Sermon 14th July 2019 – 5th
Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Luke 10:25-37 – Go and do
likewise
There are some fairly tough parts in
the bible but for me there is none tougher than today’s Gospel reading when
Jesus says – “Go and do likewise”.
It reminds me of the old saying – “do
as I say not as I do”.
It’s so easy to know what the right
thing is to do but not so easy to do it.
So when Jesus says – love one another
as I have loved you, how many of us can do that?
How many of us could have offered
hospitality to Judas like Jesus did, knowing he was going to betray him?
How many of us would have been
prepared to forgive and reinstate Peter like Jesus did after denying him 3
times.
How many of us would be prepared to
ask God to forgive those who put him to death like Jesus did?
St Paul found that dilemma himself
when he said:
For what I want to do I do not do,
but what I hate I do. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do
not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Jesus tells the Parable of the Good
Samaritan as it is widely known and upon telling the actions of the Good
Samaritan tells the lawyer asking Jesus a question about eternal life to “go
and do likewise”.
What are the details of this
direction?
What is it that the Samaritan has
done that we are to example in our lives?
Well, let’s look at the context and
what leads up to the telling of this parable.
A lawyer comes up to Jesus and asks:
"what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
So there is the first mistake this
lawyer makes.
What must I DO?
There is nothing one does to receive
eternal life.
It is a gift from God.
A free gift as St Paul says in
Ephesians Chapter 2:
For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast.
There is nothing we do – God has done
it all.
As a lawyer he wanted to know what he
needed to do.
And as a lawyer it meant he probably
wanted to know what he didn’t need to do – to try and find a loophole in the
law.
So if there’s something I don’t need
to do then I won't be doing it.
The priest and the Levite going down
the road didn’t have to stop and help one of their fellow Israelites – so they
didn’t.
The loophole they found in the law
was from the Law of Moses which said; “Whoever touches a dead body will be
unclean for seven days… If they fail to purify themselves after touching a
human corpse, they defile the Lord’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from
Israel. (Numbers 19)
If they stopped to help him and he
was actually dead then they would be disqualified from serving in the temple
which was where they were heading.
Likewise the Samaritan didn’t need to
stop.
It wasn’t one of his countrymen.
He was from the people that had
persecuted his people.
He didn’t need to stop and help – but
he does.
He loved as Jesus loved when he cried
out “forgive them Father”.
Being a Good Samaritan is more than
just helping someone out.
Being a Good Samaritan is helping out
when all other indicators would say not to.
That’s what Jesus is teaching the
lawyer.
The lawyer was looking for an out.
Jesus said to love your neighbour and
he is trying to find out who I don’t have to love.
So he asks – “who is my neighbour”.
Why would you ask that question
unless you were wanting to know – who is NOT my neighbour.
Jesus is explaining in this parable –
think of someone you believe is NOT your neighbour – they are your neighbour.
How was it that this Samaritan would
now call an Israelite, with whom they did not associate, a neighbour?
The Israelites had been anything but
neighbourly to the Samaritans.
On the other hand, the Priest and the
Levite had an obligation to care for this victim.
Not only was he a fellow Israelite
but they were God’s representatives.
They were the ones charged with the
Holy Things of God and to administer God’s grace and blessing on his people.
And they ignored the needs of their
neighbour – their own blood.
So what makes a person a neighbour,
according to Jesus’ parable?
A neighbour is anyone in need.
A neighbour is a victim who needs
help.
A neighbour is anyone that we can
help.
And that’s why this parable and
Jesus’ teaching from it – go and do likewise – is one of the most difficult
teachings of Jesus.
It examples exactly what God has done
for us through Jesus.
We remember what Paul says – it was
while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us.
We were anything but neighbourly to
God.
We disobeyed him.
We rejected him.
We were anything but neighbourly to
Jesus.
We betrayed him.
We denied him.
We humiliated him.
We chose a murderer to be freed
rather than Jesus.
We demanded his death by crucifixion.
And yet his dying prayer on the cross
was “forgive them Father”.
Can we think of a situation where we
can be truly justified in not helping another person?
How does the Good Samaritan speak in
today’s setting:
2 examples:
This week Channel 10 will show the
documentary on footballer Adam Goodes – an indigenous footballer who left footy
after prolonged booing.
It caused major divisions.
Some said it is his fault because of
the way he acted and nothing to do with racism.
Irrespective of what you believe, the
parable of the Good Samaritan teaches that if he is hurting then we need to
respond to his hurts.
Another example is the safe injecting
room in Richmond.
Letters this past week slammed a
decision to open more facilities with many saying just let them overdose and
let society be rid of them.
Irrespective of what you believe, the
parable of the Good Samaritan teaches that if they are hurting then we need to
respond in love.
That’s the challenge- to put aside
our views and our biases and respond to hurt.
When the lawyer asked Jesus: what
must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to 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."
And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you
will live."
We are very good at looking at others
and declaring what behaviours shall not inherit eternal life.
But here Jesus sums up what it means
to inherit eternal life.
Loving God and loving our neighbour.
And there is no one who is not my
neighbour because every single person is created in the Image of God.
Every single person is a person for
whom Jesus died.
And Jesus does not give us an out or
a loophole but says – go and do likewise – he doesn’t say go and try your best.
We know that we cannot keep this law
of love perfectly and for that we are thankful that Jesus has paid for our
sins.
But it reminds us that we never have
an excuse for treating anyone as less than a neighbour.
Even the Priest and the Levite show
us that God even puts the needs of our neighbour above his own needs telling us
to example the behaviour of the Good Samaritan rather than the Priest and
Levite.
There are so many in our society
today who are treated like the victim in our text – people we would rather not
associate with – people for whom we cross to the other side of the road.
Let us daily example the Good
Samaritan who was able to overlook his prejudices and seek ways to help.
They are there – across the road –
it’s just we have learnt so well to look the other way.
Thankfully God did not look the other
way but loved us with all his heart, soul, strength and mind.
Let us go and do likewise.
No comments:
Post a Comment