"Love With Dirt on It"
A sermon preached on The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, July 15, 2007 at Edgemont Chrsitian Church (Disciples of Christ) , by the Rev. Christopher E. Yopp. The sermon is based on Luke 10:25-37.
As cleaver and as trendy as the title of my sermon is this morning, I must confess that it is borrowed. I was having lunch with a colleague of mine the other day and we were discussing the Gospel Lectionary Reading for today and he came up with this creative title: "Love with Dirt On It!" And, automatically, I thought, what a fitting title - "Love with dirt on it." As William Barclay reminds us; "Love always involves sacrifice," it involves "getting down and dirty." And certainly, we find an example of such a love in our Gospel Lesson this morning. The Good Samaritan, in Jesus’ parable wasn’t afraid of getting down and dirty. He wasn’t afraid of the sacrifice that was involved.
Perhaps some of your have read Richard Carlson’s book; Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. It’s a book that is geared to help keep the little things that we tend to make a big deal about, from taking over our lives. In fact, his book became a best seller and certainly we can understand why that is. Because we have a tendency, myself included, to make a big deal out of the little stuff. But Carlson offers another way. In fact, in his book he introduces one hundred ways to replace the old habits in your life and when reading these it becomes quiet clear that Carlson has incorporated the essential elements of what Jesus taught. For an example, Carlson teaches: "Fill your life with love." Jesus teaches: "This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Carlson teaches: "Resist the urge to criticize." Jesus teaches: "Why do you see the speck in your brother or sister’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" (Luke 1:3). Carlson teaches: "Try to understand one another." Jesus’ whole life, ministry and teachings were about understanding others and relating to them. Carlson teaches: "Quiet the mind." Jesus often quieted the mind with prayer. And Carlson teaches: "Develop your compassion." And certainly, Jesus lived a life full of compassion.
In our Gospel Lesson this morning we are told that Jesus was teaching a crowd of people when a lawyer approached him with a question, that ultimately was a test. Now, keep in mind, this man was a Jewish religious lawyer - he was steep in the Mosaic Law, as well as the laws of the Pharisees. He knew Jesus’ reputation as a teacher and so he asked him what he had to do to receive eternal life. Instead, of answering the question, Jesus, as he so commonly does, turned the question around and asked him what the Old Testament law said about the subject. And, of course, the man answered by quoting from the Torah: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength, and all your might" and "love your neighbor as yourself" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
Jesus told the man that he was right on target, but the man had another agenda that day. He wanted to justify his own actions toward others, especially those whom he considered to be his "enemies," and so he asked Jesus just who is my neighbor. And, of course, Jesus answers his question with a parable!
Matthew Henry once said: "God’s mission for humanity is that we return God’s love and love those whom God has created."
We use the term "Good Samaritan" today to denote someone who does anything good for another others, and, in particular, to strangers. Yet, this understanding doesn’t go quite far enough in defining what Jesus meant by the term "Good Samaritan."
As Peter Gomes points out in his book; Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living, "It is not a relationship of equality, in fact the social rules are reversed, for although Jesus is vividly vague on the details of the robbed man, we may assume that he was a Jew, otherwise the role of the Samaritan in relationship to his sworn enemy is less compelling." Gomes goes on to write; "If we people this story with Arabs and Jews and called it ‘The Good Arab,’ or with Republicans and Democrats and called it ‘The Good Republican,’ we would have a sense of what was going on. In simple language, it is the power of the oppressed to show mercy - not justice, to their oppressors."
Now to fully understand the significance of Jesus’ parable you’ve got to know something about the Jewish-Samaritan relationship. According to the Samaritans they were and are Israelites, deriving primarily from the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. They also believed that they, not the Jews, maintained the authentic site of worship - the temple on Mount Gerizim. Now according to Jewish tradition, the Samaritans were not descendants of the Israelites. Rather, they were either foreigners transplanted into Israel by the Assyrians, or, worse, they were the product of mixed marriages between Israelites and foreigners - or, in other words, they were pagans - Gentiles, whose lifestyles, practices and worship rituals and customs were pagan and unkosher, as well. This led to hatred among the Jews and Samaritans that was often expressed in real violence. As a result many Jews avoided Samaritan territories altogether, even if it meant going a great deal out of the way to avoid Samaritan contact. And so, when Jesus said that a Samaritan helped a distressed and dying Jew when his fellow Jews - religious leaders at that, passed him by, it was outrageous and preposterous. But this was the parable Jesus told!
You know, friends, Jesus tells us that the Samaritan had "mercy" on this dying man... The Hebrew word for "mercy" is hesed. Hesed, is a mercy or love that looks beyond a person’s age, race, sex, worth or what-have-you, to the fact that he or she is child of God, a reflection and creation of the Creator. Hesed - mercy entails looking through God’s lenses at another. The Samaritan in Jesus’ parable exemplified such mercy, hesed!
Oh, now the Religious Leaders of Jesus's time could have argued that the Priest and the Levite did no wrong! They could have justified their reasons for not stopping to help this dying man from a religious standpoint. The torah - the law prohibited them from having any contact with the dead or with blood - to do so meant that they would be unclean. And being unclean meant you had to go through the ritual cleansing and, not to mention, they wouldn’t have been able to carry on their priestly responsibilities. So, by ignoring and bypassing this dying, bloody man meant they would be able to do God’s work. Oh, how self-righteous and selfless they were! But you know, God isn’t interested in legality, or religious rituals and traditions; rather, God’s interested in hesed. God’s interested in heartfelt responses! God reminds us of this through the prophet Hosea who wrote; "For I desire mercy and not sacrifices; the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." God desires our true expressions of love and these expresses are to be lived out in our relationship with God and with others.
I want to close with a story that really summarizes Jesus’ teaching of the "Good Samaritan," as well as puts in perspective what it means to be a "Good Samaritan." Charles Swindoll in his book; The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart tells the true story that Tony Campolo originally told, of a Jewish boy who suffered under the Nazis in World War II. He was living in a small Polish village when he and all the other Jews of the vicinity were rounded up by Nazi S.S. troops and sentenced to death. This boy joined with his parents, the rest of his family and the neighbors in digging a shallow ditch for their graves, and then faced the firing squad. Sprayed with machine-gun fire, bodies fell into the ditch and the Nazis covered the crumpled bodies with dirt. But, ironically enough, none of the bullets hit this young boy. He was splattered with the blood of his parents and when they fell into the ditch, he pretended to be dead and fell on top of them. The grave was so shallow that the thin covering of dirt did not prevent air from getting through to him so that he could breathe. For several hours the boy laid paralyzed by fear and grief. Finally, when darkness fell, he knew that his only hope for survival was to find help. And so, he clawed his way out of the shallow grave. With blood and dirt caked to his little body, he made his way to the nearest house and begged for help. Recognizing him as one of the Jewish boys marked for death, he was turned away. This continued as he made his way to each house. House after house, he was rejected for fear of getting into trouble with the S.S. troops. Then, as he approached one house, he felt compelled to say something that was very strange for a Jewish boy to say. When the next family responded to his timid knocking in the still of the night, they heard him cry, "Don't you recognize me? I am the Jesus who you say you love." After a poignant pause, the woman who stood in the doorway swept him into her arms and kissed him. And from that day on, the members of that family loved and cared for that young boy as though he was one of their own.
Jesus once asked; "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothed you..." Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did unto me" (Matthew 25:37-40).
Perhaps the author of Hebrews said it best; "Let" philia, that is to say, "brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have unknowingly entertained angels" (Hebrews 13:1-2). What an awesome and profound thought! Who have you entertained lately? Perhaps it was an angel? Or better yet, maybe it was God? "When you did it unto the least of these, you did it unto me." Amen.
Perhaps some of your have read Richard Carlson’s book; Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. It’s a book that is geared to help keep the little things that we tend to make a big deal about, from taking over our lives. In fact, his book became a best seller and certainly we can understand why that is. Because we have a tendency, myself included, to make a big deal out of the little stuff. But Carlson offers another way. In fact, in his book he introduces one hundred ways to replace the old habits in your life and when reading these it becomes quiet clear that Carlson has incorporated the essential elements of what Jesus taught. For an example, Carlson teaches: "Fill your life with love." Jesus teaches: "This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Carlson teaches: "Resist the urge to criticize." Jesus teaches: "Why do you see the speck in your brother or sister’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" (Luke 1:3). Carlson teaches: "Try to understand one another." Jesus’ whole life, ministry and teachings were about understanding others and relating to them. Carlson teaches: "Quiet the mind." Jesus often quieted the mind with prayer. And Carlson teaches: "Develop your compassion." And certainly, Jesus lived a life full of compassion.
In our Gospel Lesson this morning we are told that Jesus was teaching a crowd of people when a lawyer approached him with a question, that ultimately was a test. Now, keep in mind, this man was a Jewish religious lawyer - he was steep in the Mosaic Law, as well as the laws of the Pharisees. He knew Jesus’ reputation as a teacher and so he asked him what he had to do to receive eternal life. Instead, of answering the question, Jesus, as he so commonly does, turned the question around and asked him what the Old Testament law said about the subject. And, of course, the man answered by quoting from the Torah: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength, and all your might" and "love your neighbor as yourself" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
Jesus told the man that he was right on target, but the man had another agenda that day. He wanted to justify his own actions toward others, especially those whom he considered to be his "enemies," and so he asked Jesus just who is my neighbor. And, of course, Jesus answers his question with a parable!
Matthew Henry once said: "God’s mission for humanity is that we return God’s love and love those whom God has created."
We use the term "Good Samaritan" today to denote someone who does anything good for another others, and, in particular, to strangers. Yet, this understanding doesn’t go quite far enough in defining what Jesus meant by the term "Good Samaritan."
As Peter Gomes points out in his book; Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living, "It is not a relationship of equality, in fact the social rules are reversed, for although Jesus is vividly vague on the details of the robbed man, we may assume that he was a Jew, otherwise the role of the Samaritan in relationship to his sworn enemy is less compelling." Gomes goes on to write; "If we people this story with Arabs and Jews and called it ‘The Good Arab,’ or with Republicans and Democrats and called it ‘The Good Republican,’ we would have a sense of what was going on. In simple language, it is the power of the oppressed to show mercy - not justice, to their oppressors."
Now to fully understand the significance of Jesus’ parable you’ve got to know something about the Jewish-Samaritan relationship. According to the Samaritans they were and are Israelites, deriving primarily from the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. They also believed that they, not the Jews, maintained the authentic site of worship - the temple on Mount Gerizim. Now according to Jewish tradition, the Samaritans were not descendants of the Israelites. Rather, they were either foreigners transplanted into Israel by the Assyrians, or, worse, they were the product of mixed marriages between Israelites and foreigners - or, in other words, they were pagans - Gentiles, whose lifestyles, practices and worship rituals and customs were pagan and unkosher, as well. This led to hatred among the Jews and Samaritans that was often expressed in real violence. As a result many Jews avoided Samaritan territories altogether, even if it meant going a great deal out of the way to avoid Samaritan contact. And so, when Jesus said that a Samaritan helped a distressed and dying Jew when his fellow Jews - religious leaders at that, passed him by, it was outrageous and preposterous. But this was the parable Jesus told!
You know, friends, Jesus tells us that the Samaritan had "mercy" on this dying man... The Hebrew word for "mercy" is hesed. Hesed, is a mercy or love that looks beyond a person’s age, race, sex, worth or what-have-you, to the fact that he or she is child of God, a reflection and creation of the Creator. Hesed - mercy entails looking through God’s lenses at another. The Samaritan in Jesus’ parable exemplified such mercy, hesed!
Oh, now the Religious Leaders of Jesus's time could have argued that the Priest and the Levite did no wrong! They could have justified their reasons for not stopping to help this dying man from a religious standpoint. The torah - the law prohibited them from having any contact with the dead or with blood - to do so meant that they would be unclean. And being unclean meant you had to go through the ritual cleansing and, not to mention, they wouldn’t have been able to carry on their priestly responsibilities. So, by ignoring and bypassing this dying, bloody man meant they would be able to do God’s work. Oh, how self-righteous and selfless they were! But you know, God isn’t interested in legality, or religious rituals and traditions; rather, God’s interested in hesed. God’s interested in heartfelt responses! God reminds us of this through the prophet Hosea who wrote; "For I desire mercy and not sacrifices; the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." God desires our true expressions of love and these expresses are to be lived out in our relationship with God and with others.
I want to close with a story that really summarizes Jesus’ teaching of the "Good Samaritan," as well as puts in perspective what it means to be a "Good Samaritan." Charles Swindoll in his book; The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart tells the true story that Tony Campolo originally told, of a Jewish boy who suffered under the Nazis in World War II. He was living in a small Polish village when he and all the other Jews of the vicinity were rounded up by Nazi S.S. troops and sentenced to death. This boy joined with his parents, the rest of his family and the neighbors in digging a shallow ditch for their graves, and then faced the firing squad. Sprayed with machine-gun fire, bodies fell into the ditch and the Nazis covered the crumpled bodies with dirt. But, ironically enough, none of the bullets hit this young boy. He was splattered with the blood of his parents and when they fell into the ditch, he pretended to be dead and fell on top of them. The grave was so shallow that the thin covering of dirt did not prevent air from getting through to him so that he could breathe. For several hours the boy laid paralyzed by fear and grief. Finally, when darkness fell, he knew that his only hope for survival was to find help. And so, he clawed his way out of the shallow grave. With blood and dirt caked to his little body, he made his way to the nearest house and begged for help. Recognizing him as one of the Jewish boys marked for death, he was turned away. This continued as he made his way to each house. House after house, he was rejected for fear of getting into trouble with the S.S. troops. Then, as he approached one house, he felt compelled to say something that was very strange for a Jewish boy to say. When the next family responded to his timid knocking in the still of the night, they heard him cry, "Don't you recognize me? I am the Jesus who you say you love." After a poignant pause, the woman who stood in the doorway swept him into her arms and kissed him. And from that day on, the members of that family loved and cared for that young boy as though he was one of their own.
Jesus once asked; "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothed you..." Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did unto me" (Matthew 25:37-40).
Perhaps the author of Hebrews said it best; "Let" philia, that is to say, "brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have unknowingly entertained angels" (Hebrews 13:1-2). What an awesome and profound thought! Who have you entertained lately? Perhaps it was an angel? Or better yet, maybe it was God? "When you did it unto the least of these, you did it unto me." Amen.
posted by Pastor Christopher @ 11:55 AM
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