TwentyFourth Sunday after Pentecost

The Venerable Father John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria; Our Venerable Father Nilus; The Holy Martyr Josaphat, Archbishop of Polotsk

Title

Jesus Overcomes all Barriers

Outline

We have a world full of barriers

You cannot fully enter into the black or Native American experience without having at least some genetic connection (although in our world those who do have the genes are disqualified if they do not have a certain mentality)

You are not really “American” is you have these qualities racially, ethnically, or linguistically, etc.

In Paul’s day it was the ethnic barrier between the Jewish origins of Christianity and the Gentile converts. For some, commitment to Jesus was not enough: one had to be circumcised, keep Jewish festivals, especially the Sabbath, and follow the purity laws. All were problematic if one lived in a Gentile familial or cultural milieu.

Paul argues that Jesus takes us beyond these barriers

It is not Jew or Gentile (or this or that type of Gentile) but “one new man” who is Jesus. He “is our peace,” he “broke down the the dividing wall” in his own body, he came to “reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross.” Through him “we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” All of us, Jew and Gentile, are “no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” We are being built into one “holy Temple in the Lord.”

Paul does not choose one side or the other, he does not make Jews Gentiles or Gentiles Jews, but he makes of everyone a new “man” in Christ - there is only one new “race” and that is Jesus.

Jesus applies this idea even to enemies

Jews and Samaritans were bitterly at enmity, almost as much as Israeli Jews and Palestinians today. Both had a history.

So when responding to a question about Deut chapter 6, namely, “Who is my neighbor” whom Deut tells me to love, Jesus picks this situation.

A Jew leaves Jerusalem to travel down to Jericho and probably onward and on the twisty road with many places for people to hide he is jumped by highway robbers who not only take all he has, including his clothes, but beat him senseless, perhaps intending his death.

A priest is also going the same way, sees the man, evaluates the situation, and goes away - perhaps does not want to risk touching a dead body of a man he does not know, perhaps fears the risk of robbers himself.

Likewise a Levite, also a religious man, sees and then passes by.

Then a man both the Jewish victim and the priest and Levite would have been hostile to comes by. He stops, has compassion, bandages the wounds pouring in oil and wine (perhaps with sacramental connotations), puts the man on his mount and walks leading it (putting himself at more risk and certainly taking a humble position), brings him to an inn (the only reference to an inn in the gospels), tends him overnight, and gives the innkeeper two days wages, promising to pay more on his return if more is spent.

Who is the neighbor to the wounded man? The lawyer cannot pronounce “Samaritan,” so says, “The one who showed mercy on him.”

There are no barriers to love.

So, friends, we discover two things

First, there are Christians, new people in Jesus, part of the one new Temple, and all the other races and divisions. We must not let the world’s divisions separate us from Jesus. There is one Church.

Second, there are neighbors in the world whom we should love, even those who hate or presumably hate us. God’s love flowing through us has no boundaries, for he created all people.

If we are really followers of Jesus, then let him have the last word: “Go and do likewise.”

Readings

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 11-19-2023: Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

EPISTLE

Ephesians 2:14–22

14 For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 11-12-2023: Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

GOSPEL

(25th Sunday)

Luke 10:25–37

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” 27 And 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 neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, 34 and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) (11-12-2023: Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2023 | OCTOECHOS

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 11-19-2023: Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Dark Vestments

Matins Gospel Mark 16:1–8

Epistle Ephesians 2:14–22