The Upload
Posted on Jul 08, 2016 by
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed week and that you were able to also celebrate the 4th of July with family and friends.
I love the 4th of July. It is a great time to relax with family and friends, to watch parades, and to enjoy fireworks, but it is also a time to remember and give thanks for the abundance of blessings and freedoms we have in this country. We are truly blessed, and as such a blessed people, I pray we never forget that with such an abundance we are called to be a blessing to the world.
As I was reading our Gospel text for this Sunday (Luke 10:25-37), the story of the Good Samaritan, I thought about this call to be a blessing to the world. Of course, to the people listening to Jesus in his day, the term “Good Samaritan” would have been an oxymoron. The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other. There was no such thing as a “good” Samaritan. You see, the Samaritans were those Jews who had been conquered when the Northern Kingdom of Judah was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BC. Most of them were sent into exile, but those that remained intermarried with non-Jews, and the Jews considered them to be not pure. Over the centuries, the two grew to really hate each other. In fact, in Jesus’ day, a good Jew would do anything to avoid stepping on Samaritan land. So when Jesus told this story about how a Samaritan stopped to help a man who had been beaten (probably a Jewish man) and left dying on the side of the road, you can bet those listening, the Jews, would have been pretty upset. How could a Jew ever think a Samaritan could do a good thing?
But that was Jesus’ point. When God looks at us, he does not see Jew or Samaritan, he does not see black or white, nor does he see Christian or Muslim. Remember what Paul taught in the Book of Romans? “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him” (Romans 10:12). No, as hard as it is to admit, God loves all creation, and God desires that we treat each other like our neighbors. And who is our neighbor? Well, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist tradition, once responded to this same question by saying,” Your neighbor is anyone born of a woman.” I believe Jesus would have liked that answer. As hard as it is at times, God expects us, those not in the “ditches of life,” to reach out to those who are in the ditches and help them out. That is what neighbors do!
So often, we are willing to “walk by” or ignore those most in need, but Jesus tells us to act differently, to be like that Samaritan who couldn’t just walk by. Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.” This is not an easy thing to do, but as we celebrate our freedom as Americans this week, I pray that we can find it in our hearts to find ways to be like that Good Samaritan and reach out to those in the ditches around us and offer real help, even if it costs us our time and our money.
Have a blessed and holy week!
Shalom,
Pr. Dave