Too Far?

Can ignoring the pain and suffering of someone in front of you be considered a way of ‘killing them’ instead of saving them?

Can ignoring the pain and suffering of someone in front of you be considered a way of ‘killing them’ instead of saving them?

I was serving at my first congregation in 2008, in California, as an associate pastor of a fairly large congregation and at Hope we had both a preschool, much like we do here, as well a a charter school that rented some of our space. I remember that one of the first things that I spent a great deal amount of time doing was getting cleared to be around the children. I had already had my background check to work at the church, but there was another background check I had to go through to be around the schools. After I got past the background check I had to take a child safety class led by the Children and Family Ministry Director. After I finished that course I then received a picture ID that I wore much like a staff member would wear at a hospital indicating that I was supposed to be in the other building and clearly labeling me as one of the pastors of the church.

The final step that had to happen in a timely manner was to become First AID and CPR certified. There are a lot of moments that were funny that I remember about our class like our youth director never counting how many chest compressions and having to be reminded to stop after 30. I have had CPR and First AID training in the past as a camp counselor and other circumstances, so much of what I learned was review and a refresher course. The one lesson that really stuck with me though, was the instructor really pressed upon us the absolute need to receive consent from the person receiving CPR or First Aid. He showed us different ways or receiving consent even if the person was unable to speak, but he again urged us to get that consent from the person. I remember him telling us that, if while performing CPR on the person, we accidentally broke some ribs because we pushed too hard, or if we didn’t perform the heimlich maneuver the right way by positioning our hands or doing it at the right angle and we injured the person in any way then we would be liable for that person’s injury and they could in fact sue us for any injury we could have caused them. If, however, we got that consent then we would be able to say the person agreed to us doing our best to help them and we would be truly protected under the Good Samaritan Law.

I was blown away when the instructor continued to press this idea of doing nothing unless consent was given. He did relent that we obviously could do whatever we wanted in the situation we found ourselves in, but that he would under no circumstance recommend we do anything, again, without that consent from the person we were trying to treat. I was taken aback because it seemed extreme that after doing my best to help someone they could then turn around and sue me if anything were to happen to them as a result of my wanting to help them. I also wondered that if laws in place, called Good Samaritan Laws could not even protect the ‘good samaritan’ then why would anyone want to be trained in CPR and First AID if the only two things going through your mind are: 1. I need to help this person and 2. I hope this person doesn’t sue me.

I later learned that there was a case not too long before our CPR class that had finally been ruled on. The case went to the California Supreme court and the ruling was that the person who was attempting to be a good Samaritan was, in the courts opinion, actually being more negligent in their care of the victim than they were in the care of the victim. Because of that the Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the victim of the accident was right and did receive compensation from the Good Samaritan who tried to help her. I believe it was this case that led to this scare to help anyone who did not first give consent to being helped.

How far is too far when it comes to trying to help someone in need and people are too afraid to help for fear of retribution? Aren’t there enough reasons for people to not help one another? Do we really need to add more reasons for people to ignore their neighbors?

How far is too far when the Pharisees stare at Jesus and ponder whether or not he is going to cure a man who has a withered hand because it is the Sabbath?

The letter of the law permitted someone to save another person’s life even on the Sabbath, but if that person were not undergoing something that would end their life that day then it was forbidden by the Law and the Pharisees who kept and oversaw the law. The man with the withered hand had obviously had this hand disformity and it was not going to kill him that day so there is no reason for Jesus to heal him. In fact the Pharisees and the Herodians could have argued that by healing on the Sabbath for something that was other than life-threatening was a very clear way to show that Jesus was there to sow discord and overthrow the established norms of Jewish faith and Roman peace.

It was bad enough that the other story we have about Jesus is about how he and his disciples had walked through a field and picked grain from it, again on a Sabbath. The debate was not about Jesus disciples stealing from someone’s field because there was actually a law in Deuteronomy that allowed for people to walk through a field and pick grain as long as they didn’t use a sickle. The idea was that person was simply gathering enough food for either just that one person or for their immediate family and there was no real loss in the harvest.

The real issue at hand is whether or not plucking grain for personal consumption was the same as taking a sickle and harvesting the grain. According to theologians this was a real issue and a big debate with the Pharisees and other leaders because they really wanted to figure out if issues like that were against God’s commandments or not. If picking grain like the disciples did was the same as taking a sickle to the field then it was considered work, and work is forbidden on the Sabbath. If they were, then people had to repent for their sins and perform the right rituals to be justified and forgiven. If they weren’t breaking God’s Law, then they didn’t have to do anything and they weren’t under sin. It seems clear these Pharisees were of the opinion that it was a sin.

Then Jesus tells them ultimately that the greatest king of Israel, David, broke the law but wasn’t punished for it, so maybe there are exceptions to the rule. Maybe the law could be lessened when it comes to feeding people and healing people. Jesus is intending good for humankind not evil. Jesus is doing the work of God and not the devil. In fact, another scholar points out that the devil doesn’t rest on the Sabbath so Jesus also needs to spend all seven days of the week to destroy all that Satan is attempting to do.

These stories of Sabbath and plucking and healings all beg the question should the letter of the law dictate our actions or should we allow for grace? Back in 2008-2009 the California Supreme Court sided with an extreme interpretation of the law and the Pharisees trying to say that picking a few strands of grain was the same as harvesting the grain was also an extreme interpretation of the law.

In both cases Jesus clearly states that feeding people who are hungry and healing someone who doesn’t need to suffer even a moment longer are more important than sticking to the letter of the law. In our own lives and in this place where we proclaim stories like this may we try our best to live out grace and forgiveness and bend the rules a little in order that even more may come to know and love God.

Jesus chose love. He chose care and concern for others over adhering to the letter of the law and alienating others. This man had clearly been alienated for his hand and Jesus restored him to his relationship with his community, but more importantly than anything else, he restored that man’s relationship with God. He realized that in order for this man to see, know, and love God again in a way that he probably hadn’t for a long time he needed to circumvent the established norm and reclaim this man as a child of God.

God looks past all our mistakes and failures and attempts to step back and say that we’d like to be a Good Samaritan but the law says we can’t. Christ fulfilled the law through his own pain and suffering which no one attempted to intervene so that we can know what it means to always be cared for and loved.

Jesus came to love us and save us from our sin so that we would no longer be bound by the law, but freed from it. Be freed from the law to live a life full of grace and forgiveness, knowing that God will always be on your side and will always be a Good Samaritan for you.

Amen.