July 15, 2007      The Good Samarian

Children’s Sermon

I am a great fan of Dr. Seuss. One of my favorite characters from Dr. Suess is Horton, a compassionate elephant. In the story,"Horton Hears a Who!" Horton was splashing around in a cool jungle pool when he heard a small voice crying for help. Horton had keen ears, like all elephants. He looked all around, but all he saw was a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. Horton realized that there was someone on that speck of dust who was calling for help.

As it turned out, there was a whole town of people on that little speck of dust. They were calling out for help because they were afraid that the speck of dust would fall into the pool of water and they would drown. Even though they were so small that he couldn't even see them, Horton made up his mind that he was going to help them. "After all," he said, "A person's a person, no matter how small."

All of the other animals in the jungle thought Horton was crazy. The kangaroo, some monkeys, and an eagle all made fun of Horton for wanting to help the people on the speck of dust. They even tried to put Horton in a cage.

Horton refused to give up, and remained faithful to the task. At the end of the story, the tiny people were saved. And then all the other animals realized that just as Horton had said, "A person's a person, no matter how small."

Sermon

The story of Horton reminds me of our gospel reading today. Our translation says a lawyer, but to be more clear, he was a Jewish scholar of the torah, Jewish biblical law. The scholar asked Jesus what he had to do to gain eternal life. Jesus asked him what does the biblical law say? The scholar answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus answered, "You are right. Do this and you will live." Then the scholar, wanting to justify himself, asked Jesus another question. "Who is my neighbor?" he asked.

There we have a hint about the man’s true motivation behind these questions. He was trying to justify himself, so that he would be innocent and sinless for the day of judgement. He didn’t need God’s mercy to do that. He didn’t need Jesus because Jesus came to save sinners. Too bad he preceded the Apostle Paul by about 20 years, and never got to read his letters. Paul wrote that we are justified by grace alone, and we cannot save ourselves. Instead this scholar thought that if he knew and followed God’s laws, that would save him.

Jesus knew that you can’t have a meaningful debate about the Bible with people like him. Instead, Jesus told a story about a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. Now anyone who went along that road without an armed escort was taking a risk. That road was famous for all the robberies and violence that happened to anyone who was foolish enough to try it alone. Predictably, robbers came and beat him up, took his money, stripped him of his clothes, and left him beside the road to die.

A priest came by and when he saw the man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and continued on his way. A little while later, a Levite who worked in the temple came along. He also saw the man lying there and passed by on the other side of the road. Both of these fellows knew that if they helped him, they would be taking a huge risk because it might be a trap. And, by their own customs, if he was dead and they touched him, they would both lose their standing in their positions.

Finally, a man from Samaria came along. Most Jews in that day hated the Samaritans. The Samaritans only recognized the first five books of the Bible. They did not recognize the prophets like Isaiah, or the other writings, like the Psalms. They didn’t believe that Jerusalem was Zion, God’s Holy City. The worshiped God near the place where Abraham and Sarah had a well where Abraham first heard the promise that he was chosen by God to be the Father of God’s people. Finally, they spoke a different language and had different customs.

The Jews of Jesus day and regarded them as dangerous people, like the robbers along this road. So when Jesus told this story, the fact that a Samaritan came along raised the eye bows of for everyone who heard it.

There are still some Samaritans today day living among the Palestinians. We might call them Jewish Palestinians, but that seems like a huge contradiction. They are not accepted by them or the Israelis or the Arab nations. They live as refugees in poverty and isolation.

In Jesus’ story, the Samaritan came to the man who was mugged and naked, put medicine on the wounds and wrapped them with bandages. He took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he gave the innkeeper money to cover his expenses. He said, "Give him anything he needs. If it costs more than I have given you, I will pay you the next time I am here."

Then Jesus asked, "Which of these three men was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by the robbers." The lawyer got the point of the story, and I’m sure he reluctantly answered, "The one who helped him."

Jesus said, "You are right. Now you go and do the same." God’s law says to love the neighbor, and now Jesus redefined the meaning of the word, neighbor. The neighbor is anyone who is in need.

Today were celebrating our mission as God’s people. Mission is the reason why we do what we do. It’s our purpose in life everyday. Now I know we all must do many things in life, but not all things are as important as other things, at least to God. As far as God is concerned, our purpose as a Christian is to produce other Christians. We do that by loving and caring for them. This allows others to see God’s love through what we do.

This is a real challenge for us because it’s easier not to look at or listen to the voices of those in need around the world or even in our own town. But when we listen, like Horton the elephant, we can hear the billions of voices of needy people everywhere. Most of the world’s population live in what we would consider poverty. I recently read one statistic that a billion people in the world don’t even have a safe supply of drinking water. That’s an overwhelming thought to me.

Helping our neighbor is often risky, costs money, and sometimes dangerous. Today we heard a fine presentation by a missionary in Indonesia. Helping a neighbor in need can be risky. But I could see by the presentation today that there is great joy in follow Jesus and helping our neighbors in need.

We alone couldn’t possibly help them all, but with God all things are possible. So here’s what I suggest. Follow Jesus. Remember that Jesus is the only one who is without sin, and he came to save repentant sinners. Even when we did not love God or our neighbor, he has given us a new beginning through the forgiveness of sin. Then he says to us, follow me. Let us follow him, and follow God’s commandment to love our neighbor.

Second, go in peace and serve the Lord by loving our neighbor. There are many ways to do that. Each of us can find at least one person outside of our family that needs our help. We can work for justice for those who are oppressed, who are sick, who are hungry even in our neighborhood. Start with one person, and soon you’ll find the joy of loving the neighbor is a blessing to you and to the person you are helping.

I recognize many of you are already helping others in other places, like Crowley House of Hope, or volunteering in other places where people need help. Some of us are even giving a tithe to church and other charities. I commend all of you! This is our way responding to love we have received in Christ Jesus. At Grace, we do many things expressing our love for people in and beyond our congregation!

Third, remember to take time to listen. When you have trouble hearing your neighbor, just remember the story of "Horton Hears a Who!" and the story of the Good Samaritan then you will know that every person in need is your neighbor. Horton said, "A neighbor's a neighbor, no matter how small!" How true!

Amen