On the road of life, and not just on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, one tends to meet
three types of people: users, avoiders and lovers. Most of us, from time to time can find ourselves playing all
three roles. Just as last week's lessons urged greater attention to the way we treat the strangers and sojourners
in our midst, this mornings lessons call for a greater consistency in the way we live justly with everyone.
We began with a greeting from Paul about the by-products of living a life based on "hope." Such a life
is not limited by just what is seen, but shaped also by what still might be…what is hoped for.
The call to worship was a psalm celebrating a belief in the universal justice of our God, and the Old Testament
lesson presented that "plumb line" image, a perfectly straight dividing line between what is right and
what is wrong.
The prophet's name Amos means "burden-bearer," and just like the Samaritan do-gooder in the parable this
"herdsman, and dresser of sycamore trees" also felt like an outsider in his own country. Called from
the southern Kingdom of Judah and sent to the Northern shrine of Bethel, where Jacob had his famous dream, his
task was to tell the chief priest Amaziah of God's displeasure with the religious practices of Israel.
The response of the religious authorities to "go be a professional prophet" translates "have someone
pay you to hear what they want to hear instead of bothering us with bad news," is pretty much the same "head
in the sand" technique we use today to avoid confronting the truth of our own shortcomings.
But the God of our scriptures is the God of the unexpected...always the least likely to be a prophet, like the
least likely to be the Messiah, and in today's Gospel the least likely to be the good neighbor. You may remember
last Sunday's account of the sending out of a rather unremarkable group of seventy ordinary human beings in order
to accomplish the remarkable work of God.
These are continuing lessons on hospitality, stressing the importance of faithful action. When we remember that
a basic need of people is to feel good about themselves, and that on any given Sunday morning, we have a lot of
hurting, discouraged, struggling people in front of us, who need their self-esteem boosted, the importance of faithful
action makes sense. Producing fruit is the by-product of a faithful tending of the spiritual needs of one' soul.
Observation should lead to internalization, and only what we internalize becomes real and makes a real difference.
A young mother to be shared with me recently the discovery of love of self through love of another growing inside
her. She expressed what I found to be true for me at least, that most of us go through life looking for love from
others on the "outside". We do our best to identify with the needs of someone completely "other"
than ourselves, but it is never easy work. Yet one of the blessings of motherhood is this realization that another
life is actually being formed within you, and that loving that life also requires loving yourself…sometimes for
the very first time.
I don't believe however that "internalized love" is limited just to expectant mothers. Ask any parent,
male or female who has had to comfort their child during a difficult medical procedure where the pain is very real,
and cuts through you both! It's the "hurt my child/hurt me" connection that is undeniable.
Such feelings are closely related to the whole concept of "inspiration." Thoughts, feelings, beliefs…that
"get inside" and become a part of our very being.
But why is it that we seem so much more adept at internalizing bad behavior, (road rage, screaming, speeding, hand
gestures) with the justification that everyone else acts that way so why not me, and find it so much harder to
internalize what is right even if it is unpopular?
Character analysis has a lot to do with it. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho (or reverse) was a haunt for treachery.
A really well known "don't go there alone or at night" kind of neighborhood. Having said that a common
reaction to the Samaritan's plight would have been "he brought it on himself," or "He got just what
he deserved."
CPE (clinical pastoral education) students make the discovery early on that there is a built in prejudice gainst
patients with an alcohol or drug related illness. There will be less than compassion shown even by the trained
staff. Why? Because of the belief that the almost innate belief that patient brought this on themselves -- that
it was preventable. This also applies to people living with HIV or AIDS, those in poverty or on welfare, often
even to people of color.
If you find the parable of the good Samaritan too antique, and you've heard too many sermons depicting the outcast
and the do-gooder as various social groups in your own neighborhood, perhaps you need to hear it in a different
way. Imagine when you leave here this morning you spot a well dressed couple that you noticed in services in our
church parking lot standing beside their car. You had commented on her dress and your husband felt the man must
be a golfer because of his tan. Well, not they are standing with their car hood up, she holding jumper cables,
and he bent over the hood.
Of course it's hot. You have other things to do, and all the other cars in front of you are heading out because
the service was long again. As a congregation you've been sent out to "go in peace," so some people even
wave as they pass them by. You don't really even know their names. So I ask you…"Who is my neighbor?"
Jesus would have loved visiting our modern day churches, but he no doubt would have made us feel very uncomfortable.
You see, scripture is not the only place we find paradoxes - You've probably heard since grammar school days that
"Nobody likes a copycat." Our society also teaches that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"
The one sounds so much nicer and more positive than the other…but it is really describing the same action!
Real neighbors are defined not by physical proximity but by genuine, unconditional love. They come in all sorts
and sizes and colors, and when we try and add up if all this makes sense, we find ourselves not really caring whether
they are like us or not. If they will just bind our wounds and take care of us when we are hurting, and receive
our love when we are ill and harmed…then they are neighbors all right!
E. Stanley Jones put a different twist to the story regarding the question the man asked. "My neighbor"
says Dr. Jones "is the one who meets me in my greatest need and that one ultimately is Jesus." He says
it isn't so much about being a neighbor as it is having a neighbor to love. When Jesus forgave me and pulled me
up out of the gutter he became not only my neighbor but my best friend. He did so much for me that all I can do
out of gratitude is love him for it, and then try to be a neighbor myself.
That combination of ancient plumbline (to determine the straight angle of a wall) and modern day carpenters level
(to determine the horizontal angle of a plane) together form a perfect cross. It is the symbol of the call we have
received as the church, and the one who guides us each and everyday is not somewhere out there…but internalized
and seeking very much to be an active part in all that we think, say or do.
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