Proper 10 C RCL
Just then a lawyer stood up to
test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit
eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do
you read there?" He answered, "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." And he said to him,
"You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."
But wanting to justify himself,
he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man
was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers,
who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance
a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the
other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed
by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when
he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds,
having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought
him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave
them to the innkeeper, and said, `Take care of him; and when I come back, I
will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think,
was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He
said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and
do likewise."
Today’s gospel story is very familiar
to many of us. The concept and story of
the Good Samaritan has made its way into popular culture. We have Good Samaritan Hospitals and Good
Samaritan Laws on the books. Did I really even need to proclaim the gospel or
could I have simply said Good Samaritan and sat down? The challenge for me is trying to find
something to say about this parable that will make us think and hopefully give
back to it some of the power and shock that the story had for the people in
Jesus day. Is it possible for the parable to call us to action today?
One of the first things that hit me
square between the eyes this time I read it was how the parable acts to judge
the clergy! Now that I am a member of
the clergy I see that one lens is a call for clergy not to be too self-righteous. There is a danger, both as a member of the
clergy – and as members of the congregation that we want to serve only other
Episcopalians. We want to make sure that
we minister to each other. The priest
and the Levite did not even bother to see if the man in the ditch belonged to
their congregations. Who is the man in
the ditch? Did they jump to conclusions
about the person beaten and left to die?
Was he not well enough dressed that he could not possible have been one of
their flock? One of the messages of this parable is a call to expand whom we,
as religious people, consider our members – our tribe. It is a call to a radical hospitality.
Follow me as I try to paint a picture
of how this story might be told today. A
clergy person and a vestry member are walking down J street and see someone
obviously in pain sitting on the ground in a doorway. They both cross the street to avoid the
person. After all the service at St.
Paul’s begins in 10 minutes. They are
running late. The next person who comes
up is someone who might be a terrorist for all we know. They certainly don’t look like a respectable
person who we would invite to a dinner party.
They stop and help the man in pain.
They take them to the Sheraton and get a room so they can get clean and
fed. Can you imagine it – I am not sure
that the inn-keeper would even let someone who was disheveled and bloody come
in with someone who is suspicious – not unless they could produce a very
generous line of credit. More likely the
only people who might take in the pair would be Loaves and Fishes. Who is being the neighbor now? Also think bout it from the point of view of
the man in the ditch – the person who comes to his rescue is someone who he
would just a soon die as be helped by them.
Are there people who you would not want to help you – that you would
rather die than ask them for assistance?
Several years ago – when I worked off
of Richards Boulevard by the American River -
as I was biking to work I had a flat tire – at 6:30 in the morning – not
the way I wanted to start the day. I
went to change the tire only to discover that my patch kit glue had gone
dry. The only thing I could do was to
walk and half carry my bike the last mile or so to the office. As I was walking along many well-dressed bike
commuters on their expensive bikes with their expensive jerseys flew past
me. Not one of them stopped to see if I
could use some help. As I passed
Discovery Park a man who I had seen a number of times with all his possessions
piled on a trailer attached to his bike stopped and asked if he could help
me! I have to admit I probably thought
that he was going to ask for a handout when I saw him change direction to come
my way. But instead he offered
help. When I explained that I had a flat
and my tube of glue was dry. He told me
he just got a new tube and offered to let me use it. This person who – in my worldview at the time
looked like he lacked everything offered what little he had to me. As I was only a short way from my office I
thanked him and declined to take him up on the offer. This encounter caused me to remember who was
being neighborly. It was – I suspect –
an encounter with God. This homeless man
was my neighbor. God was calling me to
see that.
It is no surprise that the last three
weeks have the sermons preached by three different preachers have all brought
up our baptismal covenants. The gospel
readings for the past four weeks – including todays – are all about expanding
the definition of who is our neighbor.
There has been a thread about hospitality in each one of them. Hospitality is in the very DNA of our
Episcopal Church. When we are baptized
we promise to Love God and Love our Neighbors and to seek and serve Christ is
all persons. We promise to respect the
human dignity of every person. Wonderful
promises. Today’s gospel reading reminds
us that God is calling us to ever expand who we call neighbor. God is calling us to see the world as God
sees it. So what are we called to do as
a result of this gospel?
Another preacher, the Rev. Brian Konkol
– in his sermon on this parable said that “…the narrative [of the Good
Samaritan] seems to promote short-term aid without addressing long-term
justice, and the appearance of such an omission needs to be explored more
thoroughly. For example, what were the social conditions that led to such a
dreadful act of violence on the road to Jericho? Why was the stranger so
brutally victimized at that particular location and not somewhere else? Was the
event merely a crime of momentary opportunity, or was it a predictable outcome
of a deeper societal illness? In other words, was short-term aid all that was
necessary in response to the incident, or was the Good Samaritan later inspired
to engage the dilemma through advocacy?”
Is it enough that we at St. Paul’s open
our doors to all people? Is it enough
that we make and give out around 100 sack lunches every month? I don’t think it is enough. We need to also look at how society creates
homelessness and hunger. We need to get
over our squeamishness of entering into the political realm and challenge a
system, a society creates a culture of haves and have-nots. I know many of you are doing that in your
daily lives and work. But what is St.
Paul’s doing? When we leave this
beautiful sanctuary and advocate for a better world I hope we do it blatantly
as members of St. Paul’s.
I attended a fundraiser this past week for
Sacramento Self Help Housing. I was
shocked to see that while there are wonderful corporate sponsors – like Wells
Fargo Bank - and individual sponsors but that there are no churches listed and
no obvious clergy involved. I wonder
why? They have a mission to “assist
persons who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless to find and retain
stable and affordable housing. (http://www.sacselfhelp.org/index.php/about-us)”
which seems compatible with our baptismal call to seek and serve Christ in all
persons. Perhaps there are churches that
support this group that I am unaware of but it does make be wish that I had
worn my clergy shirt to the fundraiser.
I have friends and co-workers who are involved with Sacramento Self Help
Housing so I will follow up to see if there are things I can do as a clergy
person and that perhaps we can do as a congregation to help.
As St. Paul’s continues to do our
strategic planning and working with the New Dollars/New Partners program I hope
we will find ways to expand who we see as our neighbor. I hope we can find partners that we can both
help and who can help us to change this world into one where we as a society no
longer leave people in ditches to die.
To find ways to both give assistance and to accept assistance from
people who we would classify as our enemies and who God knows are truly our
neighbors. Amen.
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