Loving Different People

In our series Love People we are stepping into the second part of what Jesus commanded/what Jesus raised to be most important.

Luke 10:25–28 NKJV

25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” 27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

In BCAY we say our aim is to "Love God, Love People and Serve the Nations."

What does the "Love People" part mean?

For church Service we enter into our "Love Assault" time.

Has God called us to more? What does "Loving People" look like outside of this church service?

What I know is that how we treat people matters to God...that our love of others matters to God.

In our first week we looked at loving those who have set themselves to be your enemy.

This week we look at loving across difference.

Relevance:

How we treat people matters to God so much so that Jesus said of the coming judgement:

Matthew 25:31–40 NKJV

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Jesus names, "...the least of these." How does your love and my love of others reach all of the way to the bottom of the social structure?

Today, we read a story commonly referred to the story of the Good Samaritan.

Scholars note ( notes published in our Faithlife Bible):

Luke 10:33 (FSB): Jews and Samaritans despised each other (see note on 9:52). For Jesus’ audience, the idea of a good Samaritan would have been a contradiction.

Luke 10:33 (FSB): The people of Samaria were of mixed Israelite and foreign descent, so the Jewish people did not accept them as part of the Jewish community (see note on John 4:9). The hostilities between Jews and Samaritans dated all the way back to the late sixth-century bc. The Samaritans worshiped Yahweh and used a version of the Pentateuch (first five books of the bible) as their Scripture, but they worshipped on Mount Gerizim, not in Jerusalem. Thus the Samaritans were despised by Jews for both ethnic and religious reasons; there was mutual hatred by the Samaritans toward Jews.

The story is in part in response to a question Jesus was asked.

We will see today as we read,

To answer the question, “who is my neighbor”:

- Jesus spoke to the less obvious answer.

- Jesus spoke to the controversial topic

- Jesus spoke to the very opposite of what culture/religious culture/religious practice said was true.

As we read scripture notice:

a lawyer (an expert on the law) was using his preferred/honed skill set to "test" Jesus. Jesus engages this person's willingness to answer truthfully.

Jesus' interaction reminds me that every difference in opinion/approach is not a call for an argument...that I may do well to discern each interaction.

Luke 10:29–37 NKJV

29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 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. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 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. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Topic

Loving Different People....loving across difference.

Let us pray.

Luke 10:29–30 NKJV

29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 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.

The desire to justify oneself is a slippery slope because while it can be a pathway for self-accountability, I have personally found it more so a pathway for me to blame others, for me to shirk responsibilities and to perhaps rest in a prideful seat around what I deserve.

Whatever the pathway this lawyer was heading Jesus responded with a story--a parable. When teaching or explaining, story is a most powerful form of communication because story can create an emotional experience that can help listeners remember and recall what they experience in the hearing.

Jesus responds to the lawyer with a parable--an earthly story with a heavenly meaning--and was effective for Jesus' own purposes for at the end of the telling Jesus ask the lawyer for his understanding of the parable from a particular angle. Jesus asked:

Luke 10:36 NKJV

36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

To the lawyer's reply

Luke 10:37

(NKJV): 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

...Jesus responded, affirming the lawyer's understanding,

Luke 10:37 (NKJV): Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Luke 10:37 NKJV

37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Now, the story/parable:

Luke 10:30 NKJV

30 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.

What we know from the text:

A certain man was traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

In Jerusalem is where the Jewish people worshiped. Jerusalem is the location of the temple.

This certain man was, perhaps reasonably, a Jew.

This man was assaulted at no fault of his own.

v 30 "...fell among thieves/robbers..."

The man traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho encounters "thieves". Other translations read "robbers." There is more than one.

These thieves/These robbers have it as their nature/prerogative/practice to rob.

Note: I heard someone say that to steel is for one to take from an owner unaware of the theft; but to rob is to take with the owner and thief fully aware of what's being taken, even being taken by force.

And so in today's text, in Jesus' parable, the thieves did rob.

The thieves uncovered the man, taking away his privacy and protection from the elements.

The thieves wounded the man, compromising his health, and I am sure not just in the physical-bodily sense.

The thieves left the scene and abandoned the man with no-more than half his capacity to live.

Part of me wants to argue that what the man was most robbed of was his (personal) agency--his ability to do for himself (or for that matter for anyone else) was no more--had been taken away--stolen, even robbed from him.

This is an all-too familiar story and the response I find most common makes it a double-tragedy.

Note: This reminds me to consider in scenarios of life when tragedy strikes someone whether (or how much) I hold an expectation for people to fix their own problem, come out of their own predicament, for me to require personal agency of others where there may be none or limited agency at best.

The text does not say how many more people may have encountered this injured man. We receive Jesus' description of four people.

v 31-33

The 3 people Jesus speaks of:

In the Jewish culture at the time a priest is respected and honored (and expected to perform certain holy duties between God and God's (chosen) people--the priests served in the temple in Jerusalem; priests' highest duty was to offer sacrifices).

The Levite is respected and honored (and expected to perform certain holy duties between God and God's (chosen) people--Levites served in the temple in Jerusalem, assisted in the maintenance of the temple services and order.)

Priests and Levites lived in the city of Jericho and went up to Jerusalem to perform temple duties and returned back down to Jericho.

The priest and Levite are considered "close to God". Perhaps, "closest."

The Jewish people at that time, by contrast, did not respect nor honor the Samaritan people....and would not have expected, and perhaps insisted upon, no favorable interaction between Jews and Samaritans. In fact, the Jewish audience here at Jesus' parable telling so disdained the Samaritan people so as to believe that a Samaritan person have not the capacity to be favorable to a Jewish person.

Yet, Jesus describes just that--this outlandish behavior where a Samaritan person shows mercy to a Jewish man in a scenario where the "best" (most pure) example of being Jewish--a priest and a Levite--both fail to extend mercy.

While there are several differences that jump out at me (perhaps at/for you)...

- the priest and Levite passed by the injured man while the Samaritan stays with him.

- the priest and Levite do not assist the injured man while the Samaritan brings the man into better circumstances

...I want to be sure to name several similarities that grab my attention.

v 31 begins,

Luke 10:31a (NKJV): Now by chance a certain priest came down that road.

"Now by chance" suggests to me that Jesus' story is not about divine external intervention in ways that some of us may think about it--God, moving externally, puts people together, God divinely intervenes, such that this story would be about what God does and Who God is vs this story being about what you and I do and who we are.

"Now by chance" suggest to me that Jesus' story is about who we are capable of being and what we are capable of deciding and doing.

Three people encountered the injured man. Each of the three have the agency to be and to do.

v 31-33

Each person saw the injured man.

This is not a parable about what we don't see...where perhaps I may make an excuse for passing by, "I was unaware."

This is not a parable about what we don't know...where perhaps I may make an excuse for not helping, "I wasn't convinced of the injured man's story."

Q: ask yourself, how do I respond to what I see? How do I respond to what I know?

(Personal Story)

In my little experience just described, for me there were several personal recognitions that when I read this parable of the Samaritan I do not hold up my nose at the priest and the Levite. On too many occasions I see and keep moving by.

I look, I judge and I create the distance I think is necessary to make it unreasonable for me to stop and assist.

I extend distance with my agenda--"Your issue is not on my schedule."

I extend distance with my cultural practices--"We don't help you. We try to avoid you."

I extend distance by hiding behind my purpose--"Someone else is better suited to help."

The worse part--I justify the outcome that I want, an outcome that is in my favor....too often I begin no better than the lawyer who asks "Who is my neighbor?"

With Jesus' parable, I learn so much. This Samaritan person in our scripture today teaches me several things that I think God wants for us to know.

v 33

Luke 10:33–35 NKJV

33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 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. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’

Stop long enough that you risk getting involved.

"Compassion"--having pity or deep empathy--can be the differentiator between the OrLando who keeps about his business and the OrLando who truly sees what is in front of him (who is in front of him) and mercifully exercises his power to reduce harm.

What is obvious in this text, but so obvious that for a couple of decades reading this passage I have missed this point....

...is how the injured man can be an example of someone who has experienced trauma. In life when trauma happens to a person then a whole host of things may accompany the experience and often can stay around for much too long.

The injured man fell among thieves. I'll pause just to talk briefly about the thieves of life and what results.

I notice that there are

Thieves of life try to (and too often successfully do)

- rob your joy

- Rob your peace

- Disrupt your progress

- Injury your physical, emotional, spiritual, mental/intellectual/cognitive being/well being.

- disable you/remove your defenses/remove your offenses.

People who experience trauma may be

- depressed and without joy

- troubled and without peace

- stalled, lacking progress in areas of life

- wounded, not healed nor restored

- without a suitable defense, not to mention a suitable offense.

When you see a person experiencing trauma, lean into your compassion and investigate how you can help, remembering that the person whom you see may not be able to articulate what is needed.

Today, it does not escape me that any of you under the sound of my voice may have experienced trauma. You may be listening and saying, "That's me. I am the injured man. I have fallen and I don't know which way is up."

To you, know:

1) God sees you.

2) God does not shame you.

And I believe God's healing and restoration is available for you. (and that it is with the move of compassion of the body of Christ.)

In Jesus parable, there is no indication that the injured man helped himself, that the injured man even could help himself. Yet there is neighboring to be done...an interdependence God requires.

Help sacrificially.

Sufficient help often requires me to sacrifice.

Know that being a neighbor is going to cost you--(cost you progress in your schedule, expenditures of your resources, elevations of your emotions.

You will pay an unequal share.

"Help" is comprised of actions that meet the needs. Wounds are bandaged, the injured man is no longer on his own but now has company on his journey to be healed.

Recognize:

Sometimes the help needed is more than I can supply on my own and right partnership is needed.

Sufficient help can be more than what I can supply on my own.

Partner to bring more help to the table--to scale what's available.

We are not required to be loan "saviors".

Lastly,

Trust God’s provision for your own life.

We serve a God who is I AM. More than enough.

I believe God wants for you, me, His church BCAY to be Free to love...even Free in love.

What I see is that the Samaritan, while he gave of himself and his resources, was free to love. Whatever stopped the priest and Levite were not items that stopped the Samaritan.

How free are you today to have compassion for someone, to show them mercy? To be a neighbor?

BCAY even as we have so much going on around us (and maybe even with some of us), how free is BCAY to love someone we see, for BCAY to be neighbor, to have compassion, to show mercy?

BCAY, what are we doing with what we see?

First, what do we see? What do you see?

Where is your compassion guiding you to take a closer look?

v 36-37

Luke 10:36–37 NKJV

36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus put the requirement of the relationship back onto the listener...the questioner. You and me have the charge, the commandment. Love your neighbor.