Sermons:
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Who is My Neighbor?
based on Luke 10:25-37
by Dr. David Rogne
A young, rather innocent girl from a small country town went to seek
work in a large city. She was given one of those massive forms to fill
out: Name, address, family history, etc. When she came to the question,
"In case of emergency, whom should we notify?" she called the personnel
manager over and said, "I don't understand." The manager said, "Well,
you know, if some accident befell you on the job, or some emergency
arose, whom should we call?" She responded, "Why, the nearest human
being, of course." If only that were so! When she has spent a little
time in the city, she will discover that many human beings are not that
neighborly.
Our scripture reading for this morning picks up on the idea of
neighborliness and helps us see some of its characteristics. You will
remember that a lawyer, seeking to test Jesus, asks him, "Teacher, what
must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus asks him what he already knows
from the Jewish law, and he responds that people are to love God, and
their neighbor as themselves. When Jesus responds that that will satisfy
the requirements, the lawyer persists and asks, "Who is my neighbor?" It
is then that Jesus tells the story of a man making a journey from
Jerusalem to Jericho along the road that was called in those days the
"bloody road," because it was filled with caves and sharp turns where
robbers could hide and fall upon lonely travelers. Usually people would
travel in groups for greater protection, but this man who was alone,
became the victim of muggers, and was left to die. A priest and a
religious professional who passed by offered no help, but a despised
Samaritan, a half-breed, coming on the scene, had compassion and took
care of the man.
Then Jesus concluded the story by asking who was neighbor to the hurt
man in the story, and the lawyer had to confess that it was the one who
showed mercy. Jesus said simply, "Go and do likewise." Does that mean
that everyone who wants to do "likewise" has to go out and find a
mugging victim to help? I don't think so. "Likewise" means that we have
to be as sensitive to our opportunities as the Samaritan was to his.
There are, however, some characteristics in this good Samaritan that
will help us to identify how good neighbors act.
For one thing, the Samaritan took action. Sometimes, when we are faced
with a problem, we prefer to study it to death. Xerox is a case in
point. It devoted millions of dollars and years of effort to the
development of a personal computer. It hired many of the most brilliant
minds, people who would eventually make microcomputer technology
possible. But Xerox couldn't make the decision. The former director of
research says that they had a sure-fire micro product ready long before
the founders of Apple Computer came on the scene, but, he says, they got
bogged down planning the Invasion of Normandy, and didn't get into the
market. Similarly, when we embark on some program of good work, somebody
can always think of one more report that we should have before we begin,
and as a result, nothing is done.
Sometimes the problem is that we don't agree with one another about how
to proceed, so nothing gets done. Max Lucado, in his book, And the
Angels Were Silent, tells of Peter Loetz who took a bad fall that left
him with a punctured lung and broken ribs and internal bruising. Lying
in an emergency room, barely conscious, he probably thought things
couldn't get any worse. They did. As he looked up, the two doctors
responsible for his care began arguing over who would get to put a tube
into his crushed chest. The argument became a shoving match, and one
doctor threatened to have the other removed by the security police.
"Please, somebody save my life," Loetz pleaded as the doctors fought
over him. The two doctors were arguing over procedure. While they were
debating, two other physicians assumed responsibility for the patient
and saved his life.
Fortunately, the Samaritan didn't have anyone to argue with. Indeed,
those who were listening to Jesus' story would have assumed that the
Samaritan would not have had any insights worth listening to anyway--he
would not know the laws of God--he would be held in contempt. Yet he
knew what was called for--action. Henry Ward Beecher pointed out a long
time ago that "Religion means work. Religion means work in a dirty
world. The world has got to be cleaned by somebody; and you are not
called by God if you are ashamed to scour and scrub." If we really want
to be helpful, we have to get beyond talking about the problem and do
something.
Another thing the Samaritan did was to give of his time. He no doubt had
some place to be--an appointment to be kept--a customer to see. But he
interrupted his journey, took the time to administer first aid, put the
victim on his own donkey, got him to an inn, stayed the night, and cared
for him.
Time is the hardest thing for us to give one another. Michael Quoist has
written: “When I was young, my mother was going to read me a story, but
she had to wax the bathroom floor and there wasn't time. When I was
young, my grandparents were going to come for Christmas, but they
couldn't get someone to feed the dogs, and my grandfather did not like
the cold weather, and besides, they didn't have time. When I was young,
my father was going to listen to me read my essay on ‘What I Want to Be
When I Grow Up’ but there was Monday night football and there wasn't
time. When I grew up and left home to be married, I was going to sit
down with Mom and Dad and tell them I loved them and would miss them,
but my best man was honking the horn in front of my house, so there
wasn't time.” [continue]
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