Sermon Title: Who Left HIV/AIDS Lying in the Streets?
Scripture Framework: Read Luke 10:30-37 [The Good Samaritan]
Opening: Every year in March, thousands of communities celebrate the National Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS. It is a time in which churches and other faith-based organizations pray for the Lord to heal people living with HIV/AIDS and demonstrate compassion toward those that are rejected and stigmatized in our society and churches.
Despite the love and goodwill that the Holy Spirit is pouring out to people living with this dreaded disease, there are those who have an immediate, negative response to people living with HIV/AIDS. Is AIDS a punishment from God for sin? Does the Church have a role in ministering to the needs of people living with this disease? Hopefully, the Word of God will shed some light on these questions and help Christians to understand God’s perspective on one of the most difficult questions facing society and the Church.
Point 1: Jesus Nailed Blame to the Cross!
A. In the story of The Good Samaritan, it tells of a man who fell among thieves. The details of the story do not reveal exactly what the man’s role or fault was in getting injured. Was he an innocent traveler who met up with the wrong people? Was he a thief himself who was turned on by his companions? Did he pay the price for doing the wrong thing?
1. It is no oversight that the Word left this question unanswered. The question of how the man became injured, lying bleeding and dying on the side of the road parallels the circumstances in which many people find themselves who are living with HIV/AIDS today.
2. Jesus spent considerable time in His ministry teaching the disciples to turn away from the old Jewish tradition of always looking for blame in the midst of a tragedy (John 9:1-3). As the people of God, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. None of us is worthy to cast blame on another.
3. One of the biggest mistakes we can make as Christians is to categorize people as “innocent” or “guilty” victims of HIV/AIDS. We often call the following people “innocent” victims of HIV/AIDS:
a. A Doctor or nurse who contracts HIV from being pricked with a tainted needle.
b. A person who contracts HIV from a bad blood transfusion (rare now due to quality blood screenings).
c. A wife or husband who contracts HIV from a wayward spouse.
d. A child who contracts HIV from his/her mother in-utero, during birth, or from tainted breast milk.
4. We often call the following people “guilty” victims of HIV/AIDS:
a. A person who contracts HIV as a result of engaging in sex outside of marriage.
b. A man who contracts HIV as a result of engaging in sexual intimacy with another man.
c. A person who contracts HIV as a result of using intravenous drugs.
5. Jesus desires that we reject damaging and stigmatizing labels and concentrate on meeting the needs of anyone who is sick for any reason.
Point 2: The Church has Often Failed in its Responsibility to People Living with HIV/AIDS
A. In the story of The Good Samaritan, Jesus tells us that three people noticed the man lying in street bleeding and dying. A Priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan. If we were to translate these roles into modern language, we could call them “The Preacher”, “The Deacon”, and “A Regular Guy”!
B. The two people who had the greatest responsibility for assisting the dying man was the priest (The Preacher) and the Levite (The Deacon).
1. In Mark 16:18, one of the things Jesus told the Disciples they would have power to do is to “lay hands on the sick and they shall recover”.
2. However, rather than use the God-given power of healing, encouragement, and blessing, the priest and the Levite chose to ignore the holy calling on their lives and leave the man in the street.
3. Jesus stated that one of the things He admired in those who blessed the “least of these His brethren” was that they “visited the sick”. Jesus is heartbroken when the people of God ignore or worse, criticize the sick that we should be helping.
C. The one man (The Regular Guy) who was himself stigmatized and rejected as a result of being a Samaritan (a people of mixed Jewish/Gentile heritage), chose to do a series of holy things he was not even anointed by God to do:
1. Pour oil and wine on the injured man’s wounds (Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit; Wine is a symbol of the blood of Jesus, cleansing, salvation, etc.).
2. Bear the man’s burden on his own donkey (faith in action).
3. Pay the innkeeper to house and care for the man (faith with money).
Point 3: The Church has an Opportunity to Obey Jesus with Regard to HIV/AIDS
A. In bringing the illustration of The Good Samaritan into the 21st century, it is Church people who are often the most culpable before God for ignoring, criticizing, and stigmatizing people living with HIV/AIDS. AIDS has been at the forefront of society as a national and international health crisis for 31 years (since 1981) and it has been the Church that has been slow or absent from the fight against this deadly disease.
1. As the body of believers endowed with the power to heal, encourage, and bless, we have often left people living with HIV/AIDS wounded and dying in the streets because:
a. We did not want to help;
b. Did not see our God-given responsibility;
c. Did not understand the clinical and/or sociological nature of the disease;
d. Were too distracted by controversy over gay marriage, gay rights, or other non-medical social or political issues.
e. Were too concerned/afraid about what other Christians or clergy might think if we extended a hand of compassion.
2. We left the work of healing hurting and dying people up to the secular government, medical community, and AIDS service organizations – none of whom are anointed with the power of the Church. Nevertheless, like the Good Samaritan, they were the ones who picked up the burden and did the work we should have been doing for the last 31 years.
B. The Church has an opportunity to rise up and assume its proper place with regard to HIV/AIDS, people who suffer from the disease, and their families:
1. We have an opportunity to repent with action for being late to the fight against HIV/AIDS in our communities and around the world.
2. We have an opportunity to reject stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS and to educate our congregations about basic HIV/AIDS facts, how the disease is transmitted, and how to keep ourselves healthy and free of the disease (no more myths!).
3. Finally, we have an opportunity to develop internal church ministries and external outreach ministries to address HIV/AIDS just as we do with other people problems in our community (cancer, poverty, divorce, substance abuse, etc.).
C. Jesus could not have made Himself clearer than when He asked the rabbi in the story: “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” [Luke 10:36-37]. Let us as pastors, ministers, and Christian congregants do no less than obey our Master. Go and do likewise!
