A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Luke 10:25-37
July 15, 2007
It is becoming more and more important, in the visual age in whch we live, to try to paint pictures with words. The church is always in search of new ways to do that. Lately we have had ads placed on placemats in area restaurants, in newspapers, and community newsletters. We have had water bottles made advertising “The Ark” which we have passed out at T-ball games. For one week beginning on July 22, we have placed forty 30 second ads on WAJI radio 95.1. The ads are part of the radio station’s efforts to raise money for Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis.
On the 30 second ads, we get roughly 8 to 10 seconds to talk about Calvary church. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but you can say a lot of stuff in eight seconds.
Generally, advertisements on television or radio are 15, 30, or 60 seconds long, but advertising executives are learning that shorter ads work also.
How many of you, when you are listening to the radio in the car, switch channels when commercials come on? If you do that, you are among the 13% of listeners who change stations as soon as those commercial breaks come on. Another 20% of us switch channels after hearing just one commercial. From what I am understanding, radio stations believe that if they can shorten the time devoted to commercials, they ought to be able to better hold listener’s attention, which in turn, helps advertisers to decide to continue to use the radio. It is all a big circle.
Watch the commercials on television and notice how quickly the images move from one to another and back again. Watch music videos – either MTV or if you like country music instead – CMT. Notice how quickly the videos move from one image to another. That is what we are getting used to in this culture.
Back in Medieval times in Europe when the great cathedrals were being built, most people were illiterate. So they built those cathedrals with enormous stained glass windows to tell the stories of the faith in ways that people could understand. The same thing is happening today. We are relying less and less on the printed word and more and more on images - both visual and auditory - to tell the story. We are looking for ways to get our message across – quickly and without confusion.
That is why we have begun using power point during the sermon. We are not doing that to drive you crazy. We are not doing it just to join the crowd. We are not doing that because the preacher enjoys disrupting worship. We are doing it because our aim is to reach new people for Christ. It is really not about us. It is about them; the folks who have not heard the Good News. This is not a worship strategy as much as it is a mission strategy. In our day and age, the story was told by the printed word. In today’s world, the story is being told once again, just like in the great cathedrals, by pictures and images. The people who produce advertisements and commercials know that. Even on the radio they paint pictures with their words.
You may have trouble keeping up with the new ways of communicating as it comes to us in brief sound bites, but when you think about it, the two most important messages of the Scriptures are articulated in just a few seconds. “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.” Or as “The Message” puts it, “…love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence…” The second message is this one, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It doesn’t take long at all to get the message across.
That comes in the course of teaching by Jesus, the context of which is different in Luke than it is in Matthew or Mark. In the first two gospels, these teachings occur while Jesus is in the Temple. In Luke, they occur in the long section of stories, from chapter 9 through 19, as he makes his was to Jerusalem to be offered up on the cross. So in a lot of ways, this parable of the Good Samaritan parallels the story of Jesus and the rich man in Mark chapter 10, which also takes place as Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem.
So, along the way, a man who was well versed in the minutiae of the Law of Moses stood up to give Jesus a test. “What do I need to do to get eternal life?” Jesus, as so often happens, answers the question with a question of his own. “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?” The fellow quoted the two great commandments about loving God and one’s neighbor, to which Jesus replied, “Good answer. Do it and you’ll live.” In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus adds, “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”
I spent three years in seminary, a year of internship, and an additional year writing papers, undergoing psychological tests, and having oral interviews to prepare for my ordination – soaking up all of the knowledge I could along the way. And along comes Jesus who says that I need to know two things. I need to love God with all that I am, and love and care for my neighbor with the same degree of commitment as I take care of myself. Everything else is just commentary.
Unfortunately, for the scholar in our story, this wasn’t enough. He had to push it to the limits. He had to give it one more go. He had to continue pressing. He had to prove how smart he was. He couldn’t let Jesus get away with such a simple answer. So he said, “And just how do you define neighbor?” As often happened, Jesus answered him with a story.
There was this fellow who was traveling down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. I have been down that road. It winds down through incredibly rough mountain terrain. There are sharp hairpin curves around which could hide bandits or other trouble-makers. And so, as this man was walking along, robbers attacked him, beat him almost to the point of death, stole his clothes and possessions, and escaped back into the hills.
Then a priest came walking along, but he saw the man lying in the ditch and walked on by on the other side. Not too long after that, a Levite came along. Levites were the ones who helped out the priest in the Temple. But he too, passed by on the other side of the road.
And then along came a Samaritan. Now let’s remember a little bit about the Samaritans. Not long after the death of King Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was broken in two. Ten of the twelve tribes because the northern kingdom known as Israel. Two of the twelve became the southern kingdom known as Judah.
The northern kingdom was eventually conquered by the nation of Syria which then imported its own gods, goddesses, and rituals into the region. They became known as the Samaritans because their capital city was Samaria. Both the Samaritans and the Judeans loved the Torah, the Law of Moses, but the southerners considered the northerners to have sold out to the enemy by abandoning some very important ancient practices.
The Samaritans became hated. Now, it goes without saying that Denver Bronco fans hate and loath the Oakland Raiders. And Chicago Bears fans hate and loath the Green Bay Packers. Indianapolis Colts fans hate and loath the New England Patriots. But those emotions don’t compare with the hatred that Judeans had for the Samaritans. This was something much greater than sports. It had to do with the identity of the people of God. Judeans hated and distrusted Samaritans because they felt that they had abandoned true religion and faithful devotion.
So along comes a Samaritan. He found the man lying alongside the road and administered first aid at the scene. He then put the man on his own donkey and delivered him to an inn where he paid for his continuing care.
We are going to make an assumption here that the people to whom Jesus told this story would have identified with the victim of the beating. But Jesus turned the story around and asked, “Which of the three became a neighbor to the one who was attacked?”
The man versed in the Law said, “The one who treated him kindly.” Just a couple of minutes before this, he had quoted the Scriptures that said to love your neighbor as yourself. Now he admits to Jesus that it is the Samaritan who acted as neighbor. Therefore he is convicted by his own logic. He must love the hated Samaritan, for he is the neighbor.
From the mountains of Judea, let me take you to Mount Everest, a mountain that is littered with dead bodies. Last Sunday evening during The Ark service, we showed a film clip from the movie “Everest” which was shot during a 1996 expedition to the Summit of the world’s highest mountain. On that expedition, eight people died after being caught in a storm. One who was thought to be dead was a guy by the name of Beck Weathers, but he surprised them by walking into their camp just a couple of thousand feet from the summit.
He was as near death as anyone could imagine. His hands were frozen solid and would eventually have them amputated. He had severe frost bite on his face and would lose his nose. The climbing team then abandoned their quest for the summit. The IMAX movie crew put down their cameras. Everyone became focused on getting Beck Weathers down off that mountain. They had already lost eight people. They were determined not to lose any more. They knew who their neighbor was.
On May 26th of last year, an American team was again closing in on the summit. With just a thousand feet to climb, they abandoned their quest to rescue an Australian climber named Lincoln Hall. Climbing at that altitude has devastating effects on the human body. Altitude sickness causes among other things, a severe cough. It is not unusual for climbers to break some ribs because of their violent coughing. Additionally one’s lungs can fill up with blood making it almost impossible to breathe.
Lincoln Hall had fallen desperately ill near the summit. His climbing team had tried to help him, but had abandoned him in order to save themselves. As they passed the American team on the way down, they told them that Hall was dead. But the next morning, they found him sitting in the snow, disoriented but very much alive. The Americans forgot about their own summit bid and expended all of their energy to save Hall’s life. They knew who their neighbor was. Unfortunately, not all people get it. Just ten days earlier, another climber had died very near the summit while about forty other people passed on by without even making an attempt to save him.
As I read it, the commandment to love your neighbor isn’t just for sea level. It is in no way altitude specific. The commandment also is not meant for only grand, heroic acts that make the newspapers. It is found even in small, everyday acts of generosity, kindness, gentleness, and self-sacrifice.
The problem that we face is the same problem that this lawyer in the gospel faced. The issue is not that we don’t understand the commandments. We know that we are commanded to love God above all else and to love our neighbors in the same manner that we love ourselves. Love of God naturally flows into love of neighbor. Our problem is not in understanding. The problem is in execution of the commandments. The problem is in our performance. Whether we are walking down toward the Dead Sea far below sea level or trudging up the highest mountain in the world, the commandments remain the same. We know them. We just have to do them.
We can get lost in questions and discussions and debates over these two commandments. But in the end, it is not that hard to figure out who our neighbors are. Just look around. If I could borrow a line from Mr. Rogers, it will be a beautiful day in the neighborhood when we have a heart for God and a heart for people. We don’t have to be a saint. We don’t have to be Mother Teresa. We simply have to keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open to the call of God and the needs of our neighbors.
