Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Christian Retribution
During the last year, we have seen many horrible things happen around the world.
One recently happened in Sri Lanka where more than two hundred Christian’s were killed during Easter services.
With more than 400 injured.
That alone is a horrific event, carried out by terrorists that are opposed to our God.
But then I started to see the retribution against other people, by Christians, to “payback” those who perpetrated this act.
And now, there are people who are going into hiding because of the response of the people, including Christians.
Not long ago, more than 100,000 people lost their lives in fighting between Muslims and Christians.
SLIDE:
I understand.
I am a Christian, born and raised in the United States of America.
We are a powerful nation that has its root in Christianity.
And somewhere along the way we lost our way.
About a year ago I was wrapped up in a project that was causing me a great deal of stress.
And some of the people I worked with, who I thought were friendly and kind, some of whom were Christians, said some terrible and untrue things about me and others.
Mainly to save their own jobs and make themselves look better.
In the last week I have been thrust back into that whole project for various reasons.
And as I look back, I am glad I can say, I did not lose my way.
For all the times that I could have defended myself, said what I wanted to say, I did not.
It was a decision to leave the judgement to God, and follow Jesus.
Maybe you have a similar story.
Maybe you have that moment where someone, perhaps another Christian has caused you to think about how you can get even.
How you can pay them back.
Maybe you have that guy that stole your girl, or visa versa.
Maybe there is that instructor that is failing you.
Maybe you have that co-worker or boss that is just unfair and unkind.
Maybe it is who you are married too or a sister or brother, or both, or parents.
Regardless, maybe you have had that moment where you think about getting even with them.
It is in that moment that you have lost your way.
Jesus and his disciples ran into this when they were going about their ministry on earth.
Fortunately for us, a writer named Luke wrote down one of these events for us to consider.
You see, the story begins with a deep dislike, you might say hatred between two groups of people.
And this dislike spans back more than 700 years.
Jesus’ ministry is all around the ancient land of Israel.
This includes areas north of Jerusalem.
In a territory known as Samaria.
But Jesus was born in the Galilee area.
Near the sea of Galilee, and he spent time in and around that area too.
But some of these groups don’t get along very well.
For the Jews in the area, they avoid Samaria and look down on the Samaritans.
The dislike goes back to the 3rd king of Israel, Solomon.
Solomon made some really poor decisions that led to the division of the kingdom.
Once Israel split, there were two kings.
One in the north and one in the south.
The northern kingdom included this territory of Samaria.
And for the next group of kings, all of which were evil, Samaria grew more and more isolated from their ancient roots.
They allowed foreign gods into the land.
And once they were conquered by the Assyrian’s, other peoples from other areas began to move in, bringing their gods and worship styles to the region.
Not long after this the kingdom of the south started to adopt all the horrible gods and things the northern kingdom had done.
And that led to their downfall to the Babylonian empire.
And since that time Israel has been under the rule of other kings and kingdoms, to the present day of Jesus where Israel is ruled by the Romans.
And all of this is blamed on the disobedience to God that started with the Samaritans.
That is why the Jews in the land in Jesus day avoid the area and look down on the people.
They don’t consider the Samaritan’s be be part of them any longer.
They are not “pure” any longer.
SLIDE:
Fast forward to Jesus and the disciples.
They are headed south towards Jerusalem, which is where we pickup the story.
They are headed down for the Passover observance in Jerusalem.
This seems pretty normal, but hatred is so deep that even financial gain is not sufficient motivation for the Samaritan’s to welcome any observers.
More than that, there is a dispute between Samaria and Jerusalem as to where the actual temple should be and where they are to worship God.
The travel takes several days, which will help the next verse make sense.
SLIDE:
They will need to make provisions for the night and there is a good chance there are many more than just 13 people in the group.
The language here is very interesting.
It reminds us of the prophets that were sent to the northern kingdom and Samaria.
We read about those in the Old Testament.
SLIDE:
As it turns out, Jesus and his crew are rejected.
They will not welcome him and receive him.
They say it is because Jesus was headed to Jerusalem.
One, they don’t recognize him for who he has claimed to be.
That is not unusual, just about everyone missed that.
But two, they are not showing the hospitality to their brothers and sisters.
The law is clear about how to treat a stranger or an immigrant.
The Samaritan’s won’t even show him human courtesy.
Some of Jesus’ disciples don’t handle this too well.
SLIDE:
Wow.
That seems to be a bit of an over reaction to not being welcome to the town!
But it demonstrates the deep dislike and hatred between the people.
James and John call for the fire of God.
This also has deep roots in their faith.
It was the prophet Elijah, who in this area met some prophets of a foreign god on a mounted to have a god showdown.
Yahweh, the God if Abraham, Isaac and Jacob won by coming down in fire to consume the sacrifice and consume all the prophets of the rival god.
I think James and John thinking that Jesus is here to bring a sign like that to the people.
They see Jesus as the kind of guy they have been looking for, who is getting ready to really show off his power.
If he can heal, and raise the dead, walk on water and feed thousands, then he can probably bring the fire from heaven on these Samaritans.
Jesus has a different approach.
SLIDE:
It would seem that Jesus had another approach in mind.
His concept is the upside down kingdom.
The weak are strong, the strong are weak.
Your enemy is where you pour out your love, not your anger and hatred.
James and John seemed to have lost their way.
SLIDE:
Somewhere along the way, they lost their way
Not much different than us, James and John wanted to just lash out at a mere refusal to host Jesus.
Yes, this was against the Law of Moses.
Yes, there is a tremendous amount of history between these people and cultures.
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