8th Sunday of Pentecost
July 14, 2013
Fr. Philip Eberhart
Just Society & The Jesus Way (click for audio)
This morning’s gospel is perhaps one of the most familiar
stories that Jesus told. In answer
to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus shared a story of self-sacrifice
and giving that rubbed all the mores of the time the wrong way. It pointed out the hypocricy of the
professional religious orders – the ones, by the way, who were asking the
question in the first place – and placed before the world a standard of self-giving
and compassion that we have seldom lived into.
Our society today is saddened and in some places angry over
the acquittal of Mr. Zimmerman in Florida. Rather than argue the merits or de-merits of the case and
the verdict I would like to look to scripture this morning, to define a
different path – the one Jesus took – the one He talked about in our parable
this morning.
A just society – isn’t that something that we all long
for? A society where every crime
is punished and every victim gets justice. But our definition of justice is colored by our own biases
and desires – our own wants and needs.
It is that way in every case.
This present case has been tried in both court and on the airwaves of
our media. Today the later
continues, after the verdict has been handed down. And we wait and pray this morning for peace in our cities
and across our nation.
A just society – what is it, really?
At the root, justice is an outgrowth of the nature of God,
the law-giver. If we lived in the
idyllic setting of the Garden still today there would be no need for law, but
we do not. We and our world are
broken, and so we have a system of law and (we hope) justice that has been
handed down and molded over the years as we live together as one society made
up of diverse peoples.
Justice, as it reflects the nature of God is something that
is foreign to our ears. We are
told by the Lord in scripture that we are to do three things – in the prophetic writing of Micah – we
are to
- Do Justly
- Love Mercy
- Walk Humbly with our God
When we consider those commands we see the order and the
passion of the Father heart of God for His people. We are to do what we see God doing - when we fell, God did not destroy
us. He put us under the discipline
of the Law, as a teacher. Even
today, as God’s people, we are subject to discipline – the discipline of a
Father who loves us. Discipline is
a demonstration of God’s love for us, according to Heb 12. We are subject to God’s justice – the
consequences of our choices through life are cumulative and we can find life
hard as a result of poor choices we have made. There is a kind of “justice” built into life, isn’t there?
But the justice of God is also effected by God’s nature of
Love. Love, when applied to our
lives, is spelled Mercy. God’s
love is something that we struggle to get a grip on and to understand. It manifests itself in forgiveness when
we are oh so wrong. It shows
itself in our parable this morning.
The point – the punch line of the story for Jesus is found in the last
line – his last question:
“Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to
the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
The answer? “The
one who showed him mercy.”
And the charge to us all: “Go and do likewise.”
The parable of the Good Samaritan is a story that, as I
noted earlier, flies in the face of the mores, the rules of the society into
which Jesus spoke. Those who
passed by, did so for good reason – ritual cleanliness, probably – but Jesus
then twists the parable and has someone who is the unlikely, the despised one
by Jewish standards, a Samaritan – one whose beliefs didn’t match up – whose
lineage didn’t measure up – whose status in the society was questionable in
some quarters; the Samaritan was
the one who showed mercy – something he probably had not had much of in his own
life.
So what do we draw from this parable? And how does it apply to our present
day circumstances and challenges?
First, the command that Jesus was commenting on to the
lawyer in the story, still stands for us today:
The Great 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.”
If the commandment still stands for us and has not changed
since the time it was given, then the application of Jesus here in the parable
of the Good Samaritan has not changed as well.
Go and do likewise!”, still
rings in our ears as we walk away from the story and into the real
circumstances of our own lives and our world.
In 2008, when the Democratic National Convention was here in
Denver, about 70 churches came together to provide a place of live worship, and
a tangible witness to those gathered for the convention. Underneath all that activity, we had a
prayer room going that prayed all day, every day and evening of the
convention. What were we praying?
The theme scripture that the Lord gave us was Micah 6:8 – We
were asked by God to pick up garbage in the downtown area! We had T-shirts made that were dark
green, with a logo for One Church Metro Denver – and on the back were the words
of our direction from God:
Do Justly – Love Mercy – Walk Humbly
Friends, God has a different path for us. It is not a path of avoidance nor a
path of finger-pointing in the face of injustice and suffering. It is a path of engagement. It is the path of Jesus!
Val once asked me if the Virgin Mary could have said, “No
thanks!” I had to respond
“yes!” I have often wondered at
the conversation between Father and Son and Spirit in the Trinity, as to the
course of action for the redemption of the world. Interestingly, the conversation happened way before the
world was brought into being. None
of what happened was a surprise!
How do we know that? Jesus
was the Lamb of God, “slain from the foundation of the world.” The conversation was one that happened
long before creation!
And we see the effects of the conversation in verses like
Phil 2:6-10
“ who being in very nature God, thought not equality with
God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a
servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself (even
more) by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Paul is clear in sharing this hymn with his Philippian
readers, that the implications of this “mind” that was in Christ Jesus, is
something that we are go make ours as well.
The prologue in that chapter reads like this:
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort
from love, any participation in the Spirit, and affection and sympathy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full
accord and of one mind.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in
humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look
not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
HAVE THIS MIND IN YOU (AMONG YOURSELVES), WHICH IS YOURS
(BY VIRTUE OF BEING) IN CHRIST JESUS!!
Friends, this is the definition of a just society! Of a society in which we Do Justly –
Love Mercy and Walk Humbly with our God.
It is the definition of the need in our society today and of the answer
that we are asked to be.
Let us pray:
O
God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son:
Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and
hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite
us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish
your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may
serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our
Lord. Amen.
Eternal
God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn
but the sword of righteousness,
no strength known but the
strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your
Spirit, that
all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of
Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and
glory, now and for
ever. Amen.
Grant,
O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart
[and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which
divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
O
God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us,
in the midst of our
struggles for justice and truth, to confront
one another without hatred or
bitterness, and to work
together with mutual forbearance and respect; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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