was beaten receives mercy. Acts of mercy need recipients and pride can deter those in need from receiving much needed help.
Accepting offers of rides when we shouldn't drive; having a willingness to listen to the words of well-intentioned friends to see if there is any truth in their words; allowing another to accompany us to a doctor's appointment to make sure we get all of the information; or inviting another to help us find God in the midst of confusion, fear, pain or grief are all things that we can allow others to help us tackle if we are willing. Sometimes we need to spend time in relationship-building so that another can trust us when that trust is most needed.
All three potential rescuers came along "by chance". Help didn't come from the first two. They rejected him and left him in his distress, refusing the opportunity to help. But the third man stopped!
This story challenges us to self-reflection. It sure did its job on me! It confronts us with a vision of ourselves and how we respond to the world. It confronts us on how we offer help and how we receive help from others. We often fail to do either well. We hold prejudices. We fear what others will think; sometimes we don't want to get involved; and other times we don't care. When we ignore the cries of those in need, we fail to love. We don't look at everyone as our neighbor. Jesus calls us to listen to the cries of those in need with our hearts as well as our ears and then, to act with compassion. Jesus invites us to accept help from others, when we are in need.
This morning we are being challenged to pray for those who use our building for meetings. These people are strangers - and neighbors! The Korean Church provides a ministry to those needing a Christian contact in a new country and a strange culture. The AA groups help to provide support and healing for those who are addicted to alcohol or other drugs and the Alanon group supports those whose loved one is an alcoholic. Jazzercise provides a positive health force for those who may be facing crises because of a lack of exercise. By praying for those we do not know, we bring them into that "neighbor" status. It's a small way that we can show love, and everyone can do it.
Who is my neighbor? Jesus infers that it's anyone who has a need. Those who live in the Kingdom of God don't recognize social class, status, religious beliefs, gender or race as criteria for offering help. Our biblical knowledge, tithing, and church attendance mean nothing if we don't love others. What matters is that we reach out to those in need with generosity and love. That is Kingdom living!
I believe God places people in our path to love - family members, friends, fellow workers, strangers, next door neighbors, the poor, the oppressed, our enemies, and yes, even a cancer patient at the VA Hospital. They may not be naked and oozing blood, but many are wounded and needy. As we pray for sensitivity to the needs of others, God will help us make the right response. Try it and see!
(Sermon help from Patrick J. Wilson in the June 26, 2007 issue of Christian Century p. 19 and Rebecca J. Kruger Gaudino in New Proclamations 2007 Year C Easter -Christ the King pp 129-131.)
