Sermon 11th July 2010 ‘A yarn with Jesus about religion has implications...’
Bible reading: Luke 10:25-37
Last week we considered the risks of mission in relation to the commissioning by Jesus of
his 70 disciples. We reflected on the risks for ourselves as current disciples participating in
God’s mission; as ‘truth-tellers’ in a world so distorted by sin, that it is challenged by God’s
reality.
In the parable we hear Jesus telling today, the point is reiterated: that to commit to a journey
of loving God and loving neighbour involves risk – not personal comfort that is detached from
the distress of others.
The parable that Jesus tells is precipitated by a lawyer who initiates a theological discussion
with Jesus. This lawyer, this religious expert, does not receive a watertight, comfortable
answer that he can slip into his pocket and walk on. Oh no, this yarn he’s initiated with Jesus
about what he needs to do to live well, brings serious implications, and not the sort he (or
we) might expect.
The religious expert completely misses the enormity of Jesus’ response to what he needs to
do to inherit eternal life. Jesus endorses this man’s recitation 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; and your neighbour as yourself.” (v27)
Jesus may as well have said “You need to fly to Mars.”
Rather than being dumbfounded by the scale of what must be done to live well, this religious
expert continues to try and justify himself, looking for an answer he can slip into his pocket.
“And who is my neighbour?”
Having been given an insight to his motive of self-justification, we can see that this question
is not so much to determine to whom he should show love, but to calculate the identity of
those to whom he need not show love.
And so having missed the point the first time, Jesus responds with a parable that really
raises the stakes – this is no ‘feel-good’ story Jesus tells! This religious expert discovers that
a discussion on theology with Jesus has implications, not just for how you live, but how you
understand God’ truth.
The parable starts with a man who is beset with disaster while travelling on the open road.
The next two characters Jesus uses are probably very similar characters to the religious
expert to whom he tells his parable.
This parable was told, not in an abstract context, the way our ears may hear it; its content
confronted real people who would identify directly with those characters Jesus speak of.
Priests and Levites held special religious responsibilities. As part of their strict observance of
the Law they had to keep themselves ceremonially pure, in order to undertake their religious
duties.
This responsibility can be overstated however. This responsibility was not at the complete
neglect of the duty to the welfare of fellow Jews.
And so if we accept that the Priest and the Levite in the story are aware of their duty to fellow
Jews, how do we understand their actions – or rather: inaction?
Two key identifiers in those days were the clothing people wore, and the language they
spoke. This victim is naked and unconscious, and therefore cannot be ethnically identified
reliably. They obviously concluded that without compelling evidence of a duty to this helpless
man, potentially making themselves ceremonially unclean by touching someone who could
be dead (on a dangerous stretch of open road) was too much of a personal risk.
So then along comes the third character in Jesus’ parable.
We do well to recognise just how our whole culture is conditioned by this parable. Because
of this parable, we associate kind behaviour with Samaritans. Our culture regularly uses the
term “Good Samaritan1 to speak of a person who acts kindly to a stranger in need.
But let’s remember that those who first heard Jesus tell this parable would have had the
opposite association – and so with this third character, the story suddenly explodes in their
face.
I won’t labour the point, but we really do need to recognise that Samaritans were considered
heretics, and to put it bluntly, ‘scumbags’.
So those listening to Jesus’ parable listen to hear what this scumbag does.
Jesus says “he was moved with pity” (v33).
This word ‘pity’ is the exact same word we heard used a few weeks ago in the reading from
the earlier chapter of Luke’s Gospel (LK 7:13). It was used to describe Jesus’
compassionate response when faced with the widow’s loss of her son. This points the
careful listener towards a recognition of the compassionate love of God.
Who might this unexpected figure point to? This one who demonstrates costly love to save
lives...?
It’s not just the actions of the characters Jesus uses to reveal his truth, it’s also his casting of
these characters.
This parable is about ethics – how God wants us to treat people in a neighbourly manner.
It is also about the vision of God’s reign. Jesus’ use of these characters is deliberate in
overturning expected categories.
Jesus is revealing the truth about the Kingdom of God.
1
A recent news item: ‘Good Samaritan averts potential tragedy’
A man who was in the right place at the right time and who did the right thing has drawn praise from Wellington police.
The man was heading home from work in Wainuiomata and noticed a woman sitting at the roadside. He stopped to help the 56year-old who had severe medical issues and who had been reported missing from her home.
Search and rescue teams were out looking for her in freezing temperatures and had been searching for five hours before getting a
call at 4am to say she had been found.
The woman was in a disorientated and confused state and was pleased to be returned safely to her family.
Police say the good Samaritan's actions averted what could have been a tragedy.
Source: NewsTalk ZB http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=178145 01/07/2010 16:04:01
As Chris Marshall noted about this parable, the Kingdom of God is where Samaritans love
Jews, and Jews recognise the moral superiority of Samaritans.
Perhaps the risk is not so much about personal safety, in feeling obligated to help others out
of dicey predicaments, as much as it is about being prepared to reject categories we are
accustomed to. Jesus is subverting our neat, calculated categories created by our cultural
and religious attitudes and discriminations. Perhaps the real risk is in allowing the truth of
God’s Kingdom to break into the world –into your world.
Like the religious expert we take a risk engaging seriously with Jesus; we risk having our
assumptions overturned.
What might be a risky implication of taking Jesus seriously?
How about ‘forgiveness’ for a starter? Accepting God’s forgiveness of us, and being
expected to forgive others.
If we get past forgiveness being words only, we recognise just how counterintuitive it is for
our culture. Think for a moment about the implications of true forgiveness for us...
Who is someone you could forgive today?
As we come to receive Communion today; to be united with God and each other, let us think
about the implications of true forgiveness for our world.
We have heard again today the vision Jesus responds with, when people really want to
know what life is about.
Amen.
Appendix One:
Perhaps the most recently recognised ‘Good Samaritan’ is the man who went to the aid of a woman
being assaulted in downtown Auckland in 2008. As a result of his actions, Austin Hemmings was
himself stabbed by the offender and died within a few minutes. Austin Hemmings’ brother spoke for
the family: “... because of their strong Christian faith that the family did not hold a grudge against
the person allegedly responsible for his death. "No. That's a part of our upbringing. As a Christian,
you're brought up to forgive. We don't hold grudges." http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/648196
The widow of this ‘Good Samaritan’ said she wanted to thank everyone who had prayed for the
family. "We can really feel it. There is grief but there is so much peace and hope."
"I can only forgive this man with the help of God. God teaches us to forgive.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10534588