Amos 7.7-17; Luke 10.25-37
Lots of people didn’t like Jesus!
He rubbed folks the wrong way … ruffled lots of feathers.
Jesus wasn’t afraid to upset the apple cart … or overturn a few tables … to set things right, make some adjustments, bring down a few mountains, fill in some of the valleys …
Prepare the way of the LORD, cried the Prophet Isaiah, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
The Prophet Micah proclaimed: The LORD has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
It’s all about justice.
Justice is what we do.
If we wonder what justice looks like, we need look no further than the story of the Good Samaritan …
A lawyer comes to Jesus to test him.
The lawyer is neither friend nor foe.
The lawyer asks a common question, What must I do to inherit eternal life?
In other words, what kind of life meets God’s approval?
Jesus poses a counter-question to the lawyer, What is written in the law?
In other words, “don’t ask me - you already know!”
The lawyer replies: You shall love the LORD you 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 says: That’s right. Do this and you’ll live.
The lawyer isn’t satisfied, so he asks, Who’s my neighbor?
It’s a good question … we ask it all the time - to whom are we responsible? to whom shall we give aid and kindness?
The homeless under our bridges, immigrants at the border, children in our inner-cities, the people of Ukraine, gays and lesbians, trans-children, their families?
Pundits, politicians, and preachers parse the word “neighbor” all the time … carefully measuring out what our responsibilities might be, or might not be.
Former U.S. president George W. Bush invoked the parable in his first inaugural address: “I can pledge our nation to a goal: when we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.”
It’s an important story, told in a thousand different ways … a call to compassion and kindness …
A reminder that every day, people are set upon by circumstances and conditions, and left for dead, bleeding beside the highway of life.
Every day, the cries of the wounded call us to do what we can, individually, and collectively, from the local level to the highest levels of government, to help the wounded back to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This morning, the first of a three-part series called, JPL …
I mentioned this to the choir a few weeks back, and a few days later, Norm Haynes sent me a note:
He writes: “In the early days of the space program at JPL when our success rate on missions was not great, we had a surprise successful mission. Afterwards , several at JPL said JPL stood for Just Plain Lucky. Fortunately, things improved greatly with experience.”
A three-part sermon series: J.P.L. Justice, passion, latitude.
Justice - is what we do.
Passion - describes our commitment.
Latitude - is our style.
Back to the story of the Good Samaritan - let me ask you a question: “When were you helped out of a ditch by the kindness of a friend, a family member, maybe even a stranger?”
Who was your Good Samaritan?
Let me tell you a story:
When I was a pastor in Oklahoma, a member of my congregation spoke at the local Rotary Club … he was a successful man - oil, cattle, real estate, insurance … he flew P47s in France during WW2 … he was a husband, a father, an elder of the church … a great cook, and a friend to Donna and me.
At the Rotary Club, he spoke about the “free lunches” he had over the years …
~ good parents he didn’t choose.
~ good schools in the community.
~ teachers who paid attention and helped him when he needed it.
~ the banker who gave him his first loan … the only collateral he could offer was his word and a handshake.
~ on and on it went - detailing “free lunches” given to him over the years.
For my friend, the notion of a self-made man was not part of the picture … my friend was wise enough to know that we’re all in this together … humble enough to recognize all the help given to him, all along the way … the “free lunches” …
Albert Schweitzer put it this way: “… we all live, spiritually, by what others have given us in the significant hours of our life.”
My Oklahoma friend died recently at the age of 98, his life devoted to giving “free lunches” to the world around him.
He paid it forward. … he served on countless boards and agencies … he gave back to life some of what life had given to him …
What he couldn’t do by himself, he did with others …
Lots of things require a community-wide effort … from food-assistance to housing … from rent-controls to good schools … from school boards to the halls of Congress, from the pews of this church to the President’s Oval Office, lots of things require a community-wide effort, a city, a state, a nation, and with climate issues and war, an entire world - to set aside what ordinarily separates us, to build bridges over the ditches dug by others … to stop in our tracks, pay attention to the world, join hands and hearts, to tackle some of the toughest issues facing humanity.
My Oklahoma friend did justice … he put right what was wrong, he paid attention to the overlooked … helped folks outta the ditch, and covered the bills.
We learn from watching such people … Jesus said, “watch the Samaritan” …
That would have rankled some of the audience.
Samaritans, you see, were despised … some thought, “I’d rather die than receive help from one of them.”
It’s a long story, reaching back hundreds of years - originally all of the same family, of Abraham and Sarah, but war and exile separated the people one from the other …
In time, they grew apart, further and further - looking askance at each other … brothers and sisters no more.
When Jesus goes through Samaria and speaks with the woman at the well, Jesus violates all sorts of social and religious rules. A good Jew would have nothing to do with a Samaritan, especially a Samaritan women … Samaritans knew full-well to stay outta the way - Samaritans knew where they were not welcomed.
The priest and the Levite fail.
They see the injured man, and continue on their way …
Maybe they were afraid.
“What will happen to me if I stop to help ?” That’s a real question, isn’t it? - it was a dangerous part of the road.
We’ve all heard stories, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
The Samaritan story poses an alternate question: “What will happen to the man in the ditch if I don’t stop?”
It’s a good question, a hard question … it’s the right question, the sort of question that clears the air, focuses the soul, gets us moving in the right direction. It doesn’t provide a clear-cut answer, but it compels us to think about who we are, what it means to do justice - to set something right.
The LORD has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
And to God be the glory, Hallelujah and Amen!
