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PENTECOST 6 - July 11, 2004 |
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered “’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 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” Be he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell in to the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “God and do likewise.” (NIV) SERMON FROM A MODERN DAY SAMARITAN My name is Elazar, and I am a Samaritan. You may be surprised to hear that because many people think we live only on the pages of the Bible. However, there are still several hundred of us living today near Mount Gerizim, our holy mountain in the region still bearing the name of our forefathers, Samaria. Technically, we are Palestinians and we actually have a seat in the Palestinian parliament. We are confined to our compound by the Israeli authority and because of security concerns, people of the outside world have little access to us and we have little access to them. We have been in this area since at least the 6 th Century B.C. and have endured centuries of hatred and persecution. Our home is the ancient Shechem where the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms split after King Solomon’s death. When the Southern Kingdom was taken into exile, according to our tradition, we remained behind. After the Judeans returned from their exile in Babylon, we were not regarded as worthy to help them rebuild their heritage. We kept our allegiance to Moses’ Torah and established our own temple on Mt. Gerizim. We never accepted the rest of the books which Jews and Christians today regard as their Bible or Old Testament. For these reasons, we were often regarded as outsiders and renegades. Down through the centuries we were persecuted by Jews, who destroyed our sanctuary in 170 A.D., by Muslims, who called us atheists, and by Christian crusaders, who took our city as their second capitol and called it Naples (now corrupted to Nablus). If it were possible for you to visit us, you could drink from Jacob’s Well or see where Abraham built his altar to God after being promised this land for his descendants. You could even visit us on Passover when we still sacrifice lambs according to our ancient tradition. We have proposed our mountain and community center as a site for peace talks between Palestine and Israel. Why should they have to go to Oslo or Camp David when they can come right here to explore their differences? We feel we have a special claim to serve as peacemakers because almost 2000 years ago, your prophet, Jesus of Nazareth, lifted up the name of “Samaritan” as peacemaker and caregiver to the world. He did this at great risk to his reputation because even at his time we were regarded by the Jews as the villains. However, your prophet turned us into heroes before the whole world, and for that we will never forget him. The story in which he gave us this legendary status is worth repeating. A Jewish lawyer is wondering how to inherit eternal life and Jesus asks him what he has been taught. He repeats the famous summary of Jewish law which includes loving one’s neighbor, but he wonders who his neighbor is. Jesus tells him this shocking story. A man is going from Jericho to Jerusalem and thieves overtake him. A priest and a Levite see him in his desperation, but pass by. Only a Samaritan, a person hated as an outsider, a pretender to covenant status, a traitor, has compassion on him and takes care of him. Jesus asks the lawyer, “Who was the neighbor to this man?” The lawyer replies, “The one who had compassion.” Jesus responded, “Go and do likewise.” Wherever you go in the world today, there are Good Samaritan Societies. People are given Good Samaritan Awards for heroic action in helping people in need. Here on Mt. Gerizim, we still think of ourselves as isolated, mistreated and persecuted. Yet we remember your Jesus who for one shining hour in history remembered us as servants and caregivers in a lonely and sometimes desperate world. We understand the role of the priest and the Levite. Although they are often made out to be the bad people in the story, they may have been doing business as usual. Priests, after all, had responsibilities in Jerusalem. If they should touch the man by the side of the rode, and accidentally discover him dead, they would be ritually unclean and could not perform their service at the temple. And the Levite? Who can blame him? What if there were accomplices lurking in the bushes along the road, waiting for just such a “do-gooder” to come along so they could relieve him of his money? They were using common sense in not stopping to help. However, there was something uncommon about the Samaritan that day. He, Jesus said, had compassion on the man. There is something powerful about that word which allows it to be used repeatedly in your Christian scriptures. Jesus often has compassion on people. Before he heals a leper or feeds a multitude or helps the son of a distressed father it says “he had compassion.” It is an ancient word known best to us because it related originally to internal organs. You might translate it, in your vernacular, as “in his very gut, he had feelings for this person.” One is at least clear from such language that Jesus did not regard people in question as non-persons. He did not deny their humanity. This is what has to happen if you ignore a person in need—or oppress people because you have the power—or kill people because you have the ammunition. Denying people their humanity is the opposite of compassion. And it is all too easy to do. Perhaps, despite their respective concerns, this is actually what the priest and the Levite were doing. And the Samaritan? That day he did something uncommonly gracious. He acted in compassion? Had he always acted that way? Sometimes we modern Samaritans wonder. There are so many times when people ask for your attention. There are hands out everywhere. Somebody always wants something. They stand by the roadside and call on the telephone. How do you really know if they are people in need? If they deserve your attention, given the busyness of your schedule? How do you know they won’t use the money for alcohol? Sometimes when we give money to children begging in our communities, we see later that they waste it on cans of Coca Cola which they shake up and use to spray one other with the carbonated fizz! Who can ever know whether good intentions are accepted in the right way? I must admit I have this problem, and many times I decide that this is not a time for me to get involved. To intervene. This is a time for someone else! On my better days, however, I think that this is how the Samaritan in Jesus’ story must have felt. As he came up that dusty road in the hot sun and saw the man lying there, he perhaps also thought, “Today is not the day to do this.” Perhaps there was a report in the newspaper just the day before which warned about taking precautions with strangers… or even terrorists. Being eternally vigilant about terrorists! Perhaps he too thought that it’s safer and easier just to go about your business and not get involved. This time, however, he didn’t. He stopped. He bound up the man’s wounds. He took him to an inn and cared for him. And he left provisions for his ongoing support. What happened in him that day that made the difference? This is the question with which you and I must wrestle today? It is certainly clear that one person cannot help everyone. It is also clear that if you have no plan for helping others, you can end up in the poorhouse by being overly extravagant. However, if compassion never overtakes you, if there is never a burning desire to make a difference in someone’s life, if there is never a need to see another’s situation more desperate than your own, then this story stands in your face and looks in your eyes and calls into question your very humanity. One of the striking things we Samaritans note about your prophet, Jesus, is that he called people to consider new possibilities for our humanity. He called it the dawning of the reign of God or the coming of a new Kingdom, a time when the lion would lie down with the lamb, people would call one another brothers and sisters, and make war no more. I for one long for such a day. Perhaps you do too. These are extraordinary possibilities. Under ordinary circumstances, it may not be necessary to go out of your way to help people other than yourself. But Jesus was saying, these are not ordinary circumstances. He envisioned a new world in which God’s mercy was not restricted to Jews or Samaritans, but offered to all peoples everywhere. He lived this vision by having compassion on Jews and Samaritans alike. And in the story he told, he invited us to explore this compassion and to share it with others, even when it conflicts with scruples we have, or needs for security we claim, or desires just to be left alone. It is no easy matter to decide when and how to employ such compassion. I as one of the last of the Samaritans who feel persecuted and isolated by so much of humanity know this better than most. However, this may be the day when I need to hear someone calling me to consider it in a given situation. And this may be the very day when your Jesus is calling you too. Suggested hymns: Jesus Calls Us Oe’r the Tumult Prof. Dr. Dr. David Zersen, President Emeritus
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