“Which is My Neighbor?”

July 14,2013   

Luke 10:25-37

This is the first time that I’ve preached on this bible story… “The Good Samaritan”. 

The first reason is that in my nearly 10 years as a pastor I’ve rarely used the lectionary. Primarily, because I’ve been in my contemporary congregations and use sermon series rather than the lectionary. 

Another reason is because I’ve found the lectionary seems to retell all of the same stories year after year and I find it difficult to find was to retell the story.

Another reason is that I find the lectionary often is disjointed and starts and stops in the middle of some stories leaving me scratching my head as to why they did that.

Lastly… I find younger generations like reflecting and going deeper through a series of messages rather than a single message. However… this year I’ve preached the most on the lectionary than I’ve preached on since becoming a past almost 10 years ago. And… it’s been good to do this.

Prayer

I was sitting at Taco Bell just over on Coolidge last Tuesday having dinner before Cana’s council meeting and observed 8 teenagers of varying ethnic backgrounds bantering back and forth in seemingly dizzying fashion of which I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Then all of a sudden they all broke out singing a song that came on the P.A. system in unison. It was a song I hadn’t heard before… but they sure knew it and word for word. The song ended and they all laughed out loud and continued the bantering. I found it a wonderful site.

The next day when arriving at church a woman was walking her dog and was in front of Cana. I found the dogs markings different from what I’ve seen in the past and wondered what kind of dog it was. I had a suspicion, but wasn’t sure. So I asked her. I said hi… your dog has some different markings than I’ve seen before… what kind of dog do you have? She hesitated for a moment… I’m not sure it was because I was a stranger or the type of dog… then she told me it was a pit bull. I introduced myself and began a conversation about her dog as I petted it. I asked if she lived in the neighborhood and she said yes… we just moved in 4 houses down from the church. After some further conversation she continued her walk and I said welcome to the neighborhood and perhaps we will see each other again… nice to meet you and have a great walk.  

I received a call from a guy whose voice sounded familiar… he called seeking some help. I was sure I had heard this voice before… but he assured me he had never called before. However… this time this call seemed different and after hearing his story about needing some gas so he could go to a job interview I decided to help him. He wanted me to come to where he was living and I suggested a McDonalds or someplace like that. He baulked because he had at the moment no way of getting to a place like that. I said, “I don’t know you and if you want my help I will meet you at a public place.” He agreed and we met at a Wendy’s.

After some conversation about his job opportunity he shared that he had just been released from prison 3 months ago and was thrilled to have this opportunity to get a job and that he didn’t want to mess this up. I asked him why he was in prison… he hesitantly said in a low voice armed robbery and aggravated assault… my heart skipped a beat… yet I didn’t feel threatened or in danger… here was a guy trying to better himself and change his life and was asking if I could help.

Interesting stories… Right!!!

These stories raise an interesting and uncomfortable question.

Which of these is our neighbor?

Our bible story today is one of the most recognizable and well know biblical stories… virtually everyone knows or has heard this story or variations of it… and everyone knows what the story is about and what it means.

However… there are two parts of this story I find interesting… first… the lawyer… doesn’t know when to shut up.

He asks, “What do I have to do to have eternal life.”

Jesus answers him… “Love the Lord your God & Love your neighbor as yourself.”

He gets his answer… but he doesn’t stop there… he doesn’t shut up… he’s not satisfied… he continues.

He wants to know who is neighbors are.

You kind-of want to yell out to him to SHUT UP!!! Don’t you know Jesus is going to put you in your place!

He wants to know who is neighbor is… and he thinks he has a pretty good idea who his neighbors are.

Then Jesus tells him the Good Samaritan story…. Which leads to the second interesting part of this story when Jesus turns his question of “WHO,” into the concluding question of “WHICH” of these is the real neighbor?

Which is the question for us as well.

Certainly many of our congregations have been formed & nurtured by a shared faith, a shared ethnicity, and a shared experience and there’s nothing wrong with this. But we live in a different world in many ways where we are more diverse than ever before. We no longer see the large barrios and neighborhoods of ethic division that we once had in this country. There are no longer just German, Swedish, Danish, Italian etc… neighborhoods. So… I believe this story is an invitation for us to be a community of faith that is bound together with others not of our own kind, but by our shared common need, our shared sense of community, and our shared sense of living life together.

Jesus is asking us in these stories I shared earlier… Which if These is My Neighbor?

I believe God calls us to be neighbors to all.

God created all people in his image.

John 3:16… God loved all people so much he sent is son Jesus to make that love known…

And Jesus died on the cross demonstrating that love for all people.

My friends… this story ultimately is a story of radical Grace & Love that the Samaritan showed upon the person who was hurt… and we are invited to demonstrate this same radical Grace & Love with our neighbors… which by the way is, ALL of those we encounter. 

See You Out on the Road