SERMON: JUSTICE, MERCY, WALKING HUMBLY
Scripture: Luke 10:25-37 and Micah 6:8 (from THE MESSAGE)
"... a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”
Jesus answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”
The scholar said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”
“Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”
Looking for a loophole, the scholar then asked, “And just how would You define ‘neighbor’?”
Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
“A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’
“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”
“The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.
Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”
Micah 6:8
"And what does the Lord require of you, but to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God."
I want to begin by asking you three questions ... and no, you don't have to shout out the answers .... but you will, in your mind, readily choose one of the two possible replies, at least to the first two questions. The third one may stump you a bit.
1. Would you rather be rich or poor?
2. Would you rather be healthy or sick?
3. Would you rather be righteous, or religious?
Now, I submit that you have to think about the third question, far longer than the first two, simply because the words are not as familiar .... you may even be asking yourself, "What is the difference between being righteous and being religious? Isn't it the same thing? Well, no, it is not...definitely not.
Micah's greatest verse, chapter 6, verse 8, contains one of the clearest, most succinct series of words in the whole Bible. One cannot easily escape the meaning, or pass over it lightly, without giving it at least a token thought.
But, when we jump to the 10th chapter of the Gospel written by Luke, we see evidence that will clearly show us something about the difference between being righteous, and being religious!
Jesus tells the story in a way that leaves no doubt as to how to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
The story goes like this .... a man was traveling between Jerusalem and Jericho, and was attacked, viciously beaten, robbed, and left naked and half dead.
Enter the priest. What is a priest? Of course, he is a supposed 'holy man.' He is one who is to look out for the poor, the afflicted, the lonely, the discouraged, ... in short, the losers in life's lottery.
The first time we heard the story, we suspected that the priest would surely help the hapless victim, lying naked and bleeding on the road, in plain sight.
We expect him to get on his cell phone and call 911, and stay there till the ambulance comes, in the form of a medical helicopter, and immediately transport the traveler to the newly opened Mayo Clinic in Jerusalem, where a team of the world's top experts is standing by to care for their new patient ..... but no.
We expect him, if he doesn't have a cell phone, to at least stop by and pull the victim out of the middle of the road so a bus won't run over him .... but no ....
Well, if he can't do that, maybe he will recruit the next couple of people to help him get the man to somewhere in the shade, and maybe give him a drink of water .... but no, not even that.
The priest, the religious man, actually crosses the road to AVOID the victim, probably with his nose in the air, thinking, "I'm much too important to get involved in a tawdry affair like this ...."
But, never fear! Along comes another religious man, a Levite! Surely he will stop and render some assistance. After all, aren't Levites the ones in charge of the Temple? And doesn't one have to be religious to even be in or around the Temple? Of course! They don't want riff-raff running the Temple!
The Levite, though, wasn't interested in the goings on. About the best thing one can say about either of these two religious men is that at least they didn't do MORE damage to the poor victim. They didn't try to 'put him out of his misery,' for example.
The traveler can thank them, if he ever gets better, for at least leaving him alone, if they weren't going to help.
And I can just see the eyes of the crowd glaze over with pure hatred when Jesus said a Samaritan comes along. A dirty stinking low life Samaritan came along, and I can just see the eyes of the people in the crowd as they listened to this story .... they knew that something bad was about to happen, because Samaritans were just no good. You see, the Samaritans were half Jewish ... and that was about as low as one could be in that society, in that day and time.
And with baited breath, they await to see what the Samaritan would do to the one lying by the side of the road.
And the Samaritan stops ..... ut oh ... here it comes! The victim just thought he had it bad! The Samaritan would likely finish him off .... but no!! NO!
The Samaitan, sorry no account low life that he was, cleaned the wounds, put oil to heal them, set him on his donkey, carried him to the nearest inn, put him in there, paid the innkeeper to take care of him, and even said to run a tab ... .and "I will pay you what you spend on him when I return!"
Now, I don't know about you .... but I sure see 'acting justly,' right here. What does acting justly really mean? Well, what is just .... there are many synonyms ... like fair, honest, unbiased, true ....and doesn't this Samaritan embody all those words? To act justly means, simply, DO THE RIGHT THING.
DO IT AT THE RIGHT TIME, FOR THE RIGHT REASON. It should not be all that hard to do. But, for some reason, it is.
We, too, are so guilty of crossing the street to avoid someone who may be in distress of some kind. Oh, we may not LITERALLY cross the street .....but we do avoid any type of contact so very frequently.
Something that I have noticed over the last few months that also demonstrates acting justly .... when I walk, nowadays, I am not as fast as I used to be, and when walking inside Wal-Mart, I will occasionally stop for a breather ... and almost invariably, at least once a day, someone will see me standing still, perhaps seated on one of those benches at the back of the shoe department, or leaning on a shelf, or cart, maybe ... and they will ask me, "Are you alright?" I just LOVE it when people show concern. But, you know, .... 25 will pass on by .......but the one, in my book, is a hero! .... or heroine, if you are gender conscious!
Loving mercy ... now, that's a pretty phrase, isn't it .... nothing wrong with love, and certainly, nothing wrong with mercy.
Neither of the religious men in the story Jesus told showed that they were acting justly, or that they loved mercy. How, then, could one demonstrate loving mercy, in that story?
Let's get into a bit of outlandish supposition, for a few seconds .... let's assume that the victim here was a robber, himself .... and he had robbed the Samaritan, back in Jerusalem, last week. And here the victim is, and here the Samaritan is ... and the Samaritan recognizes the injured man as the one who had robbed him. But .... that didn't matter. He clearly demonstrates that he loves mercy, by coming to the aid of the ill-fated, unfortunate, miserable, sore, bleeding almost total stranger, lying by the side of the road.
I believe God is in the same category, here. How many times has God shown each of us that He loves mercy? After all, He sure has mercy on us ... every time we have another sin that needs forgiveness, God shows mercy.
It's interesting how many things come in threes in our world .... 3 outs per side in each inning of baseball; yesterday, today, and tomorrow; 3 points for a field goal in football; a three ring circus; Peter, Paul, and Mary; three little pigs; .... justice, mercy, and walking humbly with God.
Let's talk about that, for a bit. We talked about acting justly, and loving mercy. What shall we say about walking humbly with God?
To me, the question is very similar to telling someone "NO" and they don't get it. The popular phrase is WHICH PART OF NO DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? Which part of walking humbly with God do you not understand?
Elizabeth Peale Allen wrote a beautiful piece called 6 steps to walking humbly with God .... this is found in the Feb 23, 2013 edition of Guideposts ....
Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29).
To be like Christ, we must follow His example of humility. How can we learn to walk humbly with our God?
1. Remember who’s in charge—and praise Him!
It’s hard keep things in perspective if we don’t remember who is Lord! Psalm 90 is a good place to start.
2. Pray for an humble heart.
Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the ways in which pride gets in the way of your relationships.
3. Pay more attention to your own faults than to the flaws of others.
Confess your failings, but don’t obsess—move on!
4. Don’t hide behind your dignity—it’s pride’s favorite hiding place.
Your real value lies in God’s eyes, not in the eyes of the world. Remember: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).
5. Try not to watch yourself worship.
Give all of your heart and mind to God.
6. Serve others.
The fastest way to humility is the way Christ chose. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…” (Mark 10:45). AMEN!
PASTORAL PRAYER
Eternal Father, You created us in Your own image and likeness, but sin has warped our minds with arrogance and self-importance. As a result, there is much injustice and much carelessness of the rights of other people and personal responsibility.
And, Father, we know that when You are excluded from the our hearts and consciences, the inevitable result is that people suffer. There is so much injustice and corruption taking place in our world today, not only in the lives of individuals but also in the corridors of power and the council rooms of so very many nations.
We pray Lord that You will right all the wrongs that are taking place in our world and vindicate those that are being treated unjustly. Keep us, Father, from trying to take matters into our own hands. We remember that the Scriptures tell us to avoid vengeance, because that is Your prerogative.
We pray for justice and peace to all those that have been cruelly and unfairly treated by their fellow man. We pray that all of the injustices done will draw those so afflicted to Yourself.
We pray that You would open our eyes that we may see the needs of others. Open our ears that we may hear their cries; Open our hearts so that they need not be without help, sustenance, and assistance.
We pray that we would never be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong. We pray that You would show us where justice, mercy, and an humble walk are needed, and bless us with the determination and the capability to bring hope to those hard places.
Grant, Lord, that we who are gathered here this morning will be ready to do Your will.
We ask in the Name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
