Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Richard Davenport July 10, 2022 - Proper 10 Luke 10:25-37 The social justice movement is one that has been steadily gaining traction over the last couple of decades. The idea behind social justice certainly isn't new. The words used to describe it and the causes that are championed through it change from time to time, but the idea itself is still the same. The basic thought is that we as humans are morally obligated to care for the less fortunate. What constitutes being "less fortunate" varies, but there are a few that are always on the list: the poor, the homeless, those in slavery. Depending on who you talk to, children, the elderly, widows, and those with physical or mental disabilities will also make the list. These days it's also popular to talk about immigrants and those who feel they are being oppressed for their race or sex. To anyone with a modicum of compassion, the general idea of social justice sounds like a no-brainer. Why wouldn't you want to help the less fortunate? Even many atheists agree that helping others is a large part of what we're here to do. If you have more, then you give to those who have less. What "more" means depends on what the needs are. If you have money, then giving some to those who are struggling to make ends meet is fitting. If you are in a position of power or authority, then you can use that position to ensure less able people are capable of making the right connections to move forward in life or perhaps gain some measure of justice that might otherwise be beyond them. This is why lawyers will do pro bono work. They work for free to assist people who would otherwise never be able to afford their services. Of course, there are multiple dimensions to the discussion of social justice. On the political side, there's the discussion of what actually qualifies as being in need. Race and sex are both categories these days that are hotly debated. On the economic side, there's the discussion about how to use the resources we have to their best effect. Just because a community all agrees that something like homelessness is a problem that needs addressing doesn't mean everyone agrees how best to solve that problem. The political and economic questions are something I'll leave for another time. Right now I'm interested in the theological side of the debate. What does God have to say about social justice? God actually has quite a lot to say about social justice. This whole section from Leviticus and many parts of the Law of Moses in general deal with how we care for the less fortunate. One of the standing orders God gives to the Israelites is that they are to care for the widows, the orphans, and the sojourners, all those who have no one else to watch over them. It isn't even a polite suggestion from God. "You shall not..." God says. You aren't going to hoard everything for yourself and prevent those who have no other way of providing for themselves from at least being able to get something. You aren't going to show any less respect to a hired worker than you would to your own family. You aren't going to pick on people for their disabilities, etc. In fact, you're going to go out of your way to care for them and see to their needs. Looking at the Gospel reading, we see how this idea is continued by Jesus. This isn't something that's just gone by the wayside when Jesus arrives. There's the Good Samaritan, doing what others wouldn't. He scoops up the guy on the side of the road, tends to his needs, and shows him the care and compassion the priest and the Levite wouldn't offer. The parable is spoken in response to the lawyer's question, "Who is my neighbor?" This, in turn, was in response to Jesus' answer to the original question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" to which Jesus says, "Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself." So there's Jesus himself saying it. You can't get much more conclusive than that. The "Golden Rule" that gets pulled out of Jesus' words is something just about everyone knows. Granted, it's only part of his answer, but it still emphasizes the need to care for others. The parable itself clearly shows someone caring for someone else in need. Many places around the country have even enacted "Good Samaritan" laws, with the idea being that those who drop everything to go help someone in imminent danger shouldn't be penalized if their well-intentioned assistance somehow goes awry. So that's the expectation. That's what we should be doing. There isn't a whole lot left to discuss except how best to go about it. Like I said earlier, I'm not here to discuss the political or economic ramifications of social justice. I'm here to tell you what God has to say about it. The same problems that were going on with social justice in Jesus' day were going on back in the days of the Israelites and are still going on today. What categories with think need social justice and how we deal with them may have changed, but the underlying problem is just as overlooked today as it always was. It's unfortunate the "Golden Rule" butchers Jesus' words here, leaving out the most important part, but it's also unfortunate we don't spend any time looking at what started this whole discussion to begin with. Jesus shares the parable in response to the lawyer's attempts to justify himself. That's the problem at the heart of social justice. For many, the draw of social justice is to have something to point to as evidence of how caring you are, how compassionate you are, how much better you are at taking care of people and the world as a whole. "I care for the less fortunate and I don't balk at the cost or the resources needed. I do what needs to be done and I do it a lot better than you do. You have reservations. You don't really care, not like I do. When the time comes to tally our acts of compassion, you will be down there at the bottom and I won't bother taking any notice of you at all." Social justice become a lot less about actually caring for people and is much more about justifying myself before the world. I can get away with being selfish. I can get away with being rude and condescending. I can get away with being greedy or with treating people as worthless as long as I do this social justice thing over here. That justifies all of my actions. That absolves me of any guilt I may have for anything else. Though I'm talking about helping other people, what I'm really interested in is what this does for me. Even if all I get out of work is a sense of moral superiority, it's worth it just to know I'm better. I'll be that Good Samaritan even if you won't, so don't try and stop me or you'll show the world what a callous person you are. I go back to something I've said before, which is that the first rule of parables is to look for Jesus. Jesus doesn't need to drop pithy bits of human wisdom like Aesop's Fables. We can do that just fine on our own. What we need is to hear about God. So that's what Jesus tells us. When I look at the parable of the Good Samaritan with an eye for Jesus, things change pretty substantially. Who is the one who has compassion? Who is the one who bends over backward to care for a helpless man and nurse him back to health? The only answer that fits is Jesus. But, that doesn't make much sense. Who are the priest and Levite supposed to be? Who is the beaten man supposed to be? If Jesus is telling me to go out and care for other people, then I should be the Good Samaritan! The typical, worldly reading of this parable misses the most important point. The question, "Who is my neighbor?" is the second question, and it relates back to the beginning and the question that starts this whole discussion off, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" The answer is the rather uncomfortable, "You don't. You aren't any more capable of attaining eternal life than a man set upon by robbers and left for dead is able to save himself. No one else is going to save you. Only the Samaritan, the outsider, the one you reject as worthless who comes along to pick you up and bring you to safety. What shall you do to inherit eternal life? Nothing. I do it all." The lawyer's attempt to justify himself comes from his desire to not be that man, to not be helpless, to have some measure of dignity that he could claim for his own, to know he's superior over somebody. He wants to pick and choose who he gets to be a neighbor to. He wants to argue there are people who are beneath him, who don't deserve his help. He wants to be superior to others, whether those who need help or those who don't. Jesus puts it all into perspective. None of us are capable of saving ourselves. He has to come into our lives to do all of it. You can't even lift a finger to help make it happen. But that doesn't matter. Christ takes care of it all. He picks you up out of your broken state, heals you, and gets you where you need to go, and he does it all on his own because he cares that much. He doesn't look down his nose at you. He doesn't need to prove his superiority. He is already far greater than any of us, but he doesn't let that get in the way of caring for you. Christ takes being a neighbor to you very seriously and he expects nothing in return, for it is his free gift. Now that we've seen Jesus at work and understand how we find eternal life through his efforts, we now know what it means to care for our neighbor. We don't do it to feel more superior. We don't look down at certain groups of people in need and treat them as unworthy of help. We give of what we have and we give freely, without any expectation of something in return. It's not something we're very good at and even seeing Christ's own example doesn't always motivate us to give freely. But, when we fail, Christ continues to love us. He picks us up again when we call out to him for help. He puts us back on the path without any more thought to what has come before. We give thanks that he is the Good Samaritan, who is willing to help us out of our sad, helpless state and give us life again and if we ever wonder what it means to love one's neighbor, we need only look at what he has done for us.