July 10, 2022 ~ Fifth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Worship Zoom Video Link & Sermon

This is the link for the Worship video –

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/GMXobpo3447TDCOUdRlSByyCh8HAjaHig9fzo_zMgM_QKSH7FIJ_kCsQ4QvhSW2B.B54Uz8i6LJ5JBPM2

Communion                                                                            07/10/22—Highland—Meute

“The Gospel and Compassion”

Psalm 25: 1-10; Colossians 1: 1-14; Luke 10.25-37

Pearl: Being a disciple often means being a doer; it means doing the neighborly thing for any and everybody.

Function: To move worshipper to leave determined to do the neighborly thing, as passionately as the Samaritan, for anybody at all.

When any of us have ever been in a truly needy predicament, similar even to this fellow who lay there, beaten, robbed, and left for dead in a ditch, who have we most longed for to come to our aid? In all likelihood, in our greatest times of desperation we were open to anybody at all to come to our aid. We are not particular about who will come to our aid when we are truly in need. In our agony we long for someone to act in a neighborly manner.

The question is: Will you and I, those who follow Jesus, be people who act in merciful and compassionate ways when the opportunity arises?

1. We want to please Jesus. We often desire to do as the Lord wills for us to do. Like the lawyer we want to be right with the Lord. 
   1. Maybe our goal should not so much be a desire to be “right” as to be “ready,” not so much be about “us” as it should be about “others.”
   1. Too often we think of our faith in terms of ourselves. Too much we think about the life with God in terms of our having the right ideas and the right thoughts. Maybe Jesus sensed this about the lawyer who stood up to question him.
      1. So, he told this story about the Samaritan. Jesus conveyed a lot in this story.
2. Most often, our faith is about doing for others.
   1. Our faith, our dedication to God should issue forth in concrete practical goodness toward others, regardless of the inconvenience to ourselves. Just consider the level to which the Samaritan went for this needy person.
      1. One commentator wrote: “This man, who delayed his own journey, expended great energy, risked danger to himself, spent two day’s wages with the assurance of more, and promised to follow up on his activity, was ceremonially unclean, socially an outcast, and religiously a heretic” (Interpretation, Craddock, p.151).
   1. Jesus’ story was about someone who was living compassionately.
   1. It was a story about a man who was by no means “right” in the minds of the disciples. Nonetheless, Jesus painted this man as the picture of the Godly person.
      1. Godly people are those who act mercifully and compassionately on behalf of others.
3. Let’s put ourselves in the ditch as if we were the ones who were beaten, robbed, and left for dead. Just how would we feel about this “enemy” who took mercy on us? Jesus’ story is a lesson in true humanity.
   1. One commented: “The extravagance with which Jesus describes the Samaritan’s action is not meant as instruction in first-aid procedures but as an invitation: we are meant to tingle with the healing sting of wine, to be calmed under the soothing caress of oil, to enjoy the relief of someone taking charge of what has become a nightmarish situation, and finally to experience the gracious welcome of being checked in at the Hotel Compassion, all expenses paid” (“Christian Century”, June 26, 2007, p. 19).
   1. The way in which the victim was cared for is the way in which all people should be cared for by others.
      1. In fact, I would suggest that we ought to care for each other this thoroughly much more often than we do. It is basic humanity. It is the way Jesus taught we should put ourselves out for other people. Such care and concern do more healing for us than the actual binding and closing of wounds. Such love and hospitality heal the body and heal the soul.
      1. Our faith calls us to this kind of action all of the time.
4. There is something about the Samaritan which goes to the heart of godliness.
   1. It is being truly present to those around us. I will not disparage the priest and the Levite because all of us are the priest and the Levite on more occasions than we like to admit.
   1. The Samaritan demonstrated “human presence,” an aspect of compassion. The priest and the Levite were more occupied with their destinations than with being fully present to their world at every given moment.
   1. Giving your attention to another is a true gift. So often we look past each other. Or we make assumptions about others.
      1. Think of those at the gas station next to us? What about those lying on the beach next to us? What about those driving next to us on the way to work or standing in line in front of us at the grocery store? How about those who post things we find offensive? What do we think of them?
         1. We hold ourselves back from being present to other people because we have so much to do. We have our agendas. We have places to be and people to see.
            1. We do not always see those who happen to be right in front of us.
            1. A seminary professor told us to “look at the eyes of the person in front of you.” She was telling us to be fully present to people. Remain focused on the other person.
         1. Before the Sagamore Bridge to enter Cape Cod is a sign saying in big block letters “Desperate?” And under that is “Call us. We listen. The Samaritans on Cape Cod and the Islands. Volunteers always needed.” Then are two phone numbers.
            1. This is an organization which has signs all over the place and is ready to help people who are suicidal or who want to talk to a good listener. One woman wrote about the value she has experienced since she has volunteered the past 34 years after in her brother suicided in 1987.
            1. “The Samaritans” is a good title for this organization.

The Samaritan in Jesus’ story was a human being. Forget about all that the people would have considered to be wrong with him.

1. He acted humanely, more so than those who were considered “good” and “godly.”
   1. As a human being he saw another human being in need and did not look the other way. He not only “saw” this victim but he gave himself in concrete action and hospitality.
      1. “True power,” according to the rabbis, “lay not in martial strength but in compassion and reconciliation. ‘Who is mighty,’ the rabbis asked: ‘Those who turn enemies into friends.’” (Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, Armstrong, Karen, p. 53).

The way of Christ, the Gospel, is a call to action most of the time. It is a call to act according to the way we were created—as human beings. We are called to act upon our impulse to provide for someone in the way that we would want to be provided.

1. The Jewish scholar Hillel was a contemporary of Jesus. It is said he was approached by a pagan one time who told him he would convert to Judaism if he could recite the entire Torah while he stood on one leg. Hillel replied, “What is hateful to yourself, do not to others. That is the whole of the Torah and the remainder is but commentary. Go study it” (Everyman’s Talmud, B. Shabbat, 1975).
   1. Jesus said something similar when he said that on two laws hang the whole law and the prophets: to love God with everything you are and to love your neighbor as yourselves (Matthew 22:40).
   1. Jesus, however, did not say to then “Go and study them.”
      1. He gave the story of the “Good Samaritan,” that is, the story of the “good hated one,” and said, “Go, and do likewise.”

How will we act compassionately for others today?

As we go out of our way for others, we discover in the caring, that we are more truly alive. The more compassionately we act, the more human we become.

And this is the purpose of the Gospel for us: to be more human.