8th Sunday After Pentecost: Luke 10:25-37
“Teacher,
what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. I wonder if there has ever been a question
that has remained so constant throughout the course of human existence. Humanity, is obsessed with prolonging life, in
a constant attempt to live forever. It
should not be surprising that these same questions were so common two thousand
years ago.
I
should preface, that I am concerned that much of Christian theology has viewed
eternal life as a destination, or a place we arrive when we have died, if we
are saved. This assumes that eternal
life is equivalent to heaven. This elicits
the desire to do something now with a future result in mind. It is like buying stock or investing with
promises of future gains. And there
might be some truth to this, but it certainly not the extent of the eternal
life Jesus spoke about. And the lawyer
in our Gospel story nails this.
The
lawyer answers correctly. He uses of
portion of the Shema – the prayer said by faithful Jews every single day which
says that we are to love God with all our heart and mind. And then he attaches love of neighbor. Simple.
And Jesus’ answer is, do this and you will really live. Eternal Life is about fully living. It might be about the future. It might be about eternity, but it also
certainly about the here and now. What
must I do to inherit eternal life? What
must I do to fully live?
And
the response we get from Jesus is the parable of the Good Samaritan.
There’s
a funny joke about heaven. A couple
decides that they want to get married but die tragically right before the
wedding. The couple is sitting outside heaven’s gate waiting on St.
Peter to do the paperwork so they can enter. While waiting, they wonder if they
could possibly get married in Heaven. St. Peter finally shows up and they ask
him. St. Peter says, "I don't know, this is the first time anyone has ever
asked. Let me go find out," and he leaves.
The couple sit for a couple of months and begin to wonder if they really should get married in Heaven, what with the eternal aspect of it all. "What if it doesn't work out?" they wonder, "Are we stuck together forever?" St. Peter returns after yet another month, looking somewhat in a mess. "Yes," he informs the couple, "you can get married in Heaven." "Great," says the couple, "but what if things don't work out? Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?"
St. Peter, red-faced, slams his clipboard onto the ground. "What's wrong?" exclaims the frightened couple. "Geez!" St. Peter exclaims, "It took me three months to find a priest up here! And now you want me to go find a lawyer?"
The couple sit for a couple of months and begin to wonder if they really should get married in Heaven, what with the eternal aspect of it all. "What if it doesn't work out?" they wonder, "Are we stuck together forever?" St. Peter returns after yet another month, looking somewhat in a mess. "Yes," he informs the couple, "you can get married in Heaven." "Great," says the couple, "but what if things don't work out? Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?"
St. Peter, red-faced, slams his clipboard onto the ground. "What's wrong?" exclaims the frightened couple. "Geez!" St. Peter exclaims, "It took me three months to find a priest up here! And now you want me to go find a lawyer?"
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, we
encounter a man who is in great need. He
is left for dead on the side of the road.
His life is dependent on grace from someone else. He first encounters a priest and then a
Levite. Both are religious leaders of
the time, and they ignore him. How often
are brought up short by the actions of those who claim authority on behalf of “The
Church.” How often do we turn to church
or religious leaders, and realize the truly human nature of all people and feel
disappointed, sometimes even disgusted.
I wish I could tell you this was not the case. And I wish I could tell you that even as your
newbie deacon, I will be perfect, or that you as ministers of the church will
be perfect and life will be all peachy, but deep down, we know that is not
true.
And then we encounter the Samaritan. The meaning of Samaritan has become lost in
context over time. We view the Samaritan
as the good stranger or the outsider.
But a Samaritan was more than a stranger to the Jewish man he met. Samaritans, also believed in the Hebrew God,
but they believed they were the true religion of the Israelites since before
the Babylonian exile. Personally, when
someone tells me that my religion is a fraud, and they have the keys to true
knowledge, I am not eager to get along, to like, or to accept that person. In my own defensiveness, I become agitated,
possibly angry, and find myself standing in complete opposition. This is the
extent of the relationship between the Jewish man and the Samaritan. Our edition of ‘good’ to how we address the
Samaritan reinforces that this is not normative. Imagine a radical extremist Muslim, coming to
the aid of a radical and extremist Christian or vise versa.
Additionally, both the Jewish leaders and the
Samaritan leaders taught that it was wrong to enter each other’s territory. It was wrong to even speak to each
other. Remember Jesus’ encounter with
the Samaritan women at the well. “The
Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a
woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)”[1]
The famous Jewish historian Josephus accounts for
many violent encounters during the first century between Jews and
Samaritans. It is deeply saddening to
know that our world has not really changed.
Violence between deep people of faith, who should have so much more in
common than not, still exists today.
Fighting in Nigeria, India, Myanmar/Burma, and the Philippians is deeply
troubling. I remember a few years ago,
driving by a Mosque in Myanmar/Burma that had been burned to the ground by
angry Buddhists. People seeking to
transform the world are violently killing each other.
We are missing something. The priest and the Levite walked by, crossing
the road to avoid the man on the ground.
The people seeking to transform the world have missed the bigger picture
and the possibility for transformation. They
have failed to fully comprehend who is a neighbor. It is not just a person next door, a person
who is like-minded. In our human
existence, even the people who we are diametrically opposed to, by our human
relationships are neighbors.
At the conclusion of our worship today, Deacon
David will lead us with a dismissal.
This dismissal is often a claim to go into the world, rejoicing in the
Spirit, to love and serve the Lord. It
is a reminder that as our corporate worship ends our service to the world
begins. Our challenge for today is to
see ourselves as a people of reconciliation, people of reconciliation called to
love thy neighbor. We come to church to
be fed, and we go into the world to feed others. We are to understand that the fullness of
life comes when we reach across lines to those with who we are opposed, to be
in relationship.
I believe there are two fundamental truths from
this reality that we are called to recognize.
First, We are called to be people of reconciliation to those people who
we disagree with, we feel hurt by, abandoned by, and challenged by today. This means people who stand opposite our
worldview, our faith, and our political positions. Love of neighbor extends to them as
well.
Second, we are called to be a people of reconciliation
to not just the people, but the ideals and positions that we stand in
opposition with or are challenged by today.
It is not just the people, but their worldviews which we need. This means theological differences,
differences in understandings of human sexuality, understanding of God’s
revelation. It doesn’t mean we have to
agree, but it does mean we have to be in relationship. To be a people of reconciliation
means we need both the left and the right on all issues because it is the
dialogue between two oppositions that allows for reconciliation and love of
neighbor.
Friends as we move from this place today, let us
remember that we are called to be people of reconciliation. We are called to seek across our differences
and be in relationship with those who we disagree with. My hope is that as we begin to explore ways
of celebrating our 25 years of being church this fall, we will have some unique
opportunities to be people of reconciliation.
Although it is a call in all aspects of our life, my hope is we will be
presented with a specific charge as we invite people back to our church to
celebrate what Annunciation has been to people over 25 years. We acknowledge that all journeys in our life,
especially our spiritual journeys have moments of great joy and moments of deep
sadness. That is the journey of this life.
It is specifically the Christian journey that brings hope and redemption
through death and then resurrection.
With hopeful hearts, we move today to being
especially mindful to move to be people of reconciliation, a people of
resurrection because that is what it means to fully live. We know that this difficult journey of
seeking across our differences provides a key to what it means to truly
live. And by truly living we can begin
to find eternal life.
Sermon Preached at Church of the Annunciation
July 14, 2013
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