Blogging Towards Sunday

July 15, 2007

Who is my neighbor?

What do I care?

This week at Fruitvale Church I'm preaching on two of the Lectionary List Scriptures proposed for Sunday, July 15th. Psalm 82 and Luke 10:25-37.

Psalm 82 is a poetic affirmation of God's justice and judgment, the declaration that the God of the Bible is on the side not of the rich and the powerful, the bold and the beautiful - but for all people, in parcticular the weak and the orphan the lowly and the destitute. It reminds me of other sciptures - the prayer of Hannah at the birth of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and the song of Mary (the Magnificat) as he response to the news that God will come into the world through Jesus the child of her womb (Luke 1:46-56).



The passage from Luke 10 is commonly called the parable of the "Good Samaritan." Ironic as a title, for Jesus never says that the Samaritan is good. It's a striking example of the depth, honesty, and transformative teaching and presence of Jesus of Nazareth. As I've studied it every day this week in theological works and reflective meditation and prayer, I'm struck by the simplicity, truthfulness, and salvation power in Jesus' relational interaction with the lawyer (student of the Torah) that he tells this parable to as well as in his teaching.



1. The Lawyer comes to test Jesus. He thinks he's better than Jesus. He comes not wanting to learn, dialogue or deepen a relationship, but with a hidden agenda. He comes wanting to trap Jesus, to trick him into saying something foolish, or better yet to agree with what the laywer thought. Jesus surprises him, for he turns the situation around. The lawyer becomes the student, the one who is challenged in his worldview, religious convictions, and personal faith.

2. The Lawyer has the right answers but doesn't live them. There is a total disruption between his thoughts/mind and his heart/life actions. He doesn't walk his talk.



3. Jesus tells a parable that we miss because of the cultural/historical contexts. The injured man may or may not be Jewish. If he's not, then touching him makes one ritually unclean, spreading a contagion that was based upon ethnic division and a worldview based on racial superiority.



3a. The Priests were at the top of that society. They knew everything. They gave their life to following the Torah laws, living a life based on righteousness and purity because of their application of God's laws. The Priests is the ultimate "good guy" in that culture - probably both esteemed for their dedication and judged for their priveleged lives. The priest not only doesn't help but seems to go out of his way to walk around the hurt person.



3b. The Levites were in 2nd place in the hierarchical ladder of social privelege. The Priests were chosen from among the Levites. They too would be expected to help, yet would also seek to keep themselves pure, not wanting to spiritually defile themselves by touching an unclean and/or Gentile person.



3b. The Samaritans were the unwanted, black sheep. As Jesus told the story his listeners most likely would have expected the hero of the parable to be a laymen, an ordinary Jewish man. They might have expected Jesus to be teaching about the equality of all people, that ordinary Jews were as holy, righteous, and involved in God's ways in the world as the Priests and Levites. But Jesus goes farther. The hero is a Samaritan. They were like distant cousins of the Jews who had remained in Palestine during the Jewish exile in Babylon some 400-300 years earlier. They worshipped God not in Jerusalem, but in other places. They were like the bastard cousins, the ones who weren't good enough, who had a blasphemous faith, who thought there were equal but who weren't. They were the butt of the jokes - like some ethnic groups are oftentimes in jokes I hear these days.



4. Jesus teaches that faith and community gathered in God's name has nothing to do with socio-economic privelege or ethnic identity. God loves all people equally. God speaks to all people. All people - and maybe those that we oftentimes least expect to do so - speak, act, work, and live for God and God's justice - grace - and peace - in our world.



5. Jesus doesn't condemn the lawyer for his pride, racism, or elitism; but rather invites him to conversion, to transformation, to freedom from the lies and -isms that trap him in a small worldview and a faith in which the God of the Bible is held prisoner in a small box. Jesus doesn't give the answer. He asks the lawyer to answer the question that the latter asked the former, "Who this is my neighbor?" - the question that started the telling of the parable. The lawyer is most likely so angry, so trapped in his worldview, so unable/unwilling to change that he answers without saying aloud the words at which he cringes "The Samaritan is the neighbor." Instead he answers correctly but with general pronouns. Jesus invites him to a radical conversion, a deep transformation of his worldview: the way in which he makes sense of life by applying his faith, makes meaning of his relationships, and defines what his community is. Jesus invites him to a larger worlview, a wider definition and experience of community - yet he seems unwilling and unable to move into it.



So what does this word mean for us? In a week of continued talks about unionization in Oakland in our stores as well as the lock out at Waste Management, when the President and Congress talk about Iraq and the future there, in regards to Libby's potential pardon, and many other events in our life together as a city/nation and our personal communities and relationships.



In my week up at Summer Camp in the Redwood Forest I was struck each day by the mysterious beauty of the forest, in particular the redwoods. I was speaking and teaching on the parable of the sower and the seed (Matthew 13:1-9). Talking about seeds with 2-3rd graders I was hit by the notion of how God defines and nurtures community incarnate in the forest around me. Redwood tress grow both from seeds and in groups. They spread out from the "mother" tree in a circle shape. Their roots are actually quite shallow, so such tall trees should easily blow over in the wind. But as they grow in groups their roots grow together, making each other stronger through their mutual growth, giving and receiving of strength. The redwood tree is a perfect icon/image of community and what Jesus is trying to teach us even today through the Parable of the Samaritan. The same question is asked of us today..."Who is our neighbor?" In an era in which our neighbors might be those that have lived here forever, or those that can afford a skyrocket high mortage, or those that are stuck in the same economic circumstances that we are it's easy to feel like we don't have a choice in who our neighbors are. Yet it's not just about fences and property lines. Who do weconsider your community? Is it just those that share ouropinions, beliefs, worldview, ethnic backgrounds? Or is it something different? How do we treat our neighbors? Is our faith or are our 'basic values' evident in how we talk with, act alongside, relate with, and live alongside those who are our neighbors?