"A Very Human Question" a sermon for the Eighth Sunday After Pentecost, YEAR C Scripture: Leviticus 19:18, 33-34, Deuteronomy 30:9-14; Psalm 25:1-10; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen. All of us are human, we tend to focus on ourselves and our nearest and dearest, so we want to know how to get ahead and what goals we need to set to get there. You also see this when someone tells us to do something and in response we really want to know “What’s in it for me?” and “What’s the minimum I can get away with?” Most of us don’t want to think of ourselves that way but the truth is that most of the time this is the way that we think privately when we think of such things. I know that this is true for me and I know that I have seen it play out in other people’s actions, as well. Knowing this it then comes as no surprise when the lawyer asks Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” in today’s Gospel Reading. He is focusing his attention on himself and his goal to pursue eternal life. He wants to know what he has to do to get to heaven. He’s asking a very human question. While this is a good question and a great goal, it’s pretty self-centered; his focus is on himself and what he needs to do to get what he wants. Jesus begins by helping him to direct his question outside himself to the answer that he already knows from the Scriptures. Jesus asked 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.’” Jesus then says to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” It is clear here that this lawyer knows his Scriptures, he knows very well the Law of Moses that has taught him all of his life, he quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 as his answer. Even knowing this isn’t enough to keep him from following up with another very human question, “who is my neighbor?” The Bible said it this way, “But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” He wants to know just what his limits are, just exactly how far he has to go to reach his goal. Jesus responds by giving him a parable to help him to see beyond himself and open him up to a much larger world that doesn’t have the sharp boundaries that he would like to have in place; that assures him that he’s done enough, he’s reached his goal. Jesus is showing him that it’s not about him, it’s about caring for others. We know this story well; there’s a man going down to Jericho from Jerusalem, a desolate place, frequented by bandits and murderers. As he goes along he’s jumped by a group of bandits who beat him senseless, steal everything, even the clothes off of his back and leave him to die at the side of the road. After this happens a priest comes by, now a person should expect a man of God would stop and care for a child of God, right? But no such luck, the priest didn’t want to soil his hands or inconvenience himself in any way by getting involved. He just goes by on the other side of the road so as not to have to look at the man in distress. Next a Levite, a church worker, if you will, comes up on the scene, he should stop for someone in dire straits, shouldn’t he? But no, he also goes over to the other side of the road to save himself from getting involved. It is at this point that Jesus throws in the unexpected detail for this story; it is a Samaritan that comes by and helps the injured man. The folks hearing this story would have been shocked because they considered the Samaritans to be so far beneath them as to be shunned and hated. None of the people hearing this parable would have believed that a Samaritan would be capable of such a kind and noble deed. They would NEVER have thought that the Samaritan would be capable of being considered a neighbor in any way. It would kind of be like you getting beaten like that and a member of the Taliban comes by and helps you. Jesus did this to shift the focus of the lawyer’s question of “Who is my neighbor?” to “Who actually behaves as a true neighbor, a real neighbor?” This changes the focus from one’s self to focusing on others. This takes it from the very human question of “who is my neighbor?” to questioning our human inclination to focus on our selves. Jesus teaches us to take our focus from ourselves and place it on others, enabling us to see beyond our selves. In this parable the Samaritan cared for the robbed and injured man as he would want to be cared for if the situation were reversed. He patched him up with the very best that he had, put him on his own animal and took him to the inn where he cared for him. The next day he gave the innkeeper two days worth of wages for the care of the man and promised to pay for whatever else the innkeeper had to spend for the care of the man when he returned. He went way beyond just getting the man to safety and care; he cared for the man as he would have wanted someone else to care for him in the same situation. He loved this neighbor as he loved himself. This is the true meaning of the second part of the Law that the lawyer so correctly and quickly quoted, “and your neighbor as yourself”, that quote from Leviticus. To love our neighbor as our self is to treat everyone as we would like to be treated. Jesus isn’t asking us here to love everyone more than we love ourselves, just to love and show it in caring actions, as much as we love ourselves. This is the point that Jesus is making when he asked the lawyer the question at the end of the parable, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” It was easy to get the answer to that question and the lawyer answered rightly, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus helps us all to see beyond ourselves and our very human questions and into the eyes of our neighbors, no matter how far away they may live, and see them as children of God, entitled to our care and mercy. When we do this we also honor the first part of the Law, “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.” By loving our neighbor we also honor the commandment to love God because we are all children of God. Jesus calls us to look and see all other people as our neighbors and to respond accordingly. Jesus calls us, each and every one of us into living a life of caring for others as we would want to be cared for by them. Instead of being inclined to ask the very human question of “who is my neighbor?” we are invited and encouraged to question our human inclination to be self-centered and clickish and care for others. Go and do likewise, thanks be to God! Amen.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 16:34:55 +0000
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