AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH - Long Version
INCONVENIENT TRUTH
By Russell L. Parker 7-15-2007
WICHITA, Kan. June 23, 2007
There was little attempt to save the life of LaShanda Calloway, a Wichita woman who was stabbed and lay dying in a convenience store while spectators stepped over her. LaShanda Calloway, 27, was stabbed during an altercation in the store. Two minutes later, someone decided to call 911. Surveillance video in the store shows at least five shoppers walking over her body and one even stopping to take a picture of the victim with a cell phone, though no one thought to actually treat her wounds or comfort her. Even the story itself was not widely reported until a reporter for the Wichita Eagle remarked on the contents of the surveillance video.
NEW YORK, March 27, 1964
“At approximately 3:20 on the morning of March 13, 1964, twenty-eight-year-old … (Kitty) Genovese was returning to her home in a nice middle-class area of Queens, NY…. She parked her ….(car) in a nearby parking lot, turned-off the lights and started the walk to her second floor apartment some 35 yards away. She got as far as a streetlight when a man grabbed her. She screamed. Lights went on in the 10-floor apartment building nearby. She yelled, "Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me!" Windows opened in the apartment building and a man’s voice shouted, "Let that girl alone." The attacker looked up, shrugged and walked-off down the street. Ms Genovese struggled to get to her feet. Lights went back off in the apartments. The attacker came back and stabbed her again. She again cried out, "I’m dying! I’m dying!" And again the lights came on and windows opened in many of the nearby apartments. The assailant again left and got into his car and drove away. Ms Genovese staggered to her feet as a city bus drove by. It was now 3:35 a.m. The attacker returned once again. He found her in a doorway at the foot of the stairs and he stabbed her a third time -- this time with a fatal consequence. It was 3:50 when the police received the first call. They responded quickly and within two minutes were at the scene. Ms Genovese was already dead”.
I’m sure that many of you have heard these stories before. Both incidents are appalling and are grim reminders of cultural apathy. Each of these horrific stories could be considered today’s equivalent to our gospel story. Like a dimly lit parking lot late at night, or an apathy filled convenience store, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a notoriously dangerous road. In somewhat less than 20 miles, this road dropped 3,600 feet. It was a narrow, rocky and windy road which made it easy for robbers and thief’s to hide and prey on unsuspecting travelers. In fact in the fifth century St. Jerome tells us that it was still called “The Red, or Bloody Way.”
Today’s Gospel focuses upon fundamental questions of life. How do we obtain eternal life? And who is our neighbor? As we hear, as we struggle, as we come to understand and ultimately respond to Jesus’ answers – It is in this process that we learn how we are to behave as Christians.
The first question asked of Jesus is "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" What must I do enter heaven? What can I do to earn my way into eternal life? What task can I perform, what must I read, what form must I fill out, what organization must I join, how much do I need to contribute, how do I make the travel arrangements? What can I do to be good enough to qualify, to win the race, to get the prize? Just tell me and I will do it.
The truth of the matter is that the lawyer new the law and at Jesus’ request recited from Deuteronomy "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." To him and too many of us, the way to salvation is by doing something. What must I do?
I’m pretty sure that I am not only one who struggles with this problem. When Jesus asks the lawyer, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" Jesus sets the stage for a very clear answer to the supreme question of life. How are we to inherit eternal life? The answer is found in the law, in books of Deuteronomy and in Leviticus, and the lawyer new the law for he was able to recite it without hesitation. I would bet that the majority of you here this morning could also recite the commandment without any hesitation at all. “We are to love the Lord God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind”. It is to permeate our entire being. The real question is “Is it enough to just know this?” Is it just that simple - that all we have to do is know what we are supposed to do? Would the parents of LaSanda Calloway or Kitty Genovese say is it enough?
How can we love our Lord God and not act accordingly? Is it enough to just know that we are to love Him and believe in our heart, soul, and mind that we love Him, but do nothing to show our love? Is this enough? If so - then we do not have to act out our belief, our love, we do not have to show love, it would be sufficient to just know that we love Him and assume that is all that is required of us. I know the answer and I know you do too. The answer is definitely not. Love is not an inactive and dead, it is active and alive. Jesus answers the Old Testament lawyer, "You have given the right answer; do this and you will live." Jesus did not say, you have given the right answer and let it go at that, he said “do this and you will live” – Action must be taken!
Most of us when confronted with doing something that we do not want to do, start making excuses or asking question trying to clarify or further define the requirements. You know like a list or something, so that we can not only check off the items on the list, and once again fall into the trap of trying to earn our salvation.
Questions like “Who is my neighbor?” – Is he or she the one next door? – how about the guy across the street – OK – the ones on both sides of my house, but what about those behind me. They shouldn’t count because they are located on another street and I don’t know these people. Must I love one person, two, how about five people wouldn’t that be enough? Is it measured by a radius around my house? Does proximity have anything to do with it? Does my house have anything to do with it? Certainly those people at work or church or those I meet on the street don’t count, I hardly know them. What must I do to earn that “A” on the subject of loving my neighbors as myself – And by the way, I’m not even sure I love myself. Soooo if that is true then I am off the hook? Or
How about - Can I keep shopping while a LaShanda Calloway is dying on the floor in front of me. Is it enough to shout out a window for a mugger to stop stabbing Kitty Genovese.
We often fall into the trap like the lawyer in that we try to reduce God’s commands to something we can live with. We would like to believe that loving my neighbor means loving people who love me, or at least loving people who are lovable. In our culture today, I am afraid that loving my neighbor has come to mean; doing nice things for people who will probably do nice things back to me.
Can you see the downward spiral or what I like to call the toilet bowel effect that our sinful thinking takes? It never ceases to amaze me at how creative we human beings can be, especially when we do not want to do something. And folks, the answer is given in a very clear commandment - "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." As inconvenient as this may be, it is the truth.
You have heard it said before, “Keep the main thing the main thing” – here the main thing is to love our neighbor. It doesn’t say go do religious things, although that can be a good thing, it says to make our neighbors a priority in our lives. Loving our neighbor is what proves our love for God. For if a man says he loves God, but hates and acts unkindly toward his neighbor, then he has dishonored God.
There are some very basic concepts about compassion that Jesus is trying to teach in this story.
1. Compassion Is Based On Need Not Worth.
“Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” Our compassion is to be driven, not by the “worth” of the recipient but by the need.
As the unknown victim lay beside the road a series of three individuals came along the way.
The first passer-by is a priest. A priest was considered the holiest person there was among the Jews, and if anyone knew the Old Testament Scripture, it would be him. If anyone was going to reflect the character of God, it would be the priest. But he just passed on by, staying on the other side of the road.
The second passer-by is a Levite who at leased looked at the wounded man, but perhaps it was no more than the current practice of “rubber necking” at the scene of an accident to see what had happened. He too did not feel a need to do any thing to help and kept on going.
In the case of LaShanda Calloway, at least five people literally step-over her body and one even took a picture of her with a cell phone. Not one of them stopped to help this dying young woman.
Like Kitty Genovese’s neighbors, the first two passersby probably just didn’t want to get involved. They didn’t want any trouble. They were probably regular folks like you and me: nice, ordinary people who loved their kids and tried their best to get by in the world. Just like the witnesses in Kitty’s murder, they saw the need, did not do any thing about it. Both the Priest and the Levite saw the wounded man but ignored the need. Compassion is based on need not on the worth of the recipient And
2. Compassion Feels Something
In verse thirty-three we read, 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He had compassion on this man.
It would have been shocking for Jesus to have told the people that this man was helped by just an ordinary man. But it is not even a Jew helping a Jew, but rather a Samaritan helping a Jew who had been ignored by his fellow Jews. Given the mutual hatred between Jews and Samaritans, it would have been more likely to have expected the Samaritan to finish the guy off. When that Samaritan looked at that suffering man lying half-dead by the side of the road, something happened in his gut; something that made it impossible for him to walk away. He didn’t decide to help this guy on the basis of how worthy he was. He helped him because of how needy he was. The Samaritan placed compassion before prejudice.
3. Compassion Does Something. (v. 34)
Not only was the Samaritan’s compassion based on the need, rather than the worth, of the victim, but it caused the Samaritan to feel something so deeply that it had to be expressed in action. In verse thirty-four we are told, “So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”
He doesn’t pass by on the other side. He moved toward the injured man. You must move toward people to express compassion, in order to build relationships. It is not something that just mystically happens, it takes concentrated effort. It often is not convenient. But I don’t want you to forget that the Samaritan is moving toward someone who if he was conscious would despise him; someone who no doubt would not do the same for him if the situations were reversed.
Notice that the Samaritan went to the wounded man, he bandaged his wounds, he poured oil and wine on his wounds, he put him on his donkey, he brought him to an inn and he took care of him. In every one of his acts he demonstrated compassion as he responded in a practical, timely and unselfish way. He put him on his own donkey which meant that the Samaritan walked.
It is important to recognize that he took the time to take care of him. We may not be able to help everywhere, or help everyone, but we can help somewhere and try to do a meaningful work of service. Compassion Not Only Does Something but
4. Compassion Cost Something. (v. 35)
The next day he took out two denari, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' This man really went out of his way, he took this man to an inn and saw to it that the innkeeper looked out for the recovering victim. He also promised that he would return and fully reimburse the innkeeper for any additional expenses that he incurred in caring for this man. He left money to take care of this man’s needs and he put no limit on how much he would spend to see the wounded man taken care of. There is nothing more the Samaritan could have done to show his compassion for this man. Compassion Cost Something and
5. Compassion Demonstrates Our Relationship to God
At the conclusion of His story he asks the lawyer one additional question in verse thirty-six, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among the thieves.” The lawyer almost chokes on his words here. He cannot even bring himself to say the word “Samaritan” and so he responds "The one who showed him mercy." And for the second time Jesus tells this man to do something in order to inherit eternal life when this verse continues with Jesus saying to him, "Go and do likewise." Why does Jesus say this? Because he realizes that this man will not turn to him for salvation until he turns from his dependence on “doing” something to earn eternal life. Compassion demonstrates whether we have a relationship with God.
Conclusion
In today’s gospel Jesus is separating the person who has a real relationship with God from the merely religious. We saw what the religious people did when they saw this man bruised and battered by the side of the road. They kept walking. In fact, they crossed the street and kept walking.
Perhaps you have identified with this man’s question, “What must I do to go to Heaven?” The answer is the same, stop trying to inherit Heaven by doing – instead, believe in Jesus by trusting that Jesus has already paid the penalty for you. Ask yourself “What kind of neighbor am I?” Would I have had the compassion to help LaSanda Calloway? Could I have helped Kitty Genovese?
To the lawyer, the wounded man was a subject to discuss.
To the robbers, the wounded man was someone to use and exploit.
To the religious men, the wounded man was a problem to be avoided.
To the innkeeper, the wounded man was a customer to serve for a fee.
To the Samaritan, the wounded man was a human being worth being cared for and loved.
To Jesus, all of them and all of us were worth dying for.
How do we inherit eternal life?. We are to Love our Lord God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and we must love our neighbor as our self. There are two parts to the answer and one cannot stand without the other for doing so dishonor’s God.
Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." And I say to you, Go and Do likewise, because in doing we honor Christ and we do so because God’s Word commands it.
Amen