So That All of Life Will Flourish -- Which is What God Desires
Luke
10:25-37
Time
After Pentecost Lectionary 15 July 10, 2022
St.
Paul’s Lutheran Church, Hampton, VA
“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.”
“Well, what does that look like?” a man asks Jesus. “How do we do that?” To answer, Jesus tells a story.
Who’s heard this story
before, the parable of the Good Samaritan?
Well, of course you have! It’s
one of the most familiar stories, not only in the Bible, but in all of human
history. It’s a story that expresses, in
shocking terms, what God desires – that all life will flourish! All of life that God has created – all
species of insects, all species of plants and the soil that nourishes them, all
species of animals (including the human species) – God desires that all of life
will flourish. And, according to the
story Jesus tells, when we take care of each other, life does flourish!
And wherever life flourishes, there is the kingdom that Jesus
has brought into the world, in his flesh and blood. (Do you remember last week’s story from the
gospel of Luke – of Jesus sending out his followers (including you and me!) as
missionaries announcing the kingdom? This
morning’s reading follows soon after.) Jesus
has brought a kingdom of peace, of deeper community, of healing. You and I enact the kingdom by loving God and
loving your neighbor as yourself – so all of life will flourish, which is what
God desires.
*
*
*
Did you know that the Great Salt Lake, in Utah, has never been
as low as it is now? That’s only one recent
dramatic indication of how severe the effects of climate change are – now. Since we’re all in this together; since the
human species is only one species in creation; aren’t we called to take care of
our neighbors in the natural world – the waters that God has created, the insects
and birds and animals, the soil – so that those neighbors can take care of us?
As is true with so much in our unhealthy culture, climate change
is a political issue! Over even this, we
are divided! But -- what if we approach
care of creation not as a political issue, but as a God-pleasing opportunity to
encourage the flourishing of life, for all of us? God’s desire is that all life will flourish!
And, do you see how this greatly expands the conversation, getting
us way beyond the binary, two options that we take, to create two opposed
sides? Think of what else divides us.
What if we approach the disease of rampant gun violence not as a
political question, or a question of rights, but as a call to do everything we
can to work towards what God desires: the flourishing of life? Loving our neighbors as ourselves would mean transforming
our culture, to do everything we can so that we and our neighbors will not fear
being shot to death during a 4th of July parade – and that our
neighbors who would do the shooting will, instead, be surrounded and nurtured
by elders and mentors who will raise them to live flourishing lives of love.
What if we approach the issue of abortion not as a political
question, or a question of rights, but as a call to do everything we can to
encourage what God desires: the flourishing of life? Loving our neighbors as ourselves would mean transforming
our culture, so that there will be elders and mentors surrounding and nurturing
our neighbors who are girls and women, and our neighbors who are boys and
men. It would mean excellent pre-natal
medical care for our neighbors who are pregnant, as well as adequate material
support for our neighbors with children who are impoverished, as well as
excellent medical care for our neighbors who are babies and, years later, growing
children and older youth, which means schools that are excellent for all
populations, and employment opportunities: all that is the necessary
infrastructure for flourishing life, which is what God desires.
What if we took steps to address economic inequality not as a
political issue, but because loving our neighbors as ourselves means
transforming our culture so, for instance, a full-time minimum wage worker
would earn enough to pay for housing and food and clothing and medical care,
because only then will their lives flourish, which is what God desires?
* * *
I’m pushing the implications of this morning’s gospel passage,
aren’t I? That’s because that’s precisely
what Jesus does, when he explains what this means: “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”; by telling the parable
that we now call “the Good Samaritan.” (Do
you know that Jesus’ listeners would have been astonished – and even offended
– by the idea that a Samaritan could be good?!)
Just
then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.
"Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal
life?" I don’t think this
expert in the religious law is asking because he is worried about his own salvation! Do you notice that he’s asking his question
to “test Jesus?” So what’s he up to? Does he want to cause Jesus public
humiliation with this test? Is he even hoping
to get Jesus to say something that will give justification for the religious authorities
to arrest him?
The
expert in the religious law asks Jesus what was a basic question in the catechism
(if they had been Lutherans, with a catechism!). Did you know that it had a standard answer? Jesus is a master of debate. (Every good rabbi has to be!) Do you see how Jesus actually gets the law
expert to answer his own question; to quote the standard teaching which is from
Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18? [Jesus]
said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" [The law expert] 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
[Jesus] said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you
will live."
Do you see how Jesus has turned the tables? What fun!
But
then the expert in the law tries to regain his footing. (This is a public debate. I wonder if he’s worried about how he’s performing,
with people watching?) But
wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
This
was another standard question. But it
was a controversial one. Where do you
draw the line?” At the time of Jesus, there
were many positions among the different parties arguing with each other over
how to interpret the religious law. This
expert in the religious law may be thinking that, if he can get Jesus to endorse
one of those opinions, that would, at least, will get him into trouble with
others who would disagree!
But
Jesus responds by telling a story. It’s
a story that astonishes his listeners.
None of the parties among God’s people would have applied the
commandments universally, as Jesus does here!
The standard teaching was that the commandments were intended to hold us
together as God’s chosen people. But
Jesus is coming from an entirely different assumption. Jesus
replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into
the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him
half dead. …”
Well,
you know how the story goes. In fact,
the man was literally going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, because Jerusalem
is 2,500 feet above sea level and Jericho is nearly 800 feet below sea level. The road was notorious for its danger. There were many blind turns in the road and
crevices in the rocks, where bandits would hide. The priest and then the Levite are on the
road because they have finished their annual rotation of performing worship
duties at the temple in Jerusalem. They
are returning to their duties at home. None
of Jesus’ listeners would have been surprised that the priest and the Levite do
not stop to help the man! After all, they
are necessary to the Temple worship which establishes the heart of the chosen
peoples’ identity. Is the man at the
side of the road dead? If so, the priest
and then the Levite would be ritually defiled by touching a dead body! They couldn’t take a chance with that! They wouldn’t be able to perform their
responsibilities as worship leaders. Of
course they’re going to pass by on the other side! There would have been nothing surprising in
this aspect of the story.
But,
wait. Do you remember the right answer
to the law expert’s question? "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."
Here’s the question Jesus raises with his story, even as he blows all
his listeners’ assumptions out of the water: Are the priest and the Levite loving
God, if they are not actually breaking the ritual rules to act in love for the
man left for dead at the side of the road?
*
* *
In
the conventions of story-telling, there are always threes. There’s the
priest. There’s the Levite. Jesus’ audience now would have been waiting
for the third character: the third one to be traveling down the road from
Jerusalem to Jericho. I wonder if Jesus
even paused a little bit at this point, to make them wait a few beats? What does he say next?
“But
a Samaritan …”
What?! A Samaritan?! You mean one of those schismatics who have
departed from the true faith?! You mean
one of those descendants from those mixed marriages that followed the Assyrian
conquest, when God’s people disobeyed God and mixed with those who did not
worship God, communicating their impurity down to this very day?!
*
* *
It
looks like this despised Samaritan is a traveling merchant. He’s carrying olive oil and wine and he has
money and a donkey, and he uses all of these things to take care of the man
who’s been beaten up and robbed. I don’t
know if he’s “good” or not. He is
certainly compassionate, while those who are the leaders of God’s people, in
the story, are not! Compassion is a sign
that this is an example of the kingdom of God that Jesus has brought into our flesh
and blood, the kingdom in which we love our neighbors as ourselves, so that all
of life will flourish, which is what God desires!
Do
you see how Jesus’ story would have been highly offensive to most who were
listening – as Jesus pushes hard on what it means to love your neighbor as
yourself? With that understanding, you
can recognize an exchange that’s actually pretty funny. Jesus asks the expert in the religious law, “Which
of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands
of the robbers?"
Do you notice the lawyer can’t even bring himself to say the word,
“Samaritan?” Instead, He
said, "The one who showed him mercy." (It seems to me he would have spoken those
words with astonished incredulity!) It
is the despised Samaritan who is the one acting according to God’s desires, enacting
God’s kingdom in which we love our neighbors as ourselves, because, when we do
that, then all of life flourishes!
“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.” Jesus
tells his story that pushes the implications of that so that it offends all of
his listeners – a Samaritan?! – and Jesus says to his listeners (and to us!): “Go and do likewise.”
How
we transform the world when we go and do likewise! How we bring in the kingdom, of what God
desires! What flourishing of life! What joy!
In
the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
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