“A Mission Mindset: Operation Impact”
Luke 10:25-37
Did you see yourself in the video? I saw myself. I saw myself as I way too often am. Just a few weeks ago I left here late at night following a long meeting. As I drove out of the parking lot a man was sitting on the rock at the island by the entry drive. My first instinct was to stop and see if he was all right – but then I quickly rationalized that there were still others left in the building who will stop if there’s a real need. After all, I needed and wanted to get home. It bothered me all the way, but not enough for me to turn around and go back. So, yes, that’s me in the video. Is it you, too?
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? …The one who had mercy on him.” I wonder how often we see the wounded and helpless in our paths each day and just move on. How often do we fail in being good neighbors? Jesus wonders, too. That’s why He used this story we call The Good Samaritan to teach us about ourselves and our response to people, to educate us on how to have an impact for Him.
Although the story may be very familiar, let’s visit it again. The lawyer asks Jesus to define ‘neighbor. And Jesus responds with this story of a mugging. He is saying something about the world in which we live. GOD’S WORLD IS FILLED WITH AFFLICTION. It cannot be avoided.
Notice what Jesus teaches about affliction. First, AFFLICTION IS NOT ALWAYS THE FAULT OF THE SUFFERER. The traveler could not be blamed for being beaten and robbed. This sort of thing happens; affliction is a fact of life. Someone is struck by lightning; another person loses his job just because the economy went south; a vibrant, seemingly healthy person is slowed down by a ravaging case of cancer; still others are homeless because floods, typhoons, or earthquakes destroy their homes and land; death breaks in and alters emotions and relationships.
A second lesson is that AFFLICTION IS OFTEN CAUSED BY OTHERS. The traveler is accosted by other men – thieves and robbers, murderers. So rapists rule by power and terror; alcoholics and drunks maim and kill others and destroy families; Slanderers lie and destroy reputations; divorce injures children for life; abuse ruins people of all ages; young men and women are killed and injured in battle. All of this is unavoidable. We do not control it and cannot avoid it. Affliction crosses all our paths at some point in our journey through life. We all travel the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, most of us more than once.
Apparently NEIGHBORLINESS HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH AFFLICTION. Remember that the man was asking Jesus for clarification about identifying his neighbor. He was asking “Who am I responsible for? Just whom are you saying I should love?” Jesus responded with a question of His own: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Jesus reframed the question. IT IS NOT, ‘WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?’, BUT ‘TO WHOM AM I A NEIGHBOR?’ Jesus’ says we are to focus on being a neighbor. We cannot pick and choose certain people as neighbors. We must not choose whom to love. To love God means to show mercy to those in need. The essence of the Christian life is serving God and caring for others. Neighbors are not determined by race, creed or gender; they are not determined by personalities we like or by common interests.
In the story Jesus also tells us that GOD PLACES US IN THE MIDST OF AFFLICTION. “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho…” Some translations state it, “Now by chance a man…” Whenever that phrase appears in the Bible it means the exact opposite – it was not by chance. It means it happened by plan, design, by providence. God designed it so the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan would come by. GOD PUTS US IN CERTAIN PLACES TO MEET CERTAIN SUFFERERS. Jesus wants us continually ask, “Who’s at my door?” – “Who sees me as neighbor?” “Who’s on my path?” – “Why am I here in this place at this time?”
You know people whose marriages are rocky, people and families where drugs and alcohol are destroying life, people who are lonely, individuals who are grieving, families struggling with layoffs or job reductions or job loss, patients in the hospital; you drive by the homeless and the beggars. HOW OFTEN DO YOU LOOK FOR GOD’S ASSIGNMENTS IN THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU? Unfortunately the priest and the Levite were not looking. Most likely they had just spent their month of duty in the temple. They had been assisting in worshiping the most high God. They had been as near to God as was humanly possible. Their prayers, sacrifices, and psalms had been lifted high and had uplifted them. Yet they were not ready to sacrifice themselves. They had repeatedly heard God’s words, “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.” Yet they could not show mercy. They had been so near to God and yet were so far away. The most religious of people were the least neighborly.
It makes me wonder about our response after worshiping here at Hope. What do we do when we leave this place? Do we look for God’s assignments?
Jesus brought the point home when He said, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The man had no choice but to respond “The one who had mercy on him.” GOD WANTS US TO RELIEVE AFFLICTION. God knows what we have to offer - money, compassion, understanding, hospitality, wisdom, love – so He puts sufferers on our path who need what we have. He puts us in the midst of affliction to help relieve it. God places us where we can help.
Are we ready to show mercy? A poem by Ruth Walsh pierces my heart.
I was naked, and you questioned my lack
Of modesty in my appearance.
I was imprisoned, and you debated
The legal aspects of interference.
I was penniless, and you discussed
Tax-deductable donations from your wealth.
I was sick, and you thanked the Lord,
For the blessings of your health.
I was hungry, and you formed a club
To study malnutrition.
I was homeless, and you said God’s love
Was shelter under any condition.
I was lonely, and you left me by myself
While you and your friends prayed.
You seem so holy and close to God…
Yet I’m still sick and alone and afraid!
Jesus asked the lawyer, and asks us, “What does God want you to do? What does God want to do through you? What does mercy require?” God puts us in certain places to help certain sufferers.
Notice that all three travelers ‘saw’ the injured man. Yet two crossed to the other side of the road, while the Samaritan went to help. So it’s more than a matter of simply seeing – IT’S A MATTER OF EYE CONTROL. What do you really see when you see? Through what lens do you look at the people around you, the people who cross – or lay – in the path of your life? If we look for places and ways to show mercy, if we look for persons in need, we will become good neighbors. In fact, when Jesus talked about the last judgment, what did He say would be the first things judged? The eyes! (Mt. 25:37f.) “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” To look for misery and need is the first step in being a good neighbor. To look at others is the first step in loving them. What the eye sees seizes the heart, then the hands. When we truly see, we suffer with what we see.
GOD EXPECTS US TO LOOK FOR THOSE IN NEED. Think about the Samaritan. Samaritans were considered by Jews as their worst enemy. Yet Jesus makes the Samaritan as the mercy giver. He never hesitates. His mercy and love had no restrictions. It didn’t matter if the injured man was rich or poor, or Protestant or Catholic or unchurched. He didn’t ask the man if he was a Calvinist or if he knew question and answer #1 of the Heidelberg Catechism. Mercy doesn’t look at obstacles – it looks at opportunities. Mercy, like the sun, never chooses the object of its shining – it shines on whoever is in its path.
Ultimately, IT’S A MATTER OF YIELDING CONTROL. The Samaritan’s reaction is spontaneous; he allowed himself to be interrupted; he changed his agenda; the needs of the injured traveler became his top priority. “The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ The injured man’s calendar dictated the Samaritan’s schedule. What dictates your schedule? Someone once shared with me that he heard a unique summation of this parable, that it represents three philosophies life. The robber’s was, “WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE - I’LL TAKE IT.” The priest and Levite believed, “WHAT’S MINE IS MINE - I’LL KEEP IT.” The Samaritan’s philosophy was, “WHAT’S MINE IS YOURS - ILL GIVE IT.” What dictates your schedule? What controls you?
Let’s return to the lawyer. His question about eternal life was a good one. And when Jesus asked him to respond, he answered correctly with the summary of God’s law. But when Jesus said “do it” he quickly grew uncomfortable. So in the presence of Christ this morning the summary of the law bites us. We’re condemned as we speak it. It reminds me of a man who loved working with young boys. He was active in scouting, youth groups, and the local YMCA. But one day, after he had labored all day laying a new concrete driveway, his young son ran through the concrete. The man severely reprimanded and punished him. After observing it, a friend said, “I thought you loved boys” – to which the father responded, “I love in the abstract, not the concrete.” All our words of love haunt and condemn us when we fail to show mercy. By a deathbed, in the face of another’s illness, during a time of someone’s grief these words move off the pages of our bibles and pierce our hearts as we hear Jesus say, “Do it!”
Jesus is not the Samaritan in the parable. But He is the one who tells the story. He represents God’s boundless, limitless, indiscriminate, all-inclusive, spontaneous love. He never asked, “What’s the limit of my love? Whom can I exclude from my care?” So He took the time to meet the woman at the well, to talk with the learned Nicodemus in the dark of night, to heal a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years, to cure a man so ill he had to be let down through a roof to get to Jesus. He took time for children in the middle of His teaching. And He took time for us! He interrupted glory for us. God placed Him on the road with us. He gave His life for us. How can we ever repay Him? By being a good neighbor.
We need to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God, to wipe away the boundaries of our love. THE WOUNDED OF THE WORLD ARE OUR AGENDA. The question is not, “Who is my neighbor?” but “To whom am I a neighbor and what kind of neighbor will I be?” A man, I’ll call him Ken, once wrote of a ‘chance’ encounter in his life. As a freshman in high school, he saw a boy from his class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. He had an arm full of books. Ken wondered why anyone would carry home so many books on a Friday. He wrote Kyle off as a nerd. After all, he had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game), so he shrugged his shoulders and kept walking. Then he saw a bunch of kids run to Kyle, knock all his books out of his arms, tripping Kyle and leaving him lying in the dirt. His glasses had gone flying and Kyle’s eyes were filled with hurt and sadness; there was a tear in his eye. Ken decided to help Kyle. He gave him his glasses and said, “Those guys are really jerks.” Kyle looked at him and said, with a huge smile, “Hey, thanks!” He helped Kyle pick up his books and asked Kyle where he lived. He discovered they lived close to each other, and began to see Kyle as a neat person. He invited Kyle to play football with him on Saturday. This was the start of a great friendship. In fact, they two became best friends. When it came time for college, Kyle chose for Georgetown to be a doctor, and then Ken chose Duke to train for business. At high school graduation, Kyle was valedictorian. He, therefore, gave a graduation speech. He cleared his throat and said, “Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, teachers, siblings, maybe a coach…but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give. I am going to tell you a story.” Ken listened in disbelief as Kyle told of the day they met. Kyle shared that he had planned to kill himself over that weekend. He had cleaned out his locker so his mom wouldn’t have to do it later and was carrying all his stuff home. “Thankfully,” said Kyle with a smile directed towards Ken, “I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.” Kyle’s mom and dad looked over at Ken with the same grateful smile that Kyle had just flashed. It was not until that moment that Ken realized the depth of what he had done.
Ken saw a need; he showed mercy; he was a neighbor. He was like Christ. He made an impact and helped save a life. ‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”… “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”… “The one who had mercy on him…Go and do likewise.”
