Sunday, July 29, 2007
Luke 10:25-37
Senior Pastor
Immigration is a hot topic these days. Living in a post-9/11 America causes us to be a little more attentive to who is coming and going across the borders of our nation. But not only that, we can see the changing face of America in terms of increasing numbers of different racial and ethnic groups coming to America. Of course with new groups of people coming to America, we also begin to encounter different traditions and religious ideas that they bring with them. Living together well can be a complex challenge.
Listen to these statistics:
(cited in Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit by Lovett Weems, Jr., p. 97ff)
More immigrants came to America in the last 15 years than in the previous 50 years.
In any one year, approximately 800,000 legal immigrants and 300,000 illegal immigrants come to the United States.
The last census showed recent growth rates by ethnic
group:
African American populations
grew by 13%.
Native American populations grew
by 38%.
Asians and Pacific Islanders
more than doubled.
The “other races” category grew
by more than 45%.
Hispanic populations grew by
53%.
Guess how much the white
population grew by in America? 6%.
Other countries facing diverse populations have fallen into war and civil strife. We can and should do better. We have lost some or our leadership status in the world, but if we can navigate our way through this new challenge well we will truly be a light unto the world for freedom and peace.
Because we are Christians and particularly because we are Methodists, we have much to offer to this unfolding dynamic in our country. In our text today we read what is possibly the most familiar of all of the teachings of Jesus. In my Bible the heading for this section of scripture says “The Parable of the Good Samaritan.” Something to remember here is that when Jesus first told this story saying “good Samaritan” was an oxymoron. For the most part, there were no “good” Samaritans in the minds of Jews. Samaritans were seen as those people who had abandoned their Jewish heritage by intermarrying with the locals. It would be something like saying let me tell you the story of the good illegal immigrant.
But notice Jesus doesn’t say let me tell you the story of the Good Samaritan, he starts: A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. And then he uses respectable people, people who likely could have been in the audience that very day and says… they passed right on by this poor fellow. Then this person from a despised group happens by and seeing the man who was beaten and robbed was moved with pity. (v. 33)
And in just those few sentences Jesus has highlighted the tension because here we have people of different ethnic groups, people of differing status making decisions about how they are going to interact. It was a challenge in Jesus’ day and it is a challenge in our day. It is always a challenge to find people who will step into the gap between people when that gap is filled with tension. Who will step into that gap? Luke says Jesus asked it this way: Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man? (v.36)
Who will step into the gap? Who will step out, across perceived barriers and take a risk to meet the need? Weems points out in his book on Wesley, that this indeed is what John Wesley and his band of followers did. He says Wesley was willing to step into the gap between respectable society and the rest of society and begin to meet the needs. He was willing to live in the tension. He was willing to serve in the midst of conflicting ideas and parties.
Wesley was able to do so because he was exceedingly clear that at the center, at the center of it all, was Christ. Weems says, “Wesley was always reaching out to those who were different. Diversity was a challenge for him and early Methodists. Yet, the results make clear the seriousness with which he took the task.” (p. 96) He wanted to embrace all of God’s children. He worked tirelessly to include more and more of God’s children in the active family of God called the church. He was not willing to abandon those already in the church or those still outside. He sought to bring those with differing status and perspectives together around the common center of allegiance to Christ.
Turn with me a minute over to the Book of Galatians, if you have your Bible out. In chapter 3, verse 27 St. Paul is trying to describe how this works. He writes, As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Paul is not suggesting that the differences have actually disappeared but that a more important reality has emerged which transcends all of these differences. He is saying these differences once divided you but now with our common commitment to Christ, we see we can be united.
If Christ is at the center we can deal with differences.
With Christ as our anchor we can live in the
tension.
With Christ as our guide we can step into the gap and
meet the need.
The Good News comes even though we have some that in our hearts we think of as Samaritans. There are those that we think are so different that they are off limits. There are some we think are so different that we are not called to meet their needs. But Jesus steps up and tells this simple yet radical parable and then asks all who are listening,
Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man? (v.36)
Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? (v.36)
In a situation with such tension and ripe with potential
conflict, the important question is not what are we most comfortable with? The question is not what is easiest to
do? The question is not what is
respectable? The question is: What
is needed? Who can step in the gap and
meet the need?
If we look at our own history as a nation we can think about Abraham Lincoln and the issue of slavery. He faced an issue of great need and great tension. Some wanted Lincoln to have the Northern states simply succeed from the Southern states and wash their hands of the slavery problem. These radical abolitionists were willing to abandon the union in order to eliminate slavery from their country. It would have solved part of the problem. But it would have left the slaves more firmly fixed in their chains than ever.
But Lincoln was able to hold in tension the larger context: abolish slavery and save the nation. He stood in the gap and weathered the tension to meet the need. (see Weems, p. 85)
Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? The man conversing with Jesus says, “The one who showed him mercy.” (v. 37) Who is the neighbor? The one who shows mercy. The one who meets the need. Jesus lived it in his time; Wesley lived it in his time. Are we ready to live it in our time?
“For the life of me I can’t recall a single word that was spoken.” That is what Reverend Bill Hinson said when telling about when he was a young man and his father died. He says where I grew up people did not gather in funeral homes. The body was brought back to the family home and people came there to pay their respects. He recalls clearly the night before his father’s funeral. “My mother and my four siblings and I sat in the living room in a semicircle around my father’s casket. For a long time, friends filed through. They shook our hands, hugged us, and spoke words of comfort and friendship.”
““For the life of me I can’t recall a single word that was spoken. No one could say anything that would take away the pain of losing one’s father, especially one who was still in his fifties. But each time we looked up through our tears, they were there. Through the long dark hours they came and their presence spoke powerfully to our souls. As they touched and held us, we felt their hearts going out to us. We felt their love and knew that if there were anything in the world they could do to take away some of our hurt they would do it. They could not give a finer gift.” (quoted in Lord, He Went by Stan Copeland, p. 25-26)
If we are ready to walk with Jesus and Wesley, we will take risks, we will cross barriers, we will stand in the gap and seek to include new people into the life of the church; and as we do, the love and mercy of God will flow freely in our time. We could not give a finer gift.
Are we ready to offer the finest gift?
Jesus said… “Go and do likewise.” (v. 37)
Let us pray.
Living together well can be a ______________ challenge.
The last census showed recent growth rates by ethnic
group:
African American populations
grew by ____%.
Native American populations grew
by 38%.
Asians and Pacific Islanders
more than doubled.
The “other races” category grew
by more than 45%.
Hispanic populations grew by
____%.
Guess how much the white population grew by…? ____%.
…particularly because we are Methodists we have
much to
offer to this unfolding dynamic in our ______________.
…saying “________ Samaritan” was an oxymoron.
…always a challenge to find people who will step into the
gap
between people when that gap is filled with
______________.
He was not willing to abandon those already in the church
or those still ______________.
If Christ is at the ____________ we can deal with
differences.
With Christ as our anchor we can live in the
tension.
With Christ as our guide… step into the gap and meet the
need.
What is needed?
______ can step in the gap and meet the need?
…we can think about Abraham ______________
Who is the neighbor?
The one who shows __________.
“They could not give a __________ gift.”
Jesus said… “____ and ____ likewise.” (v. 37)
Kid’s Question:
Who is the neighbor?