Mother Liles' Sermon for Sunday, July 11th
July 11, 2010
Lectionary readings this sermon is based on can be found by clicking here.
In some ways the story of the Good Samaritan is a comforting tale in which most of us can cast ourselves rather easily. We like to think we would be the Samaritan who shows kindness to the person in need. But actually doing that can sometimes be more difficult than we expect.
The Yale scholar Peter Hawkins, who teaches art and religion, tells a story of an evening when he and a friend came to New York to attend a one-man theatrical performance of the Gospel of Mark. Afterward, they were walking along Madison Avenue when a very drunk man stumbled out of a bar, almost landing on the pavement. It was clear the man needed assistance. Peter and his friend felt they had fallen into the parable of the Good Samaritan so they decided to help the drunken man home. But he resisted. And once they got him safely within the doors of his very elegant East Side apartment, he wanted another drink. He wanted a smoke. He wanted them out of his apartment. Without the slightest appreciation for what they had done, he wanted them to leave him alone. Nevertheless, they waited until the drunken man passed out and stayed with him for hours to be sure he would be alright before quietly leaving at dawn. In this case, the man by the side of the road had been abusive, foul-mouthed and ungrateful.
Over the years, the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan has leapt out of the biblical text to become woven into our culture; not only in Christian culture or even in American civil life, but in much of the world. There are hospitals everywhere named Good Samaritan and numerous countries have enacted so-called Good Samaritan laws. These statutes protect those who attempt to assist others in need and in some cases even oblige them to provide assistance. Requiring bystanders to help others in trouble is hotly debated among those who analyze the legal limits of requiring moral behavior.
Luke shows us a lawyer who is accustomed to such parsing of legal questions. He describes the boundaries of an issue; he clarifies what is right and what is wrong by defining categories such as who can be defined as neighbor. He uses the law to limit his liabilities and obligations. But Jesus is not interested in identifying categories, he is interested in actions. Remember that in scripture love is always a verb, not a feeling. With this story, Jesus says that this is what love looks like. But as usual he takes what might have been a safe and acceptable lesson on moral behavior and instead makes it radical and difficult.
Most scholars interpret the lawyer’s questions to Jesus as deliberately provocative, challenges that were meant to reveal Jesus as someone who played fast and loose with the law of Israel. But whatever his motivation, the lawyer asked a good question.
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus did what he always did; he answered the man’s question with a question. And when the lawyer responded to Jesus by reciting the great commandments to love God and neighbor, Jesus said, “You have given the right answer. DO this and you shall live.”
But notice what Jesus did not say. He did not say believe this and you shall live, or teach this and you shall live, but rather DO this. Jesus defines neighbor by describing what a neighbor does.
Like Peter Hawkins I, too, once saw this parable lived out in my own life. Although I was not a character in the story, my mother was. We were going through a bad patch. My parents had divorced and my father had taken the car. My mother had to take the bus to and from work and the closest bus stop was a mile away. So each day, in all kinds of weather, she would walk a mile to the bus stop in the morning and a mile home at the end of the day.
My mother had been raised in the Church of Christ, a fundamentalist and very strict Christian tradition with a strong sense of community. That is the church we attended. My mother’s father was an elder in that church, but in another state. Whenever he came to visit we had to hide all the candles in the house before he arrived. He was offended by candles because Roman Catholics used them and, according to him, they were the anti-Christ.
A Church of Christ family lived two doors away from us and a Roman Catholic family lived down the street. You can probably see where this story is going.
Apparently, my mother and the Christ of Christ neighbor worked on the same schedule for each day as she walked home from the bus stop, he would pass her in his car. When told about this, my mother’s father excused his behavior by saying it would be unseemly for a Christian man to have a divorced woman in his car.
One day it was getting dark and raining heavily and, again, my mother’s fellow church member passed her by in his car, but soon after the Roman Catholic man from down the street stopped and offered her a ride home. He explained that he came that way each day and that he would be happy to give her a ride anytime.
Now Jesus would ask -- which man was a neighbor to my mother?
Love of those who are like us is one thing; it is easy in most cases. We are not challenged by taking care of those neighbors who are like us. The story of the Good Samaritan says we are to love those who are different from us, even our enemies. Jesus says our neighbor is anyone in need or anyone who meets our needs, including those who are outside our own circle. That is what makes this story radical. The fact that Jesus used a Samaritan as an example of righteousness set on end the entire religious and social system by which the lawyer lived. And, incidentally, by which we ourselves live most of the time.
In our first lesson we heard Moses say The word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe. Moses wanted the Israelites to know that following the commandments of God was not impossible because God would help them. And that promise is true today. Ultimately the ability to obey God’s commandment to love our neighbor comes from internalizing the divine word, which we call grace. And, although we may not always receive accolades from those we help, we may find ourselves one day slipping into eternal life, where our Lord lives and reigns, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
© The Rev. L. Kathleen Liles
