Good samaritan 2010
I don’t know if any of you have watched the comedy drama ‘Rev’ on the television recently… As the title suggests its about a Vicar working in the East End of London with a very small congregation – this week the episode had another Church coming in to use his building – the Church was packed and lots of money was collected in the offertory…
But one of the existing congregation in the Church did something to upset one of the helpers in the new congregation and the Vicar of the new congregation insisted that that person be excluded from the Church – the Vicar refused and the Archdeacon agreed – they pointed out that nobody could be excluded from the Church… It is open to all – and that sometimes mean people who are very different from those we would choose to spend time with…
Whilst this is a comedy programme there are all kinds of realistic incidents – and this week we saw some of them which relate particularly well to the parable of the Good Samaritan which we have heard today (Luke 10:25-37).
The first image was that of the apparently incredibly successful Church – lots of people came, most of them were young – but faced with a problem, faced with someone who didn’t actually want to do things their way, they couldn’t handle it – the other person had to be wrong and had to be excluded…
Last week we thought about boasting and Paul’s instruction to boast in nothing except the cross of Jesus – but lots of people do boast in their worship, believing that their way is the right way, and excluding others – as the Archdeacon in the series pointed out, we can exclude nobody from our Churches however different they may be… And the fact is that it’s not our place to be judges…
The second image was of an apparently unsuccessful Church, with money problems and a small congregation – but for all the faults associated with it, it was this group, this Church, that best understood Jesus’ command to love their neighbour… they accept everyone just as they are …
And that is surely the purpose of this parable of the Good Samaritan – it’s a parable that contains people with good explanations of why they couldn’t help – the Priest had other things to do and by touching the man he would be regarded as ceremonially unclean and the Levite had the same problem. These may have been important people – they feared for their own safety and they also considered the needs of the wider community that would receive the benefit of their attention…
To that Jesus shouts, ‘rubbish’ ! The parable of the Good Samaritan is a stark and very blunt reminder to seek to do God’s work all the time, and a reminder that that work involves showing love and compassion to everyone…
When the lawyer asked the question he did so from a very different understanding of scripture from the one that Jesus had come to share – he asked Jesus ‘Who is my neighbour ?’ but what he was asking was ‘Who is it ok not to like ? Who doesn’t need to be my neighbour ?’
Jesus, in this parable told him that even the person he likes least of all in the world is his neighbour…
The clash between Jesus and the lawyer was a clash of totally different visions and today we, and the Church as a whole, are challenged to consider our vision – and there are questions we have to ask…
Is our vision to create a Church of like minded individuals who enjoy the sort of music we do, or the type of worship we do… is our vision to build communities of faith based on strict rules and regulations… is our vision to mould people into the people we would like them to be… is our vision to primarily welcome those who look like us and sound like us and behave like us… or is our vision to join with everyone in the kingdom of God – because the reality is that as we seek to do our bit to build the kingdom of God, so we will face challenges as to the type of people we meet… and welcome…
The Samaritans hated the Jews – but the Samaritan in the parable threw aside any hatred to show compassion… the Jews hated the Samaritans, and the injured Jew would not have expected the Samaritan to help him… but he did…
This parable turned the rules of Jewish society upside down – and love like that, practiced today, has the ability to turn the whole world upside down…
The lawyer in the parable had boundaries but he was using those boundaries just to show how good he could be in a situation that was comfortable for him – Jesus had, and has, no boundaries – nobody is excluded from his kingdom who wants to enter it…
Today just as this parable showed new rules with no limits to love and compassion, we must also be sure that nobody is left outside on the fringes, but all are welcomed with open arms into God’s kingdom…
A lady called Barbara Johnson wrote a little parable that is a perfect commentary on this issue of living out our faith in the light of the Parable of the Good Samaritan:
A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out.
A subjective person came along and said, "I feel for you down there."
An objective person came along and said, "It's logical that someone would fall down there."
A Pharisee said, "Only bad people fall into a pit."
A mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit.
A news reporter wanted an exclusive story on his pit.
A fundamentalist said, "You deserve your pit."
A tax inspector asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
A self-pitying person said, "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my pit."
A charismatic said, "Just confess that you're not in a pit."
An optimist said, "Things could be worse."
A pessimist said, "Things will get worse."
Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit!
That is what Jesus does, and that is what he calls us to do… AMEN
But one of the existing congregation in the Church did something to upset one of the helpers in the new congregation and the Vicar of the new congregation insisted that that person be excluded from the Church – the Vicar refused and the Archdeacon agreed – they pointed out that nobody could be excluded from the Church… It is open to all – and that sometimes mean people who are very different from those we would choose to spend time with…
Whilst this is a comedy programme there are all kinds of realistic incidents – and this week we saw some of them which relate particularly well to the parable of the Good Samaritan which we have heard today (Luke 10:25-37).
The first image was that of the apparently incredibly successful Church – lots of people came, most of them were young – but faced with a problem, faced with someone who didn’t actually want to do things their way, they couldn’t handle it – the other person had to be wrong and had to be excluded…
Last week we thought about boasting and Paul’s instruction to boast in nothing except the cross of Jesus – but lots of people do boast in their worship, believing that their way is the right way, and excluding others – as the Archdeacon in the series pointed out, we can exclude nobody from our Churches however different they may be… And the fact is that it’s not our place to be judges…
The second image was of an apparently unsuccessful Church, with money problems and a small congregation – but for all the faults associated with it, it was this group, this Church, that best understood Jesus’ command to love their neighbour… they accept everyone just as they are …
And that is surely the purpose of this parable of the Good Samaritan – it’s a parable that contains people with good explanations of why they couldn’t help – the Priest had other things to do and by touching the man he would be regarded as ceremonially unclean and the Levite had the same problem. These may have been important people – they feared for their own safety and they also considered the needs of the wider community that would receive the benefit of their attention…
To that Jesus shouts, ‘rubbish’ ! The parable of the Good Samaritan is a stark and very blunt reminder to seek to do God’s work all the time, and a reminder that that work involves showing love and compassion to everyone…
When the lawyer asked the question he did so from a very different understanding of scripture from the one that Jesus had come to share – he asked Jesus ‘Who is my neighbour ?’ but what he was asking was ‘Who is it ok not to like ? Who doesn’t need to be my neighbour ?’
Jesus, in this parable told him that even the person he likes least of all in the world is his neighbour…
The clash between Jesus and the lawyer was a clash of totally different visions and today we, and the Church as a whole, are challenged to consider our vision – and there are questions we have to ask…
Is our vision to create a Church of like minded individuals who enjoy the sort of music we do, or the type of worship we do… is our vision to build communities of faith based on strict rules and regulations… is our vision to mould people into the people we would like them to be… is our vision to primarily welcome those who look like us and sound like us and behave like us… or is our vision to join with everyone in the kingdom of God – because the reality is that as we seek to do our bit to build the kingdom of God, so we will face challenges as to the type of people we meet… and welcome…
The Samaritans hated the Jews – but the Samaritan in the parable threw aside any hatred to show compassion… the Jews hated the Samaritans, and the injured Jew would not have expected the Samaritan to help him… but he did…
This parable turned the rules of Jewish society upside down – and love like that, practiced today, has the ability to turn the whole world upside down…
The lawyer in the parable had boundaries but he was using those boundaries just to show how good he could be in a situation that was comfortable for him – Jesus had, and has, no boundaries – nobody is excluded from his kingdom who wants to enter it…
Today just as this parable showed new rules with no limits to love and compassion, we must also be sure that nobody is left outside on the fringes, but all are welcomed with open arms into God’s kingdom…
A lady called Barbara Johnson wrote a little parable that is a perfect commentary on this issue of living out our faith in the light of the Parable of the Good Samaritan:
A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out.
A subjective person came along and said, "I feel for you down there."
An objective person came along and said, "It's logical that someone would fall down there."
A Pharisee said, "Only bad people fall into a pit."
A mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit.
A news reporter wanted an exclusive story on his pit.
A fundamentalist said, "You deserve your pit."
A tax inspector asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
A self-pitying person said, "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my pit."
A charismatic said, "Just confess that you're not in a pit."
An optimist said, "Things could be worse."
A pessimist said, "Things will get worse."
Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit!
That is what Jesus does, and that is what he calls us to do… AMEN
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