July 20, 2014 Luther Memorial Church
(Sixth Sunday After Pentecost) Seattle, WA
The Stories That Shape Us: The Good Samaritan
The Rev. Julie G. Hutson
Grant to us undivided hearts, O Lord, that we may both hear your word and act upon it. Amen.
This morning we continue our sermon series, based on our favorite Bible stories, with the story of The Good Samaritan. This story is a favorite of many; I’ve always loved it too. I’m not sure why I love it since the people I would most likely identify with in this story are actually the unfaithful folks. The local clergy, described here as the priest passes by on the other side of the road when he sees the beaten Jewish neighbor. So does the Levite, who would have been the learned, educated person. Only a Samaritan stops to help. A Samaritan, for Jesus and his followers, all good Jews, would have been their mortal enemy.
How interesting then, that we hold this story in such esteem. That we name hospitals, counseling centers, shelters, nursing homes, churches, retreat centers, and even a law after one who is not just the outsider, who is not just the “other”, but is in fact the enemy.
Isn’t it interesting that what prompts Jesus’ story of the beaten Jewish man and the disinterested priest and the faithless Levite and the Good Samaritan is the desire of a young lawyer for justification. Verse 29 reads: “But wanting to JUSTIFY himself, he asked Jesus ‘And who is my neighbor?’”
What this lawyer wanted to know from Jesus was what it was going to take for him to inherit eternal life….and if it takes loving his neighbor, just who did that mean?
When I was in college my date and I had attended a concert in Birmingham, which was about 45 miles away from campus in Tuscaloosa. You know, the University of Alabama. In order to get to the highway after the concert we drove through a neighborhood that looked threatening and scary. Just as we were driving through, my date’s car broke down. In the middle of this neighborhood. We sat there, in the middle of the street…steam pouring out from under the hood of his bright red expensive sports car. Remember, this was back before cell phones. The only thing around us at this late hour of the night was darkness. Until three men approached us. They were of a different race than we were…and remember this was the 70s in the deep south. They were wearing big rings and gold chains and underneath their polyester clothing I was certain I could make out the outline of handguns. My date got out of the car to face them and in my fear, I promptly locked the doors…locking him out of the car. They asked what was wrong, looked under the hood of the car, pulled off a thermometer and assured my date that we would be ok to make it back to Tuscaloosa. They reminded us to be careful and then watched as I unlocked the doors, my date hopped back in the car and we drove safely back to campus.
Those men were our neighbors. They were willing to stop and help us in a place and time when at the very least we would have been considered the “other” if not the enemy.
What are we to make then, of the opportunities we have, each day, to respond to the needs of our neighbors? And, to join in the lawyer’s search for justification…who is our neighbor?
Of course, one of the great points in this story is that our neighbors are ALSO those we have called other and enemy. It is too easy of a thing to say “Oh look. There’s Paul. He’s my neighbor” although he certainly is. But we know this. This is not a difficult concept.
It isn’t even that much of a stretch to consider that the “other” is our neighbor. That’s how we’ve typically understood the story of the Good Samaritan and the beaten up Jewish man.
But what Jesus wants is for us to really stretch our understanding…to widen our hearts… to see the face of Christ in our enemies. This is something else entirely.
Perhaps, then, for us, the more critical question is who is our enemy? It seems that in this day and time the answer to that question isn’t quite as clear as it might have been a few decades ago. During WWI, the Germans were our enemies and in WWII, we considered our enemies to be the Japanese and the Germans. During the Cold War we considered the communists to be our enemies.
In recent years, the defining line has blurred….we haven’t had as many commonly held foes. The wars we’ve engaged in as a country have not been received with as much enthusiasm and nationalism as they have in the past. This is not a political statement, simply an observation by this pastor.
Which leaves us still asking the questions: who is my enemy and are they my neighbor?
Certainly this week we might consider that Russia is again becoming a candidate for enmity. And we witness others who consider one another enemies: Israel and Palestine; Ukrainians and the pro-Russian separatists. These are very public cases of nationalistic enmity.
Culturally, though, our “enemies” are perhaps best defined as those we imagine to be working against what we are working toward. Those we imagine to be working against what we are working toward. This is still an elusive definition. It’s not always that cut and dried, but it’s the best I’ve got.
And this definition of enemy is based in fear. When we live in fear, it is very easy to make the “other” become our enemy. The gap closes between what makes us uncomfortable and what fills us with rage. How else do we explain the voracious protests against little children crossing the border into this country to escape violence in their own? Fear causes us to resist any kind of change, even change for the better, with all that is in us. Fear fueled the Klan when they made the blacks their enemies. Fear fueled those who resisted the women’s suffrage movement and it fuels those who still seek to control women’s rights rather than letting women have their own control. Fear fueled Hitler during one of the darkest times in the history of civilization.
And here’s the problem….this model of fear based enmity is an equal opportunity model. It is very easy for me to make the person who I believe to be working against what I am working for into my enemy, no matter what that person is doing and no matter what they believe.
This week my friend Mary publicly agonized on Facebook about a recent letter written by the televangelist Pat Robertson and reported by the Washington Post. In it Robertson said many disparaging things about women. My response to Mary and our subsequent exchange went like this:
Me: Lord have mercy that man is crazy. When he meets his maker in the next life he will be thankful for her grace and merc
Mary: Unless she turns out to be black…or gay…in which case he may choose to lock the gate from the inside.
Me: I have long imagined that God will turn out to most resemble those we’ve been least tolerant of. So yes, for Pat R. a gay, black woman. Alas for me, probably someone resembling Pat R.!
Mary: Oh, Lord….please don’t tell me I am going to have to deal with a Peroxide blonde wearing too much make up for eternity!
Despite the lightness of our exchange, I believe it captures the truth in Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan. Unless we can learn to love our enemies, and treat them as our neighbors, we will never truly experience the Kingdom on this earth. And how do we treat our neighbors? Even the young lawyer knew the answer to that….we love them, as we love ourselves.
This is the Gospel, in this story that shapes us. Thanks be to God. Amen.