Sermon – Luke 10:25-37 – Who is My Neighbor

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Luke 10:25-37 – Who is My Neighbor

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

July 10, 2016

            I was privileged to attend the recent 222^nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).  During this assembly we had numerous times to engage in worship and prayer.  Before one session we held a prayer vigil for the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando.  Joining us in our prayers that day were our ecumenical partners.  Ecumenical partners are the leaders of other denominations in this country and around the world.  We engage with our ecumenical partners on issues that affect all Christians. We also prayed with our interfaith partners.  Interfaith partners are the leaders of other faith groups with whom we talk about issues facing the entire world.  For example, in trying to find solutions for the violence in the Middle East, it is helpful to have conversations with leaders of Jewish and Islamic groups.  Both ecumenical and interfaith partners joined us in a prayer vigil for the victims in Orlando.

            When I returned from the General Assembly the first question I was asked was why we allowed a Muslim to pray to Allah during prayers.  And this did happen during the prayer vigil.  This prompted me to think about what our relationship should be with people of other faiths.  Of course we have really good news to tell them:  For all who believe in Jesus Christ and make him their Lord there is a promise of eternal life.  We want to share with everyone the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

            But when we look at what God is doing in the world around us we see something more is going on beyond saving grace.  God sends the rain and sunshine on people of all faiths.  God provides food and water and shelter and children to all people of all faiths.  God blesses the whole world.  This is called general grace.  It is the grace of God for everyone.  So as Christians we want to bring saving grace of Jesus Christ to all people.  But we also have obligations to all those who receive the general grace of God.  We will see this in today’s scripture, but first let’s pray. 

            “Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification.  Amen.”   (John Calvin)

            I have for you today the most familiar of all Bible stories:  The Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Luke10: ²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[d]”

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

            If you grew up in church, like me, you have heard this parable many times.  Most of the time it is explained this way:  The priest and the Levite were bad people.  They should have stopped to help the poor guy out, but they didn’t.  You should not be like them.  Rather you should be like the Good Samaritan and help people in need.  This is certainly true.  It is an important lesson.  But I think Jesus is telling us something deeper.  Let me explain.

            The Samaritan in the story was not Jewish.  He did not accept the entire Hebrew Bible as scripture but used only a portion of the first five books.  He did not worship in the Jerusalem temple, but his ancestors had their own temple on Mount Gerazim.   He was not ethnically Jewish because his ancestors in the 8^th century before Christ had been part of a forced migration.  Because of all of this there was great animosity and fear between Jews and Samaritans. And sometimes there was violence. 

            The Samaritan Temple was located on Mt. Gerizim.  During the time of Greek rule the Samaritan Temple was dedicated to the Greek god Zeus.  This angered the Jews so much they destroyed the Samaritan Temple.  Around the time of Jesus’ birth a group of Samaritans got into the Jerusalem temple and scatted bones throughout thus desecrating the temple just before a Passover celebration.  The Samaritans had problems with the Romans too.  In 36AD a large crowd of Samaritans assembled on Mt. Gerizim to view artifacts that Moses has supposedly hidden on the mountain.  Many of the Samaritan worshipers were massacred by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor.  I don’t know, but maybe they were referred to as “radical Samaritan terrorists.

            So who might be our Samaritans today?  Who are the terrorists we are facing?  Which faith group do we fear the most?  Today we have political discussions concerning the immigration of Muslims into this country.  Muslims do not worship our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Muslims are not like us ethnically or culturally.  Muslims have not received the saving grace of faith in Jesus Christ.  It sure looks like Muslims are our contemporary Samaritans.  But Muslims have received the general grace of God with which God blesses all creation.  So how should we as Christians treat them?

            In today’s scripture someone had been beaten up and left for dead on the side of the road.  Possibly he was one of the 72 followers of Jesus who had been sent ahead to prepare people for Jesus’ coming into their communities.  Remember, Jesus warned them to avoid strangers on the side of the road.  Possibly one of them, a follower of Jesus, was robbed and beaten.  And who helped this follower of Jesus?  Did the priest help?  No!  Did the Levite help?  No!  Only the Samaritan stopped to help.  Only the hated Samaritan, who worshiped the wrong God with the wrong Bible in the wrong way, was kind to a person he found of the side of the road.  And both the legal scholar and Jesus said that makes the Samaritan your neighbor.  And if the Samaritan is your neighbor then you have the obligation to love Samaritan as yourself.

            We can apply this principle today in our pluralistic neighborhoods.  If Muslim immigrants are kind to you, then they are your neighbor, and you must love them as you love yourself. 

            Around thirty years ago I moved into a new community in Northern Virginia.  Living next to me was a mixed race couple with two children.  She was a white American.  He was a refuge from Iran, who fled oppression in 1978.  He was Muslim.   We had frequent conversations in our back yards.  He usually talked about work and family.  I usually talked about my business and my growing participation in church. We didn’t talk much about religion.  He was interested in the hymns I played the piano and some of the thing I was learning in Bible study.  He wasn’t active in any mosque.  He told me that the best thing about being a Muslim is that you can have many wives.  Of course he gave this up when he married an American woman.  I invited him, several times, to come with me to church.  I thought it would be good for his kids.  But he always said no.  Then one day he surprised me.  He asked me to go to his church.  That’s right, his church!  One Sunday he had decided to take his family a visit the Reston Bible Church.  He loved it.  So, I went with him the next Sunday.  It was a large church with a band and lots of things for kids to do. And he became a member of that church and a follower of Jesus Christ.  He and his family have received the saving grace of faith in Jesus Christ which leads to eternal life.

            When a non-Christian is kind, as they often are, your responsibility is to love them as you love you yourself because they are your neighbor.  Be kind to them.  Do unto them as you would have them do unto you.  Always be ready to pray for them and their families.  And be ready to talk with them about what God is doing in your life.  Then watch as the Holy Spirit acts to bring about conversion.  The Holy Spirit uses our love and the general grace of God to bring people to a saving grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

            So how does all of this inform our reaction to the Muslim who prayed to Allah at the recent General Assembly.  When the Muslim prayed for the families of the victims of the Orlando shooting he was being kind.  He became our neighbor.  And therefore we have an obligation to love him as we love ourselves.  We should pray that the Holy Spirit will use our love and God’s general grace to bring that Muslim to faith in Jesus Christ and the saving grace which leads to eternal life.  Let’s pray.

            “Lord, as you have taught us, we bow down before you in all humility, gentleness and

patience, supporting each other with love and trying to keep the unity of the spirit by the

bonds of peace, that we may become “one body and one spirit,” according to our common

calling and vocation. With one voice, repenting of our divisions, we commit ourselves to working together for reconciliation, peace, and justice, and we stand together in imploring you: help us to live as your disciples, overcoming selfishness and arrogance, hatred and violence; give us the strength to forgive. Inspire our witness in the world, that we might foster a culture of

dialogue, and be bearers of the hope which your gospel has implanted in us. Make us instruments of your peace, so that our homes and communities, our parishes, churches, and nations might resonate more fully with the peace you have long desired to bestow upon us. Amen.”

(From the World Council of Churches’ liturgies for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, 2004.)