Sermon Notes on Luke
10:25-37
Being a good neighbor
involves paying attention and seeing every human being as God sees them. (Let
Christ walk in your shoes.)
The sermon begins with
the preacher looking through a fistful of envelopes from charitable organizations.
The name of each is read aloud with a comment on the worthiness of each mission.
You know, if I were to send $10 to
every worthy organization that asked me for money I would probably be broke
within a year… and then my mailbox would fill up with requests for money… and
I’m not really even sure how much of it would actually make a difference. How
do I know what happens to the money that I send to these places?
And then there are the phone calls. Don’t you hate those? If
you can believe their pitch, every one of the fundraisers is calling you on
behalf of a worthy organization that is truly helping people. I actually feel
sorry for the ones making the calls. What a job! Can you imagine being rejected
hundreds of times a day?
And let’s not forget email. Spam anyone? I’m sorry, even if
it’s charitable spam, it’s still spam. And yet, most
of the organizations that contact me by email, asking for money, seem sincere
and worthwhile.
I think I have a question for Jesus that is even better than
the question asked by the lawyer in our text for today. I’ve got a really tough question for Jesus. Are you
ready? Here it is: “Jesus, are you trying to tell us that all of these people being helped by all of these worthy organizations are my neighbors? Are you trying
to tell us that loving God and loving my neighbor means taking on the suffering
represented by these thousands of organizations that are asking for our help?”
Frankly, it’s a little bit paralyzing. It’s overwhelming!
Every night on the evening news and every day in the paper we are bombarded
with the stories of thousands, sometimes millions of poor souls who have been beaten up and left half dead by the side of life’s
road. It makes me not even want to go out
on the road, let alone walk by on the other side. It makes me want to just
change the channel or not open the mail anymore. It makes me want to increase
the effectiveness of my spam-blocking software. It makes me want to screen my
phone calls all the time. It make me think, “I’ve got enough problems of my own without
being buried in the problems of the world.” It makes me want to scream, “LEAVE
ME ALONE!”
Is it just me? Or does anyone else feel this way?
Well, fear not. I think I have some good news for all of us.
When Jesus told this parable, neighbors were almost always
the people you actually, physically
met in your life. I have not seen any studies that indicate there was any such
thing as junk mail in the first century (since most people couldn’t read and
everything was written by hand) and we know for sure that they didn’t have
telephones or computers. True, there may have been the occasional fund raiser
at the synagogue for some other community that had gone through a tragedy, but
(I’m thankful to say) I don’t think that is what this verse is about. I think what Jesus is dealing with here is
how we treat the people we meet, the ones with whom we actually come into
contact.
Now, you might think that makes this passage a little
easier…Well…not really. Because what Jesus is saying here is that each of us,
if we are going to live out our love for God and our neighbor, has to see the
people around us as God sees them.
To make the point even more clearly Jesus uses sworn enemies
as characters in his parable, people whom his listeners would assume hated each
other. And, as if anticipating our objections, he makes a couple of his
characters religious workers with godly things to do.
In Jesus’ story, these clergy types act as if their
religious obligations were more important than helping the poor man who had
been beaten and robbed. Jesus makes it clear that this is dead wrong in God’s
eyes.
Who helps the man? His enemy. Someone whom, if he were healthy, he would have ignored and
scorned. And not only does his enemy help him, he goes above and beyond
what would have been considered necessary to insure the man’s well-being.
So what might this look like in your life? What shape might
it take in mine?
The first thing we will notice about good Samaritans is that
they are paying attention. They are watching for the people who have been
beaten and robbed. Next time you are in an airport, a mall, or a bus stop, look
around. They are everywhere; people who are hurting and struggling, people who
have been robbed and beat up in some way. Instead of burying our noses in a
paper or a book, Jesus is asking us to open our eyes and let the Holy Spirit
show us an opportunity to bring healing and help to someone. It might be as
simple as buying cookies for a single mom or dad whose kids are at the end of
their rope or bringing a bottle of water to someone who looks like they could
use a drink and an act of kindness. Maybe that will be the end of it. Or maybe
God will reveal a deeper need with which you have been called to help.
And don’t be surprised if God leads you to people who don’t
look like you, people with whom you might not normally hang out.
What about the junk mail, telemarketing, and spam? That
could be another whole sermon, but for now, pray about how God wants you to use
your resources to further the Kingdom. Make those decisions full of faith that
God is guiding you and, in Christian love, tell the thousands of others who
contact you that you can’t help them. And as you hang up the phone, delete the
email, or throw the envelope into the recycling bin, don’t feel the slightest
bit of guilt. You are doing what God has called you to do. The Spirit will also
take care of them. Above all, don’t be paralyzed or overwhelmed by all of the
needs out there. If it feels oppressive to you, turn off the news and throw
away or delete the junk mail without opening it. Most of it is just gossip that
we can’t do anything about anyway.
In your world, the place where you live and work every day,
ask God to open your eyes and your heart to those around you who have been beaten
up and left by the side of life’s road. Ask God for the courage and the
creative wisdom to care for them as Christ would if he were walking in your
shoes. Because, in a way, walking in your shoes is exactly what Christ wants to
do. Amen
