Foothill Congregational Church The Rev. W. Matthew Broadbent

United Church of Christ Summer Services

461 Orange Ave., Los Altos, CA 94022 July 15, 2007

COMPASSIONATE NEIGHBORS

Luke 10:25-37

It is always a pleasure to have those Sundays when the scripture is an old friend like the Good Samaritan. We don’t have to think hard about the meaning or the application of the text. And as long as the preacher doesn’t harangue the obvious, or wander into extraneous excursions we will have a pleasant experience remembering a story we have known since childhood.

This passage has been a keystone of compassionate behavior. We know who our neighbor is, and what we should do if they are in need. Just as long as we remain conscious of our duty we will be all right. The problem is that sometimes we become unconscious, or live in denial of reality, and that is what gets us into trouble.

Do you remember the name Kitty Genovese? There are those of us, of a certain age, who will remember her name when I tell you her story. It led to a great national debate. Kitty Genovese was a young woman in New York who, on one summer evening, was raped, stabbed repeatedly, and left bleeding in a stairwell in New York City. This horrible crime was notorious because it occurred within the full hearing of Kitty Genovese’s neighbors. Over a period of 45 minutes, Ms. Genovese screamed, cried out for help, and pled for someone to intervene. In the investigation afterwards, it was revealed that at least a half a dozen of her neighbors actually heard her cries for help, and did nothing.

I was a student at the time and I remember the arguments over what should have been done. Many of us know instinctively, even without having to think about it, what we ought to do. We justified ourselves in thinking we would have acted differently, but doing what we ought to do is another issue.

Who is your neighbor, and what is your responsibility? This is the question for us to look at today. And since this is such a familiar passage I have turned for help in unpacking this story to a new resource, for me, by Richard Swanson, called Provoking the Gospel of Luke: a Storyteller’s Commentary. (I think you will be hearing a lot from Richard Swanson in the coming months.)

Swanson notes there are several problems in the traditional interpretation of this text which begins, Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.

Well I can see the first problem right away. This is about a lawyer and you know how people feel about lawyers? I thought we made need to lighten things up a bit at this point so I did a web search for lawyer jokes and it came up with 6,690,000 sites, which just goes to show you the popularity of lawyers. Most of the jokes I can’t share publicly, but this one is telling:

Q: What's wrong with lawyer jokes? A: Lawyers don't think they're funny and other people don't think they're jokes.

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life? Swanson notes that the word test assumes that this is an hostile act, since how can anyone dare question Jesus Christ, Son of God, the second person in the trinity? “Christians begin with the assumption of the unassailability of Jesus, and therefore miss the bite of this scene.” Our lawyer, a Torah expert, acts in this scene more like a building inspector. He is probing to see if Jesus has done his homework, to see if he is prepared to even engage in an ethical-theological conversation.

This is a simple question for the Jews. It does not take a long exhaustive answer. It would be beside the point, and Jesus recognizes a softball question when he hears one and tosses it back to the Torah expert: “In Torah, what is written? How do you read?”

The reply is an answer every faithful Jew knows from childhood, and so do you: 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; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said you are right. Do this and you will live.

He passed the test. Jesus knew what he was talking about. The lawyer was well pleased with the response, and now respecting Jesus probes deeper, and this leads us to the second problem of interpretation.

But wanting to justify himself,.. It appears the lawyer’s need for self-justification sounds terribly defensive, but, there is no concept of justification in Jewish thought – Protestant, yes, but not Jewish. The issue here is, and is better translated as, But wanting to be strictly observant himself, that is, a Jew faithful to Torah observance, who aims his whole life to witness to the stable and orderly love of God (Swanson 162).

In this context he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Swanson writes: “I hear a catechism question here, almost like the questions that Martin Luther uses to direct discussion in his Small Catechism. This is a complicated question that appears simple, and thus it is a great question to ask. Such a question will separate the students who are barely paying attention from those who are able to think through complex tangles. The obvious answer is that your neighbor is the person who lives closest to you. If that is the answer that is given, the next question is something like, ‘And what if your mother lives three doors down the block? Does your duty to her take second place to the duty to the person who lives next door to you?’ The obvious answer is that mothers come before next door neighbors. If that is the answer, the next question is something like, ‘Why, then, didn’t you say: Love God; love your mother; and then love your neighbor?’ At this point students will either have their eyes glaze over or they will begin to learn how to think more carefully. A teacher will be able to tell the difference.”

But Jesus is not a student, and this is not an academic exercise. Respecting the lawyer, Jesus tells a parable, a complicated story that appears simple. He peoples his story with real characters caught in the catch-22 dilemmas of Jewish society. There is a person who has been assaulted and left for dead. He needs help. The first persons who come upon him have an obligation to avoid corpse-uncleanness because of their responsibility to the larger society. A priest performs the rituals of the temple for the well-being of the nation-state. A Levite is a third order religious official designated to assist the priests by maintaining the Sanctuary, cleaning the sacred vessels, decorating the altar, cleaning up afterward. In other words, all of you who are Deacons, Ushers, Finance people, Altar Guild, Choir and Music Board – anything to do with our worship life – you are Levites.

What are you supposed to do if you are on your way to church and there is an accident? Many of you would stop because worship will happen in spite of us. When my mother died I needed to stay with the family so, I called Pastor Michelle: “Take over, I need to stay with my family.” Everybody understood this was the correct thing to do.

But, (Swanson) what if we are speaking of a physician who is rushing to perform an operation only she can do and she comes upon a man who may already be dead. The choice in such a situation is painful, but obvious. She has to do triage everyday; it comes with the job. She goes on. So do the priest and the Levite. The choices we make, the ethical decisions about duty are complicated and sometimes painful.

“Now Jesus creates a truly masterful complication: ‘Along comes a Samaritan…’ Swanson writes: “I imagine that the Torah expert shakes his head in admiration. He knows that he is in a conversation with someone who is truly interesting, truly worth the argument. ‘Who of these three….?’ What a wonderful question.

“The answer given by the Torah expert - the one who showed mercy - is also wonderful. It is an answer from deep in the heart of Jewish faith, but the implications are astounding. If you want to know what a person believes, say the rabbis, watch her feet, not her mouth. You can say anything, but your true character will show up in your actions. Torah observance, faithfulness to God, true integrity: all these show up in actual action, not in talk. This is true, Jesus and the Torah expert have established, even when the person you are watching is a notoriously, non-observant Samaritan. So now, the Samaritans are teaching Torah? “Do what he did,” says Jesus. This is a complication worthy of a master, which goes to show what can happen when two masters work together.”

I always assumed this was a conflict scene where the lawyer (say that with a sneer) challenges Jesus and loses. It turns out this is not a conflict scene. This is an argument scene between two people who have enough respect for each other to dig out the truth.

The truth that the care for another hurting human being takes precedence over other obligations throws us back on last week’s message about extravagant hospitality. The extravagance with which Jesus describes the Samaritan’s action is meant to be an invitation to, not only, “Do what he did,” but to be something special.

The parable addresses us not in the language of the imperative – what we are to do – but in the language of the indicative, of who we are to be and our own deep need for care. Far beyond providing us with an example of moral behavior and personal accountability, the Samaritan stranger opens the shutters of our heart to recognize nothing less than the care and compassion of God. We have been the recipients of great care in our woundedness, and, because of this, we are able to give care as compassionate neighbors. It is who we are.