If you know the answer, ask bigger questions!
Weekly bible readings and reflections
O God,
the strength of those who humbly confess their sin
and place their hope in you,
save us from vain displays of righteousness,
and give us grace to keep faith
with the true humility of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Joel 2:23-32
Psalm 65
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14
In this week’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable to teach us the importance of praying with the right attitude. The two men in the parable are a Pharisee and a tax collector.
We know that God loves us and is proud of us. But if we think for even one moment that we are flawless -or worse- worthy of God’s praise, then the only person we are fooling is ourselves.
In this time, Tax collectors were Jews who worked for the Romans. They were viewed as traitors by their own people, foreigners by the Romans, and resented by everyone. They weren’t paid a real wage, but rather, were expected to take more than required and then “skim off the top.” Unsurprisingly, this system made it easy to be dishonest and take advantage.
Upon entering the temple, the tax collector bowed his head, hitting himself to show repentance. He knew he was a sinner. He knew he needed God’s forgiveness. And he knew that no one can be proud of themselves before God. However, the Pharisee stood up to pray and merely informed God of all the wrong things which he had not done. He concluded by boasting about the religious practices he had observed. The Pharisee thought he was praying, when really he was praising only himself. Jesus tells us that it is the first man who went home justified before God.
This parable leaves me questioning my own intentions sometimes. Am I, as a Christian, acting like Jesus for the right reasons? Or am I doing what God calls me to do, simply to make myself look (and feel) more righteous? Am I brave enough -and Christian enough- to admit my mistakes and
shortcomings?
We know that God loves us and is proud of us. But if we think for even one moment that we are flawless -or worse- worthy of God’s praise, then the only person we are fooling is ourselves. Conversely, if we acknowledge our sin and humbly repent before God, Jesus says that God will exalt us. The lower we make ourselves on Earth, the higher God will exalt us in Heaven!
So, instead of pointing the magnifying glass at what others are doing this week, may we all have the humility and grace to analyse our own actions and intentions, with God’s help. Amen!
Holy One,
we lift our eyes to you in hope and awe.
Grant that we may reject all apathy of spirit,
all impatience and anxiety,
so that, with persistence,
we may lift our voice again and again to seek your justice. Amen.
Isaiah 43:16-21 (The Message)
This is what God says,
the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can’t get up;
they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sunbaked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.
Psalm 40
Matthew 9:35-38
Romans 12: 9 – 20a, 21
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints ;extend hospitality to strangers.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but give yourselves to humble tasks; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink….” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
When the whole people of God are freed to join the Holy Spirit at work in our neighbourhoods, communities and networks, a new future unfolds…the unfolding of God’s kingdom as described in the passage from Romans. Our task in reshaping our parish cultures is to create the space for God’s work and our parishes to intersect in the most magnificent blossoming. That blossoming is grounded in faith formation or discipleship, prayer, and a discerning use of our corporate and individual gifts, skills, and passions in the service of God’s mission.
Sometimes, parishes respond to the anxiety of declining numbers, diminishing dollars, and rising age demographics with anxiety and a generalized discontent, and when that becomes the driver of change, the ensuing adjustments are like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Our anxiety and dread are temporarily assuaged by the busyness of changing things up until we realize that nothing real has changed except that anxiety is increasing and despair often follows. Decisions about what needs to be reshaped and how that happens must be framed within the context of discerning how God is inviting a particular parish to engage with God’s mission. A commitment to the unfolding of God’s kingdom, a missional imagination rather than a commitment to the survival of a parish is the key to a renewed future.
What does it look like to free the people of God? Renewal or reshaping of a parish culture requires a willingness to examine and disrupt the old patterns, to ask questions like “how does this practice, behaviour, or expectation contribute to God’s mission?” or “how does this help us to engage with God’s people?” or “how does this help to transform us into a resurrection people?”. And this means that parish leaders must create new space for missional imagination to weave its way into and through people and parish structures. This journey invites congregations to embrace the challenging task of living in the tension of disruption and uncertainty, of dwelling for a time in liminal space… on the threshold between the old and familiar and a future that is unknown, between a past that is comfortingly known and a shape that is as yet unknown.
Parishes will make choices along this journey guided by their readiness to live in the tension of uncertainty, by their sense of urgency around discerning God’s call to them, and by their longing for transformation. Some parishes will be ready to take big leaps and others will venture smaller steps. Remember this is a journey God invites us to make; Moses took forty years to get to the promised land – just listen to God’s voice and follow the path at whatever pace works. The most important thing is to refrain from getting mired in that sticky yearning for comfort and security!
Those parishes ready for bite-sized reshaping will want to focus their attention on reshaping parish culture in the following areas:
Stewardship – Attention to renewed stewardship practices that reflect giving as a manifestation of the gifts God gives will move parishioners to experiencing a sense of joy when they give to God’s work. Our giving to God is meant to transform us! And that giving is about our gifts, strengths, passions, and experiences as much as it is about money. Parishes can enable people to identify their gifts, create opportunities for people to use and grow those gifts in service to God’s mission, and grow people as disciples by helping them make the connection between God’s mission and their daily lives.
Radical Hospitality – while parishes do need programs and ministries that support and nurture the faithful, Jesus intends us to be like Mary recognizing Jesus by the empty tomb…so transformed by God’s love that we cannot wait to share the good news with our friends, our neighbours, and strangers we encounter! God calls us to embrace strangers, welcome outsiders, advocate for the marginalized, and see the image of God in everyone we meet. Our society is full of people yearning for meaning and connection; our tasks are to connect with them and share how the Good News has transformed our lives!
Ministry Engagement – followers of Jesus want to be involved in God’s mission! Joining in the church’s engagement in mission is a perfect complement to the ways in which people pay attention to that practice of engagement with God’s mission in their home and work lives. Or engaging in the missional work of the faith community may trigger a deeper connection to God in someone’s life outside of church. The most effective way to support people in their longing for meaningful engagement is a robust volunteer management program that includes job descriptions that use missional language, a recruitment process that focuses on gifts, strengths and passions, a vigorous training/mentoring process that positions lay people for joy and accomplishment related to the mission, and frequent public and private affirmations of people and their contributions, again framed through a missional lens.
Governance – leadership and church management by the laity can be easily reshaped by missional practices, and governance practices and language that reflects God’s mission will transform the conversations a faith community has, and the work they engage in.
Creator of the fruitful earth,
you made us stewards of all things.
Give us grateful hearts for all your goodness,
and steadfast wills to use your bounty well,
that the whole human family,
today and in generations to come,
may with us give thanks for the riches of your creation.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord.
Amen.
Deuteronomy 8:7-18
Psalm 65
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Luke 17:11-19
The passages of scripture for Sunday remind us to be thankful for the great gift of life: “Do not worry about anything,” writes St. Paul. Jesus invites us to see life from a spiritual perspective, to see the ordinary fabric of our lives in a renewed way, “from above.” We often lose sight of the sheer wonder of living, but to be present to the gift of life, even and especially in the midst of our daily toils, can alter our attitude, change our behaviour and actually improve our overall health. “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough,” wrote Meister Eckhart (14th century German theologian).
Gratitude contributes to happiness. And gratitude practiced daily can create resilience, can actually strengthen us, empower us, get us through the night and the day. Gratitude is emotional, ethical and eternal.
The spiritual and the physical, scientists demonstrate, are indeed closely connected. A relatively new branch of science called Positive Psychology seeks to study the impact and influence of positive emotions and character traits. This movement tries to examine what makes life good. Not surprisingly, Gratitude is one of those positive factors attracting attention. Science confirms what we were taught at a young age: “Thank you” is truly the magic word. Gratitude contributes to happiness. And gratitude practiced daily can create resilience, can actually strengthen us, empower us, get us through the night and the day. Gratitude is emotional, ethical and eternal.
Diana Butler-Bass, contemporary theologian and writer, has published a book titled Gratitude wherein she explores, as her subtitle says, “The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks.” I have read the book but I have also listened to an hour-long lecture by her on the topic and book. I encourage you to Google her lecture and listen to it: https://theguibordcenter.org/faiths/christianity/diana-butler-bass-gratitude-inside- out/
The Christian faith is meant to be transformative, to change us, so meditative practices, reading, prayer, church attendance, should help us to change our hearts and minds and souls and thereby to love God with all our strength. It doesn’t happen by itself. We have to work at it, and even just a little effort can produce positive change.
There are practical ways to encourage gratitude, to cultivate gratitude within us, even and especially when we aren’t feeling particularly grateful. An ancient Jewish morning prayer goes like this: “I thank You, living and eternal King, who has returned my soul into me with compassion—great is Your faithfulness!” Awaking each morning is an obvious source of gratitude, but one that we often lose sight of in our hectic days. How often do we get the chance to stop and thank God for the miracle of our own existence? To encourage gratitude within, keep a gratitude diary, list the things or people or events that happen in a day for which you are grateful. When feeling despondent, read the diary. Add to it. What or who in your past influenced you positively and creates gratitude within. Express gratitude to someone, in your present life or in your past. Write a thank-you note or letter. Simply say thank-you to people in your daily life. Scientists demonstrate that the practice of gratitude has a positive effect on your brain and body. It’s healthy for you. And like any spiritual practice, it grows and deepens the more you practice it. Butler-Bass argues that besides being an emotion, gratitude is also ethical, that is, a way of living that we can choose to follow. Practice gratitude, do thankfulness, freely give without thought or hope of return, and it can heal yourself or another person, who in turn might pass it on and thereby improve the common good, make our communities healthier.
Butler-Bass takes this analysis one step further to demonstrate the politics of gratitude. As a student of the Bible, she recognizes the structure of dominant societies described there and sees a pyramid shape, a top-down system of gratitude, whereby the ones at the top give to the ones below in order to buy loyalty and wealth. The ones below are expected to be grateful and give back in the form of taxes and tribute. The ones at the bottom are burdened by a debt of gratitude. Payment is exacted from them; it’s not feely given. And they have no choice but to give because if you don’t want to “render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar,” then Caesar will throw you into prison or crucify you.
Into this corrupt system of gratitude enters Jesus who proposes an alternative system, symbolized by a table, hospitality, sharing abundance freely. “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” is the correct translation of the original Aramaic. By realizing that there is abundant grace and compassion, the all- encompassing love of God, freely given and available for all, we are enabled to share the world’s abundance. Ghandi said, “there is enough in our world to feed everyone’s need, not everyone’s greed.” Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God is a radical alternative to the traditional power structure of not only his society but also ours today, which is designed to feed wealth and power to the few on top. We do not have to be dependent on or burdened by this oppressive structure, we do not have to participate in it, we can indeed “forgive our debtors,” and seek to transform not only ourselves but also our society by working for the common good. We can practice a politics of gratitude.
Finally, Gratitude is eternal. Jesus pointed to love as the definition of God; God is love and those who know love, know God. Jesus taught us to see God in one another, that when you give a cup of water to the least of these, you give it to God. Our gratitude is expressed in our loving. Love encompasses everything. Bishop John Shelby Spong puts it this way: “If God is the source of life, I worship God by living. If God is the source of love, I worship God by loving. If God is the ground of being, I worship God by having the courage to be more fully human; the embodiment of the divine.” “The daily round, the common task,” this “fragile earth our island home,” can be redeemed, experienced as holy, enchanting, eternal, by cultivating gratitude within and without.
I think this may well be our 21st year of commemorating St. Francis of Assisi with a blessing of the animals. Mostly domestic animals, dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs and our friendly chickens.
On these occasions I have spoken/written a fair bit about animals, their relationship to us, their intelligence and intuition, how they help us and how we are to care for them. I have spoken/written a fair bit about creation embedded in the earth, water, and sky and about lightening our footprint on earth.
Compassion acting with compassion, acting with passion is a central idea in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. One of the basic tenets or marks of all the major religions.
This week I am taking a different approach and writing about ministry, a term we use a lot in the church. The broadest definition of ministry rooted in biblical tradition is that we are to be servants, to be helpful, to give aid. Ministry is the living out of the great commandment to Love our Neighbour and Love God.
To go back to the biblical base we are to be merciful as God is merciful, and ministry is about being merciful. We are to be merciful as God is merciful, a frequent phrase in scripture. But another translation is that we are to be compassionate as God is compassionate.
Jesus was a person of compassion. Perhaps when we think of the word compassionate we think it is something strictly emotional, a little soft and fuzzy, sympathy or empathy. Yet it is more. It is also the rational and involves the ideas of fairness, justice, and interdependence. One dictionary definition says compassion is the consciousness of distress and the desire to alleviate it, a definition not restricted just to people in distress.
Compassion/acting with compassion, acting with passion is a central idea in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. One of the basic tenets or marks of all the major religions.
But what is it we are called to do? What is it that are we passionate about? What is it that we do with compassion? We feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, pray, foster community, reach out to others; we do things for and with others. These ministries involve many different people and many different activities. There are those who work at community care and the breakfast program, those who visit in the hospitals, those who volunteer in hospitals and care homes, those who cook for others, those who help neighbours, and those who assist with worship duties. This is by no means an exhaustive list, yet all of these are done quietly with no call for recognition.
And for some ministry is embedded in our vocations—doctors, nurses, counsellors, aids for the physically and mentally challenged, teachers and so on.
What is your passion? What is your ministry? And what about St. Francis?
Francis saw that all of nature reflected God; that we can know and see the presence of God in the earth, in the sky and in the ocean, all the creatures and plants. Francis took a special interest in the creatures around him. He saw that his calling, and though he was disparaged by his family and the powers in Rome, he continued on.
For St. Francis to love God was to love all of creation. To love God was to care for all of creation.
Frances was not alone in his understanding of God and creation. In the 11th and 12th centuries Christian mystics like Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen, and Meister Eckhart all wrote and taught this understanding.
Julian for example wrote:
God is the maker of all things.
God is everything that is good,
and the goodness which is there in all things is God.
Hildegard wrote:
Glance at the sun
See the moon and stars
Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings
What delight God gives us with all these things.
We are to work with creation, for without it we cannot survive for creation, for all of creation needs our loving help.,
We are to work
This kind of understanding is referred to as Creation Centered Spirituality which in our time has been brought to the attention of many believers by Matthew Fox, a teacher, theologian, author, historian and pastor.
He calls us to recognize creation as the Original Blessing of God. celebrating
We need to be involved in ministry with creation, to recognize where there is distress and work to alleviate it, to be helpful and good stewards. Just like our ministry with one another, we will not all do the same thing. We have to match a cause to our time, talent and treasure.
We have to discover our passion for creation. And find our ministry and act with compassion.
The Dalai Lama says:
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion—if you want to be happy, practice compassion
To extend this idea to creation if we want creation to be happy, practice compassion, if we want to be happy practice compassion.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; our 4 Gospels that were chosen to be put in our Bible. Each written in a different time period, each a different author and each for a different reason to different audiences. The Gospel of John (the one that was written last) was written for the church, by a man who was an elder in the church of Ephesus where he was looked up to because of his wisdom and experience.
I have heard many people mention that it is time to put the residential school issue behind us. It happened, apologies have been made, but now let’s move on. But, that is not what we need to do. It needs to be in our history books and taught in school.
When I look at this reading from the beginning of John’s Gospel I see in that first sentence: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Word has been used 3 times in the same sentence. Must be important. And of course it is. This ‘Word’, with a capital ‘W’ is Jesus (it begins with a capital so it is important). So Jesus has also been around since the beginning. As a cradle Anglican, I have been part of the church for many years and have had lots of teachers, priests and others to help me understand GOD. There was a time that I believed that Jesus didn’t really exist until that day in the stable. That God realized he needed to do something to get the world to listen, to change, to be better, but once I truly looked at the following two sentences I understood that Jesus was a part of God all along.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And further down in this reading: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us…”
These two sentences are so helpful to get us to understand or at least try to get it through our heads that the “human Jesus” who walked among us was God.
I read an article from R. Gehring who referred to this section of John’s Gospel as a Christmas text. There is no manger, no virgin birth, no star, no shepherds. Instead John concentrates on the “theological significance of the event”, and “Just who was this Jesus?” Those two sentences above tell us just that. Two parts of the Trinity wrapped up neatly in two sentences.
But, are these words (small ‘w’ so not meaning Jesus here) all there is? Of course not. It isn’t quite that easy but the more I look at those two sentences the more I understand.
Speaking of understanding, before God became our human Jesus, he sent someone to break the ice so to speak. To be the messenger for God, to let those to whom he came in contact with that there was to be a messiah coming soon. John the Baptist who was not anyone special. By special I mean he was just an ordinary person who was sent out by God. God didn’t make him a King so that people would maybe listen more, but instead God sent someone he knew would get the job done.
Moving on to today, and our lives, God sends many people to be in our lives to also get the job done. To help us or guide us to where we need to be. Priests, teachers, friends. The priests and teachers have been called by God to do those particular jobs and we look up to them for guidance and to learn what we need to know, not just about God, but also about living in the world. But what happens when those people we look up to are not sent by God, those who take the power and use it for their own gain. Those who are not listening.
This Sunday we celebrate Orange Shirt Day. (the actual day is September 30th), to remember how a little girl, so proud of her new orange shirt that she wore on her first day of school was taken from her and what that did to her. Because of that day, the colour orange reminded her that her feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how she felt like she was worth nothing. She stated in an article, “all of us little children were crying and no one cared”.
I have heard many people mention that it is time to put the residential school issue behind us. It happened, apologies have been made, but now let’s move on. But, that is not what we need to do. It needs to be in our history books and taught in school.
Like all of our history, it has made us who we are, good or bad and we cannot just erase it and move on. It needs to be there to remind us that not everyone is sent by God to help us out and we need to stand up for what is right, doing everything in our power to stop injustices from happening, to treat everyone like we would want to be treated.
We are all “Children Of God” and “Every Child Matters”
The context for the gospel text two weeks ago, Luke 14, was a meal “at the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees,” and the entire chapter was connected by the imagery of a meal, a banquet, in fact. Jesus used that social occasion to remind the wealthy and powerful of their obligations to care for the poor. In Sunday’s reading from Luke chapter 15, Jesus is defending himself against further criticism from the Pharisees for eating and drinking with “tax-collectors and sinners.” The rules of the synagogue were very strict about meal practices and about interacting with those considered unclean; the rules were quite exclusive. Our Christian tradition holds that everyone is a sinner, so the charge of the Pharisees here against “sinners” smacks of hypocrisy to our ears, but they didn’t share that sense of universal sinfulness. The Pharisees were defining who was sinful and therefore who was not acceptable. One’s actions and occupation could put a person outside the community. The specific reference to “tax-collectors” emphasizes that collaboration with Rome was a chief criterion of exclusion. Even the Pharisees, it seems, hated taxes.
By eating with “tax-collectors and sinners,” Jesus is enacting the kingdom of God, demonstrating by his association with “those people,” that God’s realm includes outcasts and marginalized people. Jesus’ life is itself a parable for us all to follow.
However, Jesus came breaking down barriers between people, especially among religious people: redefining “outcasts” by inviting them to eat with him, he was acting out the kingdom of God; by inviting those on the outside to the feast, he was dramatizing that they too are beloved of God, but he was also asking the righteous members of the synagogue, the Pharisees, to find it in their hearts to welcome the outcasts in. By eating with “tax-collectors and sinners,” Jesus is enacting the kingdom of God, demonstrating by his association with “those people,” that God’s realm includes outcasts and marginalized people. Jesus’ life is itself a parable for us all to follow.
In response to the charge of the Pharisees against him in today’s reading, Jesus tells three parables of loss—the lost sheep, the lost coin and (not included in the reading today but without doubt one of his best-known stories) the parable of the lost son. Luke sets all three parables in the context of defending Jesus against the Pharisees’ charge, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” (Borg, Jesus, 246) Now the parable of the lost sheep, like the parable of the lost son, has traditionally been interpreted as demonstrating the nature and character of God, so loving that like a good shepherd, like a loving father, God will seek after the lost, that is, you and me, everyone and anyone, and will welcome them home. This interpretation comes down to us of course from our tradition, ever since St. John wrote in his gospel that Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd,” evoking the image of God as the good shepherd in the 23rd psalm. As Marcus Borg says, the parable “invites a different way of seeing by inviting reflection about the character of God and the kind of life that follows from seeing God’s character in a particular way.” (172) Jesus was trying through this parable to tell the Pharisees that outcasts and sinners were welcome at the table of the Lord. They believed that you were defiled by people with whom you ate: “For Jesus, purity, not impurity, was contagious.” (Borg 217).)
So seeing God as the seeker of the lost is quite natural for us. But stories, parables, symbols, are not confined to just one meaning; that’s their beauty. They allow for various interpretations. It’s interesting that the tradition has downplayed the parable of the lost coin. It hasn’t been emphasized as an illustration of the character of God or Jesus as seeker; Jesus isn’t made to announce: “I am the Good Housewife.” The reason for that is fairly obvious, but I am reminded of the protagonist of Margaret Laurence’s novel, The Fire-Dwellers, Stacey, a middle-aged housewife with four young children and an uncommunicative husband. Stacey is trying to cope with the stresses and strains of her life and she often has little imaginary chats with God. During one of them she says, “Listen here, God, . . . You try bringing up four kids . . . next time you send somebody down here, get it born as a her with seven young or a him with a large family and a rotten boss, eh? Then we’ll see how the inspirational bit goes.” (Laurence, FireDwellers, 168) Jesus as the Good Housewife: the theological implications alone are staggering.
We can derive another meaning from these three parables by focusing on the joy which accompanies the discovery of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. (For those in touch with their inner child, click on the link to this animated version of the parable of the lost sheep. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyWZeOlaRo4 I like the leap of joy at the end of the film.) The parables describe not only the character of God, seeking the lost, but also us, seekers of the kingdom, welcoming the lost with joy. The parables emphasize our joy at finding the lost, as opposed to the joyless, selfish attitude of the Pharisees who shut out the lost. The followers of Jesus, the followers of his way, are also to be seekers, that is, “finders, finding the kingdom unexpectedly,” surprised by joy. (Crossan 38) The seekers in the parables reflect not just God, but also us, “the ones who are open to and seeking the Kingdom’s advent” (Crossan 72). The repeated phrase in today’s reading: “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,” emphasizes the spiritual joy of the very human seeker. One “born from above,” who glimpses what Jesus means by the kingdom of God, who judges not by the values of this world but by the standards of a loving God, is able to hear the angels singing for joy.
The elder son in the parable of the prodigal son obviously represents the Pharisees who were challenging Jesus, with their strict religious laws defining purity, who’s in, who’s out, who is was proper to associate with, to eat and drink with, but that instinctive righteous indignation lies in all of us. As with so much of Jesus’ teaching, the parables challenge our personal attitudes. But these three parables do more than merely illustrate examples for us to follow; they enact the kingdom of god, working their way into our hearts and minds, bringing about re-birth, renewed vision. The parables themselves incarnate Jesus’ insistence, repeated often in the gospel of Luke, that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). When the teachings of Jesus or the Bible inspire us to imagine a different world, a different way of thinking and being, then the vision becomes a reality; we glimpse what Jesus wants us to see and our reaction is one of great joy. All three parables in Luke 15 emphasize the joy, of the shepherd, the housewife, the father, at finding their lost one: “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, my coin, my son, that was lost.” The point is clear: “life lived in loving relationship with God and others, so that God’s will is joyfully done on earth as it is in heaven, and so that God’s presence spreads throughout the world in Spirit- inhabited human lives.” (McLaren 220) The Kingdom of God is Justice and Joy.
How much do you do that God asks you to do and how far do you take it? And do you listen?
The Gospel reading for this week has been heard before, so if you listened, you would have heard it. Like other parts of the Bible, I am not sure I agree with all of it but then I have to remind myself of when it was written, who it was addressed to and other factors behind it.
If I were to ask the question, how many of you pray to God and expect/hope for results, I am sure all of you would put up your hand or I guess nobody would pray at all. When I pray to God, quite often it is a chat.
The first part of the reading about where you should sit at a wedding would not be too difficult to follow, obviously as a guest you should not go sitting up with the bride and groom or at the family table but I am not so sure sitting in the lowest place is the right place either. That is, if you are doing so, like the reading says, “so that when your host comes, he may say to you, Friend, move up higher then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you”. I think this makes you stand out and appear to be a bit theatrical or a bit ‘show-offish’. A ‘look at me’ scenario. Seems to me it would make more sense to sit somewhere in the middle and not expect to be moved higher or lower.
The second part of this reading is the more difficult to try to do. Most of you who read this know that my ministry is with the homeless or less fortunate folks in St. Catharines. I use this experience a lot in my reflections but my role as a Deacon is that I bring the concerns/issues that happen outside the church to you who are inside the church. I am face to face with the people who come to get breakfast and I am happy to do so. Others are happier being in the kitchen making the breakfast or making coffee. As I type this I am reminded of that first part of the Gospel and taking the lowest seat/place in the room. Yes, the kitchen is further away from the people but there is no more or less important place at the breakfast program. We all have our jobs to do, places to be and none of them more important than the next. Without each other we couldn’t feed the over 100 clients who show up. We are in the church doing this work that we have all been called to do, because we listened to what God asked of us, but could you invite those same people into your home when lunch time rolled around? I am not sure any of us would say yes. Safety might come into your mind, cleanliness of your new guest would be a possible concern. (they certainly don’t all smell like lemon verbena). Is this really expected of us by God. I don’t think so. I think it is an extreme ask, that helps us to understand that we need to give as much to those in need as we do for our friends and family. We may be repaid by our friends and family by way of being invited to their place, but believe me, the joy at the end of every shift at the breakfast program gives me more repayment than a dinner out with a friend paying me back for something. (Don’t get me wrong, if you want to take me out or invite me over, I would not say no). So whatever you can do for those less fortunate than you; tossing a coin to guy on the corner, donating a backpack and school supplies, is what God is asking. And many of you have listened.
This brings me to the Psalm and the lines that immediately jumped out at me were, “But my people did not listen to my voice. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. O that my people would listen to me”.
If I were to ask the question, how many of you pray to God and expect/hope for results, I am sure all of you would put up your hand or I guess nobody would pray at all. When I pray to God, quite often it is a chat. I have to confess that my prayer/chat routine had gotten lost, put on the back burner I guess, because of things I had been struggling with in my life. But how wrong is that? I was beginning to wonder why I felt the way I did and couldn’t figure out the reason it was taking so long for me to ‘get over it’. One day, when I was feeling sorry for myself, I realized that it had been a while since I ‘chatted’ with God. It could be that I had finally sat quietly long enough to hear him calling. I had not been listening for a while. After chatting with God for a bit that afternoon, I felt relief. Like Sheila said in her sermon last week, we need to pass things over to God and let him carry them for a bit. As I reflect on ‘passing things over to God’ I am reminded of the old Tag-Team Wrestling matches, where one of the wrestlers is in the ring and the other is on the outside, waiting to be tagged in. I see myself in the ring, the ring is a representation of life and God is my tag team wrestler. When I am tired, beaten up and need a rest, I can reach out to God and switch places. After I have rested enough I can once again take my place in that ring, knowing that I can tag in God at any time.
Merciful God,
as we pour out the wealth you have entrusted to us,
the parched places are watered;
as we cease our evil talk,
the rising light of peace dawns in the darkness.
So lead us into faithful living
that your promises may unfold in us
as a woman’s back, long bent, unfolds at Christ’s command,
to the praise of your holy name. Amen.
Jeremiah 1:4-40
Psalm 71:1-6
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:10-17
Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
Why do we celebrate the Sabbath or for Christians Sunday? Why is it a day set apart? We do it because it is one of the commandments that God gave us, “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.” Exodus 20:8. God commanded us to set apart a day for rest, knowing that we need rest, physical rest from work but also emotional rest from the stresses of our jobs, mental rest from the busyness of our lives and spiritual rest from the constant pull of sin leading us away from the light of love of God.
When I was growing up, we were not allowed to do homework on Sundays. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized what a gift that was. To be able to not think about school or schoolwork and all the worry and anxiety that surrounded that gave us a real chance to ‘rest’ on Sundays.
This is what Jesus is showing the Pharisees in the healing of this woman who had been walking stooped over for many years and dealing with the pain, embarrassment, frustration, and limitation that this infirmity brought into her life. She was in need of rest, rest beyond just physical relief but rest for her mind and more importantly her soul. Sickness, physical disabilities and limitations do not just affect our bodies, they affect us mentally emotionally and spiritually. Jesus wanted to give this woman true rest from all of that and what better day to do that then on the Sabbath. The pharisees were focussing on the worship and traditional aspects of Sabbath, turning our minds and attentions to God to refocus our lives and that is an important element of how we keep Sabbath but being able to offer true rest for ourselves and those around us is also absolutely necessary.
When I was growing up, we were not allowed to do homework on Sundays. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized what a gift that was. To be able to not think about school or schoolwork and all the worry and anxiety that surrounded that gave us a real chance to ‘rest’ on Sundays. Sunday was a day to go to church, spend time with family and sometimes friends, to have a picnic, play games together, go for a walk, enjoy an afternoon at the beach. It was a day truly ‘set aside’, away from the stressors and busyness of the rest of the week. It allowed us to recharge our minds, bodies and our souls, It was one of the greatest gifts my parents gave us.
How do you ‘keep Sabbath’? How do you find rest on Sundays (or if your job requires you to work on Sundays another day of the week) for not just your body, but your mind and most importantly your soul? We live in a world that is constantly bombarding us with news, information, advertisements. That promotes busyness and demands that we do more and more in the limited hours of our days. God, who created us, knows that absolute need our bodies, minds and spirits need for rest. God did not set up Sabbaths for God’s own needs but ours, it is a gift. Recognize that it is, accept it and use it and remember, it’s a commandment!! Amen.
Isaiah 5:1-7 presents us with the metaphor of the vineyard, an image used five times by Jesus in his teaching. The last verse from Isaiah explains the analogy: “the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people…are his pleasant planting.” The vineyard is Israel, the vines are the people, and God is the caring, careful vintner. It presents above all in the first verses the reassurance of God’s sustaining love, the loving care he gives to his earth and his people: “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watch tower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it.”
It is important for us to consider beyond the human concern of the Biblical analogy of the vineyard, and realize that the world, this fragile earth, our island home, is the vineyard, and it sorely needs tending today. We have abandoned it, rather than cared for or protected it.
The verses in the middle of this passage, however, go on to describe God’s sorrow at his people’s waywardness and describe him as abandoning the vineyard. Around Pelham there are old abandoned vineyards, and they are a sad sorrowful sight, neglected, overrun with long grasses and weeds, the stunted vines no longer bearing leaves or fruit. Now I do not imagine a God who abandons at all; indeed, such a thought would contradict the opening verses. It is not God who abandons but people who abandon God’s ways. God expects justice, as verse 7 states, sharing of the garden and its produce, but instead he sees “bloodshed” over the land, battles for territory and ownership. Consider the situation in the Middle East today, the fighting over borders between Israel and Palestine, and we can hear the cry of God still.
Psalm 80 develops the metaphor of the vineyard and in v17 makes it clear that it is the people who are unfaithful, who turn from God & his ways: “we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.” As well, two verses from Isaiah 3 were originally set between verses 3 & 4 of the psalm, and there, God accuses the people of having eaten up the vineyard: “It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?’ declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.” A just equitable distribution of the harvest is the hallmark of God’s vineyard.
It is important for us to consider beyond the human concern of the Biblical analogy of the vineyard, and realize that the world, this fragile earth, our island home, is the vineyard, and it sorely needs tending today. We have abandoned it, rather than cared for or protected it. In light of such injustice and greedy exploitation, the gardener weeps. We recall when Jesus wept at the sight of wayward Jerusalem. God laments the destruction of the garden, the injustice of his people, but in his sustaining faithful love waits to restore his garden. Isaiah 27 presents a “song of the fruitful vineyard” and includes the promise of the vine restored “to blossom & bud and fill the face of the world with fruit.” As soon as his people reject their false gods and return to paths of justice and righteousness, as soon as they call on God in faithfulness, he is there to restore health to the land and its inhabitants; indeed, he is already at work even before we ask. But God can’t do it alone; the Lord needs our hands and hearts, our strength and souls, to participate in the renewal of God’s vineyard, in the establishment of God’s kingdom of justice and righteousness.
We so often forget God’s original blessing, the very act of creation, constantly renewing life, the great I AM, God’s supreme action and gift of love, life- giving love. We think of the world as fallen, when it is we who have fallen away from God’s original blessing. The growth of plants around us, the greening of this fragile earth, our island home, is a vivid reminder of God’s love freely given. Our attraction to gardens and gardening is a sign of our spiritual longing for spiritual connectedness with the world around us. On the eve of his passion, Jesus went with his disciples “to a place where there was a garden,” presumably the Garden of Gethsemane, the place of Judas’ later betrayal. Jesus’ passion had to begin there, in the good place, in the garden, for his actions atone for the betrayal in the first garden, and Jesus returns us to paradise. The affinity we feel with nature stems from our longing for “deep down things” (Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur”), for that first garden, for the glory of living in God’s love, as Jesus did. We need not create our own Edens; we need to acknowledge the Eden all around us. God’s vineyard hasn’t gone away; it’s still here, we’re still in it. Our rather unoriginal sin is to deny it, to ignore it—in our greed, to exploit it. God the ever-faithful, calls us to renewed faithfulness, to renew the garden, to tend the vineyard.
This week’s reading from Hebrews got me to thinking about faith in general. So many times when we discuss faith, we often muddle the term faith with belief, doctrine and religion. So let’s pull them apart.
I think that faith should be founded upon some experience of the Spirit of God within us, and not simply the recitation and passing down of religion, beliefs and doctrine.
But faith is a bit more complicated. Some say it is an illogical belief in the improbable (H.L. Mencken). The Bible says it is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen; while the Britannica defines faith as an inner attitude, conviction, or trust relating humans to a supreme God. It stresses divine grace, the certainty of love granted by God himself. (or, perhaps, herself).
I think that faith should be founded upon some experience of the Spirit of God within us, and not simply the recitation and passing down of religion, beliefs and doctrine.
Based on these definitions then, faith appears to be a belief in the set of doctrines held by a specific religion. This allows us to answer what is Christianity; what is Islam; what is Judaism. But wait…didn’t these three begin as one? All three claim their scriptures to be inspired by the same God and all would say their authoritative bodies created doctrine in the context of prayer, good faith and consensus.
In creating doctrine, the early Christian church created creeds. First came the Apostles’ Creed (170AD), a simple statement of Christian belief. The Nicene Creed came later (325AD) as a response to heresy which denied the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Anglican and the Roman Catholic tradition embed the doctrine of the creeds in their prayers and liturgy.
I think it is very important to recognize that these creeds do not mention the example of Jesus or the teachings of Jesus which were guideposts for the followers of the Way –before the label “Christian” was created.
Most denominations have official statements beyond the creeds, statements about grace, salvation, authority of scripture, sacraments etc. Some, such as original sin, are not directly found in scripture.
God in Christianity is conceived as all powerful, all knowing, yet a personal God who can relate to humans on an individual basis. The image of God is a single identifiable entity, yet subject to the doctrine of the Trinity (a subject for another day!) Much of whom the church says God is and what God does is set out in doctrine, but this runs into difficulty with scientific advances. For centuries the church cast aside the teachings of Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, Luther and leading theologians who are still speaking out today. These new truths challenged the church’s power and position in the world.
I believe we need to seeking ways to express thoughts about God in language appropriate to the age in which we live – giving us a new perspective on being creations of ‘something’ we might not be able to understand.
If, however, we recognize the validity of the call to a new life following the Way taught by Jesus, we may be able to leave old doctrines and concepts behind and follow that Way where we live, work, play and have our being.
We have all been there as a child, in the aisle of our favourite toy store. We tried our very best to convince an adult in our life that we needed something, and that we will be happy forever if we simply have it. But, as we all know, this pattern continues long after the item in question has been purchased, used, and thrown in the back of our closet. I’m not denying that new things are fun to have, and I certainly give in to my very own two sets of big, pleading eyes at home from time to time. But most of us would agree that a child’s happiness will not be permanently influenced by acquiring a material object, and it would be rather foolish to believe otherwise.
As it is with many of Jesus’ teachings, things aren’t exactly black and white.
But upon first glance, do we fully agree that the farmer in today’s Gospel is foolish? One might actually argue that he is being wise and responsible. He has worked hard and his business is thriving. He knows to save up his profits from a good season to help sustain him, should there ever be a drought. His land has produced such an abundance that he needs to expand his barns to store all his goods. Then he will be able to rest easy, knowing he is set and secure for years to come. Is this financial security not what we all strive for? How could it possibly be foolish to save for the future? Does he not deserve to enjoy the fruits of his labour?
As it is with many of Jesus’ teachings, things aren’t exactly black and white. God says to him, “You fool! This very night, your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20)
The rich farmer is a fool not because he is wealthy or successful, nor because he saves for the future. God rebukes him because he only speaks of himself, using words like “my,” and “I.” He is aware of how successful his land has been, but he shows no gratitude towards his family, his workers, or to God. He has more provisions than he could ever hope to use, and yet never thinks to share with others. Furthermore, he actually believes that his purpose and security lie somewhere in that giant pile of material possessions.
No matter how much we have, we will always be aware of what we don’t yet have. We are constantly told by the media that large amounts of money and possessions will fulfil us. But no amount of wealth can make us right with God. And no amount of anything can make us good disciples of Jesus. In fact, Jesus teaches that we who have more, have a responsibility to share with those who have less. Nothing we have really belongs to us- not even our lives- but rather it belongs to God, and should be shared with his Creation.
Like the child in the toy store, we as adults are still often faced with the dilemma: Do we follow the desires of this world, or do we follow God? Unfortunately, we will falter. But fortunately, we are blessed to have a God who will lovingly convict us and place us back on the path to Him, time and time again!
Today’s Gospel reading from Luke gives us helpful insights into what prayer is. First, it is communication with God whom, we are invited to call, Our Father. ‘Our’ means that God is a personal being, who is with us and cares for everyone. ‘Father’ is a relationship word, inviting us to think of God in the parent/child sense.
What Mommy or Daddy would give her/his child a snake instead of a fish? Would they give a scorpion instead of an egg? As we apply Jesus’ examples to our experiences, we can understand and appreciate how God loves and responds to us.
Secondly, Jesus acknowledges what we experience: faith and feelings at odds with each another. When that happens, Jesus urges us to persist. ‘Our Father’ is always listening and cares. Let us use the faith we have, and offer our feelings to God’s Holy Spirit for divine response.
Today’s story from Luke explains these points. Our Father celebrates the personal relationship God wants with us Some ancient manuscripts record, Abba, which means Daddy. As we think of what Father or Daddy mean in a healthy parent/child relationship, we can begin to appreciate what relationship God wants with us. Our Father (or Daddy) is a personal, caring, ever present being.
Next, verses 5 – 9 give us Jesus’ frank statement of what it is like to pray. Our faith and feelings are sometimes at odds with each other. We can lose hope and energy as we pray, and are tempted to give up. But, Jesus assures us. Our prayers are heard and answered, even though we don’t always know how or when. Knowing Jesus’ teaching encourages us. So, when we feel disappointment or frustration as we pray, Jesus assures that this is normal. But, he also urges us not to give up. He urges us to persist, and he explains why.
What parent (Daddy or Mommy) would ignore their child’s request? As we consider our relationships with our children, we can begin to appreciate the relationship God wants with everyone. God’s presence with us is personal. God cares. Answers or timing from prayer may not always what be we want. Jesus knows this. Feelings and faith at odds is normal. But, Jesus urges us to continue praying and asking for what we need.
Verses 11 – 13 explain why we should persist. Jesus goes a step further with his God/parent analogy. What Mommy or Daddy would give her/his child a snake instead of a fish? Would they give a scorpion instead of an egg? As we apply Jesus’ examples to our experiences, we can understand and appreciate how God loves and responds to us. Moreover, as Jesus explains, God will give us good gifts and God’s Holy Spirit to sustain and bless us. When our feelings and faith seem to be in conflict, Jesus invites us to keep praying. God’s gift of God’s Holy Spirit is with us. Let us reach back to our God, who is always reaching out to us – personally.
When we are unsure how, if or when God will answer, verses 9 – 10 encourage us. Keep trying. ‘Knock, and the door will be opened for you.’ ‘Seek and you will find.’ God does answer our prayers. When we are unsure of this – for whatever reason – God urges us to keep trying. God promises never to fail us. God cares for us, even more than we parents (or grandparents) care for our children.
Summary
When I sit down to prepare a reflection after having read the passages for that week, I quite often look to the internet for comments and then, most of the time, I have to re-read the passage to see what I missed. It also happens when I listen to Sunday’s sermon, but thankfully I get to hear it twice since I am also at the 8:30 service. Sometimes it is a hidden message that I maybe didn’t hear or read properly (or maybe I wasn’t listening), but too often it is a word or two, or even an entire line that I may have skipped over. It can happen to many of us, but for the most part it isn’t an issue, that is, until we start discussing what we read (or thought we read) to others, or write a reflection on it and that is what gets us into trouble. We read or hear part of something, not getting all of the facts and jump to conclusions or even spread our misunderstandings to others. Oh how stories can change from one person to another.
What God expects is that we do the same for all of his creations. Love all people equally and treat everyone and everything with respect, because it they all came from God.
I almost did that with this reflection. My first quick read through of the Amos passage earlier in the week, had me unhappy and I was not sure how to write about it. I did not read all of the words nor did I truly read it. I guess I just glanced at it enough, to see a mean God and I don’t like it when we hear stories of a mean God. How can I, as a Deacon, ask someone to turn to God at anytime and ask for help, forgiveness or whatever is on their minds or in their hearts?
I needed to look at it between the lines. If I read deeper into this passage, I am looking at it as more of a teachable moment for the people of Israel. Going against God, over and over again will not be tolerated. Just like a parent who reprimands (and even threatens) a child for doing something they are not supposed to be doing. I guess sometimes the threats can become reality but with help from the parent/God, it does not. God doesn’t have favourites, he may be a bit disappointed with some of us, but we are still his children and he loves us just the same. What God expects is that we do the same for all of his creations. Love all people equally and treat everyone and everything with respect, because it they all came from God. God is angry with the people of Israel because of their treatment of the poor. They may worship God, but that seems to be a fleeting thing because they are anxious for the Sabbath to be over so that they can get on with their evil ways. How many Christians today, go to church on Sunday, and then forget God until the next time they go into the church? This is what God is upset about here. Yes, the people of Israel are worshipping and making sacrifices, yet they have forgotten to carry out what God has taught.
Amos says that the children of Israel are no longer protected by the sacrifices they bring. They are no longer the oppressed people that God freed, but they have indeed become the oppressors. They have become greedy. Anxious for another day, when they can sell grain and get back to their evil ways. They even sold the “sweepings of the wheat”. I checked this out and a couple of suggestions on this were that this was the left over wheat in the fields or was on the threshing floor. By ‘sweeping’ it from the ground it would have contained dirt, dust, rocks and pebbles and therefore those to whom it was sold, would be getting less of the wheat itself. I also read that this was to be left for the poor to pick up and not have to buy it, or to be left for the animals to pick up in the fields.
Most of us don’t sell wheat, and therefore can say we would never do this, but what are we doing that might be somewhat the same? Are we giving fully of ourselves? Do we put in a full day at work or do we ‘fudge’ our hours a bit, when no one is paying attention? Are we giving enough or ourselves or our money to those who need it? What more can each of us do? I quite often hear people say things like “I can’t possibly do anything more in my day” and that might be so. However, I know that for me, many days I find myself spending a considerable amount of time in front of the television, playing games on the iPad and just wasting my time. If I took even a little bit of that time and spent it helping others instead, I know that it would mean more. The more I help others, the better I feel. (and I know from experience that most people feel better when someone is there for them).
This week I spent a few extra mornings at the breakfast program just wandering around outside chatting with the guests, wishing them a good morning and smiling. Most of them know my face, (at least my face above the mask) from being at the door a couple of mornings per week. Now they see my whole face, the face with a smile they can see and they get a bit more of my attention if they want it because I am not focused on what they want to eat. I am there to listen, chat or just be there.
Previously, I would have thought that I couldn’t do any more mornings at the program, but then I realized that all it takes is a bit of organization, getting up around the same time but instead of sitting in front of the television or staring at the iPad, before work, I can instead, be a better Christian, help out others and feel better for it. I am learning more and more from the people I meet one these mornings. These mornings have become teachable moments from God in the way of those I meet and once again I can say… and here I have been thinking I was helping them.
So… Is there more that you can do?
Divine Judge, you framed the earth with love and mercy and declared it good;
yet we, desiring to justify ourselves, judge others harshly, without knowledge or
understanding. Keep us faithful in prayer that we may be filled with the knowledge of
your will, and not ignore or pass by another’s need, but plumb the depths of love in showing mercy. Amen.
Amos 7:7-17
Psalm 82
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
The parable of the Good Samaritan, found only in the gospel of Luke, is one of the great stories of the Bible, the essence of Jesus’ teaching, showing as it does the way of his kingdom, with its emphasis on meeting the needs of others, on our common humanity with all people that on earth do dwell. Jesus tells the story to illustrate the Great Commandment of the Law: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” In Luke’s telling of this episode, the legal mind, hoping to set a limit to God’s inclusive injunction, asks the question, “Who is my neighbour?” which gives Jesus the opportunity to tell this great parable.
Jesus uses the Good Samaritan as an answer to the question, “Who is my neighbour?” The answer is so obvious, even the expert in the law gets it: “anyone in need of mercy”—even your worst enemy. The connection between the wounded man and the Samaritan is their common humanity.
A man falls into the hands of thieves, is robbed and left to die unless help comes. Two priests pass by, ignore the man’s obvious need and hurry on their way. But a third man, from Samaria, stops, cares for his wounds, transports him to an inn where he is fed and cared for. Any further expenses incurred by the innkeeper will be covered when the Samaritan returns at a later date.
The full impact of the story is lost to us today unless we understand the tense relationship between the Jews of that time and the people of Samaria. The Samaritans and the Jews were hated enemies. Samaritans were not allowed in the temple of Jerusalem and Jews prayed that God would give them no share in eternal life. In the previous chapter of the gospel of Luke which we read two Sundays ago, Jesus’ disciples want “to command fire to come down from heaven and consume” a Samaritan village which refused to receive him. The Samaritans were Jews, actually, but to the Israelite audience of this parable, the Samaritans were unclean half-breeds; the historical rift between the two peoples was huge. The gospel of John puts it succinctly: “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” (4:9).
The listeners of Jesus’ parable would have gasped in surprise at the positive characterization of this loathed enemy; they’d have been shocked and appalled. The Samaritan was an outsider, a foreigner, yet Jesus uses the Good Samaritan as an answer to the question, “Who is my neighbour?” The answer is so obvious, even the expert in the law gets it: “anyone in need of mercy”—even your worst enemy. The connection between the wounded man and the Samaritan is their common humanity. The parable is consistent with the unique teachings of Jesus found in Luke’s gospel during the Sermon on the Mount, immediately following the Beatitudes: “I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”
The parable of the Good Samaritan is relevant two millennia after Christ, because its power runs deeper than its obvious meaning. The parable has the familiar three-fold structure of a folktale (one person, two persons, three persons), but if Jesus wanted to illustrate neighbourliness, he could have used a priest, a Levite and then a Jewish lay person; with such a contrast, he would also have challenged the temple authorities and the purity laws, as he did so often in his teaching. If he had wished to illustrate to his audience, “Love your enemy,” the story could have portrayed a Jew helping a wounded Samaritan. That would have been conceivable to his audience and would have appealed to their pride. But the unexpected twist of placing the Samaritan in the heroic role forces Jesus’ Jewish listeners to contemplate what was for them the impossible: the word “Good” coupled with the word “Samaritan.” The expert of the law, and the other Jews present, could have dismissed the example by insisting that no Samaritan would ever act in such a way, but before Jesus poses his question at the end of the parable, “Which of these three, do you think, was neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
The audience must listen to a lengthy description—two verses, 66 words, the most attention given to any element in the story—involving the hearer in the sensual details of what this particular Samaritan did for this particular wounded Jew. Seeing, feeling, hearing the goodness of this Samaritan, the listener must answer Jesus’ question with the only answer possible: “The one who showed him mercy.”
As with so much of Jesus’ teaching, the parable reverses expectations, upsets accepted social barriers, challenges conventional attitudes. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho actually skirted Samaria, went around it, in order to avoid contact with these hated rivals; hence, that the Jew is rescued by a Samaritan adds further irony to the story. Jesus came breaking down barriers between people; when Jesus travelled from Galilee to Jerusalem, he passed through Samaria, he didn’t avoid it, and you’ll recall his conversation with the woman at the well, breaking down many barriers, racial, religious, gender. But the parable does more than merely illustrate an example; it actually enacts the realm of God, forcing its way into the entrenched opinions of the day, working imaginatively into hearts and minds, bringing about a re-birth, a renewed vision. The parable creates the very condition that the writer of Deuteronomy once described: “the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” The parable incarnates Jesus’ repeated insistence that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). When the teachings of Jesus inspire us to imagine a different world, a different way of thinking and being, then the vision becomes a reality; there’s no turning back once the ideal way of our Lord is conceived. Implanted in our heart and soul and mind, we have spiritual strength to love our neighbour.
The story can be understood in so many ways and experienced on so many levels; as in a dream, all the characters can symbolize a part of ourselves, a situation, an attitude: at times we are the robbers, exploiting, hurting others; we are the wounded man, unjustly wronged, bleeding, left for dead; we all too often are the priest and the Levite, passing by on the other side, not wanting to involve ourselves with unpleasant situations or unclean people; we are the expert in the law, seeking to justify ourselves, self-righteous, judgmental, keeping others out; but we are also the Good Samaritan, for that character represents the best that we can be, the ideal of compassion, neighbourliness, hospitality; and finally Jesus is part of us, his indwelling Spirit asking “which of the three do you think was neighbour to the man?” The Great Commandment calls us constantly to centre ourselves in God and to make the world a better place through compassion, justice and peace.
The parable of the Good Samaritan changes us forever, encourages us to see beyond race, creed and colour, to realize that everyone is our neighbour, a beloved child of God, deserving of our respect and compassion. Notice in the story that the two men never meet again. No lifelong friendship, no rich correspondence ensues. Just compassion to a neighbour on the journey. We must be compassionate as we travel through the days of our lives, toward The Other we meet on the way. The parable of the Good Samaritan inspires us to recognize the humanity of the stranger, to acknowledge the divine in the outsider. It is a brilliant story from our Lord Jesus, the Master Teacher.
God of fresh beginnings, you make all things new in the wisdom of Jesus Christ.
Make us agents of your transforming power and heralds of your reign of justice and peace,
that all may share in the healing Christ brings. Amen.
2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favour with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’ So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, ‘Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.’
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, ‘When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.’ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’
But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.’ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’ But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, ‘I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?’ He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
Psalm 30
Galatians 6:7-16
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20