Sermon for July 13 Proper 10C 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 we
heard the perhaps all too familiar story of the Good Samaritan. A story that has made its way into our very
culture. There are “good Samaritan laws” that provide a relief from liability
for stepping in and taking care of something wrong – like a mine cleanup- or
helping someone. And in many ways it is
awful to think that we have to make laws about it being ok to do the right
thing. Perhaps this story is all too
familiar. But I have to admit it is one
of my favorites and is a big part of my theology.
The summary
of the Great commandment is to love God and love neighbor. A commandment that – on its face – sounds so
easy. But in practice has never been
easy. And Jesus describes the hardness
of it in this parable. It was not too
much earlier in the Gospel narrative that Jesus was denied entry into a
Samaritan village and his disciples wanted to smite the village! And now the Samaritan is the hero in the
story. But there is more here than just healing.
It is about
the radical invitation that Jesus issues about the presence of God’s reign of
peace and love. It is about recognizing
in our enemy a child of God. It is about
crossing the street and binding up the wounds of people who are not like us and
people who we don’t understand.
In our news
in these past weeks there have been too many examples of people not getting
that Jesus commands us to Love – not Hate.
There are too many people dead because of racial hatred. There have been too many people killed
because they don’t fit the model of who the killer thinks is their neighbor.
And I don’t know what to do about it. The
hatred and vile that is being espoused by many in our world is enough to drive
me crazy. It makes me want to check out… but that is not the answer. We need to show the world a different way.
And social
media and the news is full of pundits and regular people wondering about whose
lives matter. Why it is important to say
that Black Lives Matter. Even – and
perhaps especially when a deranged black man – takes out his anger by killing
white policemen. And I am still having a
very difficult time with the police response and decision to eventually blow
the man up with a robot and a bomb. I
keep thinking there had to be a better way.
And then
amidst all of the explosion on social media about whose lives matter Sister
Diana Doncaster posted a poem. A poem
that spoke to me about all of this craziness.
A poem that speaks about the dream of God.
I’d ever dreamed to date.
I dreamed the world had all agreed
to put an end to hate.
And then I woke and heard the news
of guns and murdered ones;
of bombs and hatred multiplied
of countless lives undone.
I listened then to those who claim
that they’re the ones so wise
that they should be the powerful;
then all would be just fine.
Again I fell upon my knees
and groaned and wept and prayed
that God would teach us how to love
and live life unafraid.
I prayed for grace to live each day
as sign of life and peace.
May God’s Light in our darkness shine
so hate and violence cease.
Our call as
Christians is to stop categorizing people.
It is to remember that Jesus told us that we are to Love God with our
entire being and that we are to Love our neighbor. We are to love all of our neighbors – even
those who might not want our love. Even
those who we are afraid of. Even those
who don’t want us to love them.
We are to
call out the institutional racism that makes black people targets in too many
places. The racism that makes people
cross the street because a person with dark skin simply “looks scary”. We are to call out the racism that caused the
priest and the Levite to pass by the man beaten by robbers because of his
nationality.
We are to
call out the sexism that treats women as second class citizens and blames them
for rape. We are to call out the death
and beatings of people because of their sexuality.
It is
important to say that Black Lives Matter because it recognizes and calls out
the racism in our society. This does not demean the need to mourn for the white
officers who were ambushed during a peaceful protest march. It is imperative
that we mourn for these brave police officers and their families. We can and
should give thanks to those men and women of all races and creeds who put their
lives on the line every day so that we can be safe.
We need to
pray for all of the people killed because of who they are. And we are called to do the harder thing of
praying for those who caused the deaths.
A prayer that does not readily jump to my lips.
We need to
remember that out society has created classes of people – God did not create
the classes. And that while all lives do
matter those who are oppressed need to be called out as needing our
attention. Racism, anti-Semitism,
misogyny, homophobia and xenophobia are all sins of first not properly
recognizing our neighbors and then creating structures to maintain
discrimination and fanning the flames of hatred.
It is
important for me to stand up here and acknowledge my own institutional
privilege. It is important for me to
recognize that it would be far too easy for me to be the priest in the story. And it is important for me – as a priest – to
remember that God calls me and each and everyone of us to help bring in God’s
Dream. The strangest dream of all. A
dream – like the one in the poem where hatred ceases. Where we finally recognize that genetically
we are all much more alike than different. Scientists tell us that something
like 99 percent of our DNA is the same!
The grace
inherent in the good Samaritan is that he came close to the injured man. That is God’s dream. That we would somehow recognize the closeness
of God’s love for all of God’s creation.
That we would first see our neighbor before we see our enemy and would
come close.
There is a
wonderful blessing that starts out “The peace of God which surpasses all
understanding keep your hearts, minds and souls in the knowledge and love of his
Son Jesus Christ.” That is my prayer for
you today. That in this world that all
too often seems out of control that the closeness of God’s peace will be with
you. That the dream of God’s love will
be your dream. And that we will have the
courage to cross the road and bring that dream to our neighbor.
Amen.
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