Weekly Bible Study and Worship Resources for Ordinary 15
Year C, Colour = Green
Ordinary 15 Year C
Introduction
Put 100 theologians into a room and ask them how to inherit eternal
life and there will probably be at least 100 different answers. There
would probably some very complicated answers too. So, it is refreshing
that in the Bible reading from Luke today the answer which Jesus
agrees with is very straightforward.
The way to inherit everlasting life is by loving God and loving our neighbour. There you have it, show love and live. The problem is that Jesus defined neighbour in the widest possible sense. Jesus wants us to love not just the people we like or live near to, he wants us to love the horrible folk we would rather cross the road than even talk to. It all seemed so simple but actually its easier said than done.
Opening Verse of Scripture Luke 10:27
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' ; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'"Collect Prayer for the Day — Before we read we pray
O God, the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:
increase and multiply upon us your mercy;
that with you as our ruler and guide
we may so pass through things temporal
that we lose not our hold on things eternal;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. CW
Gracious Father, by the obedience of Jesus you brought salvation to our wayward world: draw us into harmony with your will, that we may find all things restored in him, our Saviour Jesus Christ. CW
First Bible Reading Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Moses spoke to the people, saying, The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the LORD your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe. NRSV
Second Reading Colossians Chapter 1:1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. NRSV
Gospel Reading Luke 10:25-37
A lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?' Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.‘ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’ NRSV
Post Communion Prayer
Eternal God, comfort of the afflicted and healer of the broken, you have fed us at the table of life and hope: teach us the ways of gentleness and peace, that all the world may acknowledge the kingdom of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. CW
Commentary
The parable Jesus tells echoes back to some deep divisions in the community. When the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Samaria fell to the Assyrians around 722 BC some of the inhabitants were carried off into exile, but some remained and intermarried, which fostered a division between the Jews and Samaritans (who still had much pure Jewish blood in them!) that was probably already beginning to appear. When Cyrus allowed the Jews to return from the Babylonian exile, the Samaritans were ready to welcome them back but the exiles, despised the Samaritans as renegades. When the Samaritans wanted to join in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem, their assistance was rejected (Ezra 4). Later, the Samaritans allied themselves with the Seleucids in the Maccabean wars and in 108 B.C. the Jews destroyed the Samaritan temple and ravaged the territory. Around the time of Jesus’ birth, a band of Samaritans then profaned the Temple in Jerusalem by scattering the bones of dead people in the sanctuary. Josephus, a Jewish historian who was born around the time of Christ tells us about something about the conflict between the Jews and the Samaritans in his book, Jewish Wars. A Jew, on his way to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, is attacked and murdered in a Samarian village called Gema. The Jews demanded that the Roman Procurator, Cumanus, take action and bring the murderer to justice. Unfortunately Cumanus procrastinated and the Jews, under the leadership of Eleazar ben Deinai and Alexander, took the law into their own hands and marched upon a toparchy called Acrabatene where they slaughtered the Samarians and razed their villages to the ground. The divisions were deep and longstanding.
Seen in this context the story of the good Samaritan is particularly poignant and forceful. It wasn’t just an academic or philosophical exercise, this was real. In stopping and assisting the man who was attacked, the Samaritan is not just offering help to him; he's metaphorically turning back the pages of history and offering help to the Jewish nation, an opportunity to change history. The relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans can be different, it doesn’t have to be the same, we do not have to inhabit the history that precede us, we can break free of it in Christ. The pain and hatred that have burned or many years between peoples of different perspectives can be healed. But the Jews and Samaritans need to let go of their bigotry and hatred. The choice is theirs; the Samaritan man has held out his hand - the Jews, including the expert in the law who had posed the question to Jesus, needed to respond. In her book, ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’ by Shoshana Zuboff (an excellent book by the way!) the author refers to the mind as being the ‘organ of the past’ and the will as the ‘organ of the future’. In a Christian context this would lead is to reflect that we may recall the past with our minds but have an opportunity to shape the future to be different with our (free) wills, which god gives to all.
The Samaritan takes the man to Jericho, a town where many rich Jewish people lived. Zacchaeus the tax collector, 'one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man', was one of its inhabitants so Luke tells us later in his gospel. Not surprising then that to robbers and thieves prowled the road between Jerusalem and Jericho which yielded rich pickings. But despite Jericho's apparent wealth, the Samaritan offers to pay for the injured man. The Jews here may have been materially rich, but spiritually they were poor. How much is that a reflection on our society today?
Before the Samaritan had arrived on the scene, two prominent Jewish figures, both experts in Jewish law, had passed by on the other side of the road. Who is my neighbour the expert in the law enquires of Jesus. All of them would know that the Jewish law (Torah) defines 'our neighbour' as anyone at all that they could help. Who is our neighbour? Is it someone we can help? Or are there perhaps years of history that prevent us from helping someone in need? Perhaps someone we need to forgive for a wrong they did many years ago. Perhaps someone who is holding their hand out to us and asking us to respond in love, not bitterness. Perhaps we need to see something in a different light, from a different perspective so that God's love can be seen in a different light and a different perspective too. To exercise our will not our mind. Restoration, healing and wholeness have always been characteristics of God's love to us and the world. He invites us to rewrite a history with his love and compassion at its very centre, so that we and the world can be set free in his limitless liberty and love. Sam Cappleman
Meditation
The Lawyer’s question in the gospel reading is an interesting one. One way of reading it would imply he’s looking at what’s the minimum he can get away with to inherit eternal life enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus’ answer is disconcerting and not surprisingly gives rise to further questions. Jesus replies that the minimum required and necessity to inherit eternal life is everything. ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself’, as the lawyer himself replies. The lawyer then goes on to ask how many people that might be, how many neighbours is he expected to have, perhaps again looking for some bounds or criteria that might at least limit his commitment. Jesus says there are no bounds or limits to ‘everything’. If we were committing to a true and lasting relationship, we would not think to say, ‘what’s the minimum I can get away with committing to this person?’ God invites us into a relationship with Him through Christ. All he asks of us is everything. But He knows that we are human and that is beyond us without the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. He does not ask us more than we are able, but He does invite us to start out on that journey. Seeing others as He sees them. Seeing the neighbour not as the one in need but the one who offers out the hand and voice of compassion, empathy and understanding. Someone who is prepared to go the extra mile for those with whom there have been differences and divisions so that God’s love and Kingdom can be revealed. Sam Cappleman
Hymns
- Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord! (Tune: Woodlands)
- When I needed a neighbour Tune: Neighbour by Carter)
- Brother let me be your servant
- O happy day
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
"Prayer is a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian.
If it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected, it will wither and die."
Grant, O Lord, that in your wounds I may find my safety; in your stripes, my cure; in your pain, my peace; in your Cross, my victory; in your resurrection, my triumph; and in the glory of your kingdom, a crown of righteousness; for your tender mercy’s sake. Amen Jeremy Taylor, 1613-1667
Guide us by your unchangeable Spirit, O God, that we may seek peace and pursue it, that we may follow in the way of righteousness, increase in our knowledge of the one true light and seek the goodness and welfare of all, until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of Christ, for ever and ever. Amen. George Fox (1624-1691)
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people, that in their
vocation and ministry they may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory
of your name; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever.
Eternal God, giver of love and peace, you call your children to live together as one family. Give us grace to learn your ways and to do your will, that we may bring justice and peace to all people, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Additional Resources
Commentary
‘The Good Samaritan’ We are told today that an expert in the law comes to speak to Jesus and poses a question, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life.’ It is not usual for a lawyer to cut so quickly to the crux of the matter, but credit where credit is due. This is perhaps the most important question which anyone ever asked of Jesus. The lawyer has put his finger on the single most important source of human angst and hence the answer of Jesus becomes perhaps the most famous of all parables of Jesus.
This is a wonderful passage for anyone who wonders whether they are acceptable to God. The answer which Jesus gives involves him teasing the man with the phrase, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself'. But we cannot escape the fact that when asked how we inherit eternal life, Jesus devotes the vast majority of his answer to a story about a Samaritan and how he reacted when faced with a difficult decision. Jesus is asked about eternal life and he answers in a story about human lifestyle. You might have expected Jesus to devote himself to teaching about spectacular spiritual qualities. You could be forgiven for expecting Jesus to go on at length about religious devotion, but he doesn't. He talks about human pity, nursing care, sacrificial giving of your own transport and shelling out cash for someone other than yourself. It is these ordinary human qualities of love and care which are given status by Jesus.
Professional religious people will sometimes try to convince us that certain spiritual activities are what God is really concerned about. Subsequently many people live their lives with spiritual guilt because they think they are missing the spiritual target. If we are not careful, coming to church can be disappointing a little like going to Weightwatchers each week and finding that you haven't lost enough weight. However if you want to know how to please God, do not be concerned about distractions, look at the Samaritan. These are the qualities which God looks for. How we treat not just one another, but all others, this is the acid test of our love for God, and it is this lifestyle which counts before God. Love for God has so often been associated with particular expressions of behaviour.
If we think of love for God and we are honest, then we are often tempted to think of particular spiritual behaviour. A common word used these days is 'spirituality', all kinds of books are being written, courses and retreats organised about spirituality. It is in a sense a bit of a mysterious word, and for the uninitiated it is perhaps perceived as something reserved for those who are on a higher spiritual level capable of receiving better signals from the divine stratosphere. Whenever you hear the word 'spirituality' remember that Jesus tells us that when it comes to the crunch, the bottom line is this, what matters is what we would do if we went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
Spirituality is not about religious exercises, it is about how we live our Christian life and if it isn't about that then it is just self-indulgent rubbish. The techniques and spiritual hoops which we may like to try and jump through are largely of human making. Different spiritualities have stressed prayers, rosaries, meditation, Bible study, sacraments, retreats, pilgrimages, alpha courses, the list is endless. These are just some things which some people have found helpful, to other people they may be an anathema. There are obviously good spiritualities and bad spirituality, but what defines them as such is how well they equip us to be obedient to Christ. We do not have to be the same, the way that you and I relate to God may be very different, the proof of the spiritual pudding is however in how we are changed to follows our Master.
So how can we become the kind of people who will inherit eternal life? How can we change what is dreadful within us and become more like the example of Christ? We must realise that (for want of a better word) our religious activity is not about a journey of self-discovery, it is not about self-satisfaction. We seek after the will of God and we sit at Jesus feet like Mary in order that we may go out and serve him like Martha. It is my firm conviction that if we sit honestly at Jesus feet we instinctively want to go out into his world to serve him. Spirituality is not self-seeking, or self-serving, it is about becoming the kind of people who are committed in their faith, who are prepared to go out and be the good Samaritan.
The parable is also a fine example of what prayer is all about. The Good Samaritan could have passed by on the other side of the road like the others and then prayed for the man in need? Quite possibly the priest remembered the man in his prayers that night. Quite possibly the Levite remembered him in his prayers that night also. Those prayers were totally unacceptable, Jesus used those people as examples of people who missed the mark. The 20th century theologian Karl Barth once wrote that "to clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." Put simply prayer is a beginning, but prayer isn't magic. If we pray for the people who fall among thieves and then walk by on the other side that uprising will never happen through our prayers. It was this action of the Samaritan which was considered worthy by Jesus.
Often people feel intensely guilty about their spiritual devotion and imagine that they should be doing something which they are not. Jesus said, 'if you love me you will keep my commandments,' Prayer is not just about saying words but it is about an attitude of life and of the heart. About being prepared to disturb the complacency of our lives and put ourselves at risk. This is real spirituality, real Christianity and it puts us in God's good books. Charles Royden
Meditation
It took me a long time to learn that God is not the enemy of my enemies. He is not even the enemy of His enemies. Martin Niemoller
For Christians the man who fell among robbers is Christ himself. Jesus taught us that whatsoever we do to the least of these, we do to Jesus himself. So it is that Christians are called to see the face of Jesus in the poor, the needy, the outcast, and the lowly. having compassion. The love of God is always connected to the love of neighbour. One Desert Father taught his disciples to draw a circle with a compass. God is the centre point, he said, and we are all of us at the circumference making our journey to God. As our line draws closer to God, our line also gets closer to the lines of others. The closer we get to God, the closer we get to one another; and the closer we get to one another, the closer we get to God. Today we are asked whether there are limits to our compassion. It is easy to speak of our love for humankind and ask God to enhance this love in our lives. It is much harder to love the person who always parks their car outside our house or who has children who make a noise and play in the street. Our neighbours are not those we like, they are those we find difficult, or like the Samaritan those we are told we should hate. As Christians we do not get to choose, whenever somebody is in need, we are to treat them as we would treat Christ himself, nobody should ever get passed by.
First Additional Commentary
"A priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan were going down the road and..." This could have been a humorous story from two thousand years ago. But of course anyone familiar with the New Testament recognizes it as one of the most memorable parables of our Lord. The Samaritan is the unlikely hero of this story. His kindness and generosity towards a complete stranger make him the perfect example of what Jesus means by the word "neighbour."
To enjoy the full impact of this parable we have to remember the circumstances of its telling. Jesus is responding to the question, Who is my neighbour? This question is posed by a scholar who had hoped to put Jesus at a disadvantage and failed. The question itself implies that some boundaries can be imposed on the term "neighbour," as if to say some people qualify and some do not. It all depends on where they live in relation to where you live.
Jesus removes all boundaries to the term by shifting the standard. The issue is not how others relate to you but how you relate to them. The Samaritan makes himself a neighbour to a perfect stranger. Our own language testifies to the success of this parable. We commonly refer to a generous person as a "Good Samaritan." But that of course overlooks the real lesson of the parable, which is to make ourselves good Samaritans to the people around us.
The Good Samaritan could have passed by on the other side of the road like the others and then prayed for the man in need? Quite possibly the priest remembered the man in his prayers that night. Quite possibly the Levite remembered him in his prayers that night also. Those prayers were totally unacceptable, Jesus used those people as examples of people who missed the mark. 20th century theologian Karl Barth once wrote that
"to clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world."
The prayer is a beginning, but prayer isn't magic. If we pray for the people who fall among thieves and then walk by on the other side that uprising will never happen through our prayers. It was this action of the Samaritan which was considered worthy by Jesus. Often people feel intensely guilty about their spiritual devotion and imagine that they should be doing something which they are not. Jesus said, 'if you love me you will keep my commandments,'
not that we will perform religious devotions. Ultimately all of our religion is tested in the fire of daily living, to what extent does what we pray make a difference to how we live?
Second Commentary
Josephus, a Jewish historian who was born around the time of Christ tells us about the conflict between the Jews and the Samaritans in his book, Jewish Wars. A Jew, on his way to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, is attacked and murdered in a Samarian village called Gema. The Jews demanded that the Roman Procurator, Cumanus, take action and bring the murderer to justice. Unfortunately Cumanus procrastinated and the Jews, under the leadership of Eleazar ben Deinai and Alexander, took the law into their own hands and marched upon a toparchy called Acrabatene where they slaughtered the Samarians and razed their villages to the ground.
Seen in this context the story of the good Samaritan is particularly poignant. In stopping and assisting the man who was attacked, the Samaritan is not just offering help to him; he's metaphorically turning back the pages of history and offering help to the Jewish nation, an opportunity to change history. The relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans can be different. The pain and hatred that have burned or many years between them can be healed. But the Jews need to let go of their bigotry and hatred. The choice is theirs, the Samaritan man has held out his hand - the Jews, including the expert in the law who had posed the question to Jesus, needed to respond.
The Samaritan takes the man to Jericho, a town where many rich Jewish people lived. Zacchaeus the tax collector, 'one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man', was one of its inhabitants so Luke tells us later in his gospel. Not surprising then that to robbers and thieves the road between Jerusalem and Jericho yielded rich pickings. But despite Jericho's apparent wealth, the Samaritan offers to pay for the injured man. The Jews here may have been materially rich, but spiritually they were poor.
Before the Samaritan had arrived on the scene, two prominent Jewish figures, both experts in Jewish law, had passed by on the other side of the road. Who is my neighbour the expert in the law enquires of Jesus. All of them would know that the Jewish law (Torah) defines 'our neighbour' as anyone at all that they could help.
Who is our neighbour? Is it someone we can help? Or are there perhaps years of history that prevent us from helping someone in need? Perhaps someone we need to forgive for a wrong they did many years ago. Perhaps someone who is holding their hand out to us and asking us to respond in love, not bitterness. Perhaps we need to see something in a different light, from a different perspective so that God's love can be seen in a different light and a different perspective too.
Restoration, healing and wholeness have always been characteristics of God's love to us and the world.
Rev Dr Sam Cappleman
Prayer
Father God, help us to overcome bitterness, and hardness in our lives. Turn our coldness into your warmth. Help us to be open to you so that we can be open to others. Strengthen us to hold out our hand so you can hold out yours.Amen
Lord and Father, nothing and no one is strange to you. Give us the will and the words to go to those who are strange to us, bearing your love and to speak your name at your moment. Give us the grace and the privilege of making you known in Jesus. Amen
O gracious and Holy Father, give us wisdom to perceive Thee, diligence to seek Thee, patience to wait for Thee, eyes to behold Thee, a heart to meditate upon Thee, and a life to proclaim Thee; through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen St Benedict
The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen
God our Father, you made each of us unique and unrepeatable. Inspire me to live in such a way that I respect others and am ready to learn from all who are part of my life this day. Amen.
Lord we remember before you all our brothers and sisters who are weighed down with suffering. Bless and guide us that your love may be reflected in our concern for the hungry, the oppressed and the unloved. Help us to acknowledge and grow in appreciation that all people are made in your image and likeness. Amen.
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our brothers ands sisters throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them by our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love give peace and joy Amen.
Meditation
Rabbi Hillel, one of the great Jewish teachers who lived around the time of Christ summed the great commandment up, saying - "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary. Go, learn (it)!"
Meditation on Vincent Van Gogh Painting
This painting is a mirror image of a painting of the same name by French artist Eugene Delacroix. What Van Gogh has done is to interpret the painting in his palette of colours and the distinctive brushwork which you will recognise from Starry Night a few weeks ago. The original by Delacroix was much darker and it should be said looks like like a copy of an even earlier work by the Italian Domenico Fetti in the 17th century.
Van Gogh painted this when he was in a French asylum for a year in St Remy de Provence. I remember visiting asylums in the 1970’s and they were grim prisons with melancholy people wandering lost to the sounds of screaming from behind bars. Van Gogh had been sent to his barred cell because he had had a complete breakdown in Arles and cut off part of his ear. He was a tragic figure and not long after painting this he left the asylum and shot himself. His suicide note read, "The sadness will last forever."
You see the two figures walking off down the road, these are not the robbers who have left the empty chest, these are those who have failed to show compassion. Vincent knew that feeling, the people of Arles called him the fou roux (red-headed madman). He had wanted his yellow house in Arles to become a place of painters but he was visited only by Gaughin who soon left when faced with Vincent’s extreme act of self harming. He only sold a single painting in his life, and in Arles, his work was held in such low esteem that, when he gave a local doctor a portrait in thanks for his services, the doctor used it to cover a hole in his chicken coop.
When you look at this picture you would not immediately think of a depressed painter, this is a picture of a rescue and you sense that this Good Samaritan will makes sure that the victim will be safe. Look at the Samaritan and you will see a touch of red in his beard. Vincent was a red head and there is an element of self portrait here. In truth however Vincent was much more the victim watching people pass by and disappear into the distance.
Meditation
The commentary this week is by the NCH
The Old Testament’s justice and righteousness cannot come about and the New
Testament’s eternal life cannot be won unless God’s people follow the two
great commandments. Unless we love our neighbour we cannot truly love God.
But we, just like the ancient Israelites, create other ‘false gods’ and
distractions in our lives, which serve our purpose rather than God’s,
diverting our love from Him and our neighbour and keeping us busily unable
to respond to the challenge Jesus presents through his parable of the Good
Samaritan. He teaches that what you believe counts for little unless you
live it out – neighbour is as neighbour does. At the time of Luke writing,
many would have understood ‘neighbour’ to mean fellow Jews. So the priest
and Levite under this definition are neighbours but the Samaritan is not.
What’s more the Samaritans were despised by the Jews and the feeling was
mutual (see the disciples’ comments in the previous chapter when Jesus was
denied a welcome in a Samaritan village). In fact the passage may even have
come to be titled the Good Samaritan because all other Samaritans were
considered bad! Those listening to Jesus would have been shocked and amazed
by the intervention of the Samaritan whereas they would probably have
understood the actions of the holy men who walked on by. They would have
empathised with the priest who was simply following religious law,
forbidding him from going near a dead body because then he would lose his
turn of duty in the temple. As in Amos, the temple and liturgy have a higher
claim than the needs of fellow men. By the end of the parable, the hated
outsider becomes the true neighbour because of what he does for the victim.
Jesus redefined ‘neighbour’ as not just kith and kin, or a matter of
personal choice, but the person you think of as your enemy. He exposed the
deep-seated racial and social prejudice that had become an acceptable way of
life. He challenged the view of the Samaritan as the least likely to help,
but who actually did far more than was needed and who was compassionate,
tender, thoughtful, generous, trustworthy and honest –not exactly the
character profile that the Jews would have wanted to attribute to a
Samaritan. So what about the social prejudices and negative stereotypes of
today – young people involved in antisocial behaviour, asylum seekers, those
living on benefits – some of the underclasses of our modern-day society? Are
we moved to action by those who have been dealt a rough deal, mistreated,
suffering or in need? Or do we feel sorry, say a quick prayer, then move
swiftly on, leaving others – or no one – to pick up the pieces and do what
we should have done? As with the priest, Levite and the Old Testament
Israelites, we can be sure that we will be judged not by our religious
beliefs alone but by the life we live and how we treat others. We are asked
to love not only ‘people like us’ but anybody in need, including strangers,
enemies and those who have brought trouble on themselves. There are no
longer any limits to the definition of ‘neighbour’, just as God’s love
through Jesus is indeed limitless. In the prayer of thanksgiving that opens
Paul’s letter to the Colossians there are echoes of the Amos passage, that
once again God has rescued and delivered his people from darkness, this time
through giving us his son as the example to follow. It is to him that we
must look to understand and practice God’s love. True followers of Christ do
not have an option to pull down the shutters and ignore the uncomfortable
issues that he presents us with. Rather he points us to the Samaritan,
warning that we will need to go out of our way, risk something of ourselves
and pay a personal price to love our neighbour and our God. The command from
Jesus is clear: ‘You go, then, and do the same’. NCH
Hymns
- Lead us heavenly father lead us
- Jubilate
- There's a wideness in God's mercy
- Great is thy faithfulness
- Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord! (Tune: Woodlands)
- When I needed a neighbour (Tune: Neighbour by Carter),
- Kneels at the feet of his friends
- Brother let me be your servant
- Jesus Christ is waiting (Tune Noel Nouvelet)
- O worship the King
- I am a new creation
- Kneels at the feet of his friends