Who is my neighbour?

Sermon on the event of National Chaos

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

C Праздником

   Today is the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, and the Sunday after the Ascension into Heaven of our Lord. I had intended to mention the importance of that First Council. And it is important: what they accomplished, how they accomplished it, how they stood up for the Faith once delivered — how they humbled themselves and asked not “What do you think?” But rather “What were you taught?”

   And I also intended to mention the crucial significance of the Ascension, how it completes the Incarnation, how Christ brings our humanity, sanctified, as a gift to His Father, creating for us a path to the Kingdom of Heaven, how He finishes His undoing of Adam’s sin. . . . and more of our Holy Paradox to revel in. 

   And much has happened this week. We are gathered here for the first Public Service since the “Stay At Home” order. This week we reached 100,000 deaths due to this pandemic. Some of them have been Orthodox Clergy: Archbishop Pimen, Bishop Benjamin of Zheleznogorsk died in the hospital in Kursk, ProtoPresbyter Paul and early in this pandemic ProtoDeacon Alexander in Las Vegas. While we enjoy having a public service this week we must remember those whom this disease has taken from us, and pray for them. Even though in this county we are entering Phase II, I fear that we shall see a spike soon in other places because of other things that are happening. 

   We cannot ignore the pain and unrest that is bubbling up in some places of our nation, and raging in others. We have seen privilege used to attack others this week, and we have seen a man murdered with impunity. People are angry, and rightly so. Yet the evil one often does not care if our anger is righteous or not, he can use it. And there are humans also who want to exploit our anger for their own twisted purposes. Like a forest that has been dried out by hot weather and not enough rain over time, all it takes is for someone to ignite the fire, and watch it take off. This is true today, and it was true in Jesus’ day. 

The events of our day cause us to pause and question: “Who is my neighbour?”

   One day a lawyer came to Jesus and asked Him what the greatest commandment was. Jesus throws the question back at him. The lawyer says the Sh’ma: Thou shalt love the Lord the God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. And the second: Love thy neighbour as thyself.  But the lawyer wants to justify himself and asks “Who is my neighbour?” He thinks that most of the people he meets are not his neighbour, and that he owes them nothing, that they are people that he can freely despise and hate.

Jesus answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Remember that in Jesus’ day the Samaritans were despised by Jews. 

We in the Orthodox Church take a number of approaches to this parable. 

   “We meet all sorts of people along the Jericho Road, and some of them are victims whose only claim is that they have need. Along the Jericho Road we meet people who think that life is what they can take and what they can exact, what they can demand from us or from others. We also meet along the way people who feel that religion is one thing and the cries of humanity are another.” (Rev. Henry Durham) We must admit that in certain ways, we are all of those people. 

   We are asked, by the Church, to look deeper and consider ourselves the man who fell among thieves, and Christ as the Samaritan Who comes to save us from death. We have visited wounds upon ourselves: “I am the man who fell among thieves, even my own thoughts; they have covered all my body with wounds, and I lie beaten and bruised. But come to me, O Christ my Saviour and heal me.” In some ways we are our own worst enemy. Our thoughts and passions have beaten us up and robbed us. Yet Christ comes to heal our self-inflicted wounds and to bind them up and to heal them. I would be an irresponsible priest if I did not mention this aspect. Sometimes it is we who are in need of mercy. 

   Jesus asks us, through this parable: Who is our neighbour? And we must look around us at the other people. Just as this lawyer wants to limit “who is my neighbour?”  . . . just as the priest and the levite both wanted to limit, “who is my neighbour?”  . . . so we often want to do the same. The final point of this parable is that the one who is merciful is the neighbour. Sometimes our neighbor’s wounds are obvious; sometimes it is hard to see another’s wound through their hate. We must be the one who has mercy. 

Who is our neighbour?

   Our neighbour is everyone. And in this day of internet and global communications, our neighbour may well be in another state or on another continent. We must be the one who has mercy. We must be the one who listens, who hears, who gives space for others who hide their wounds. 

   And it is easy to let our ears go deaf to Jesus’ call to be merciful when there are so many others out there wounding and leaving for dead. We see how senselessly people are despised for no reason other than they don’t look like us or don’t talk like us. It is easy to despise others. And today it is easy to despise those who do not even try to hide that they despise others. But this is not the Christian way. 

   Jesus said to the lawyer and to us: “go thou and do likewise.” Go and be merciful the same way this despised man was merciful in His parable. We, with the lawyer, still keep searching — trying to justify in our minds, finding ways in which others are not our neighbour. 

May the Lord God have mercy on us all. 

The Good Samaritan

Once again we come to the story of the lawyer testing Jesus. Once again Jesus bounces the question back at the lawyer. Once again the Lawyer answers rightly “Love God; love your neighbour.” Once again Jesus tells him he is right, do this and he will live. Once again the Jesus turns back the attempt to ensnare Him. 

   But Luke continues the story where Matthew left it. The lawyer seems to sense that Jesus has pointed out to him especially the need to love his neighbour. And so he seeks to justify himself, and asks, “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus answers with this well known parable of the Good Samaritan.

   Samaritans were viewed as halfbreed New Age semi-believers; they believed a little bit of everything.  The Jews despised them. If Jesus were giving this parable to the Westboro Baptist, the Samaritan would be gay; if He were giving this parable to a racist, he would be black. So we must ask ourselves: who do we despise? This is the person who is the Samaritan for us. 

   We all know this parable well, there is no point in me retelling it. But who are we in this parable?

   First, in a very real sense, we are that lawyer in that question, “Who is my neighbour?” 

   Do we respond to need like the priest or the Levite? both of whom had legitimate reasons that they could use to justify not helping? Do we respond with questions, “what will happen to me if I help?” If they touched blood, or if the wounded man died on them, they would not be able to serve in the temple. Both priest and Levite put their own concerns above the needs of the wounded man. The Samaritan realized that the man could well die if he did not help, and so he helped him and bound up his wounds. This is a service that Jesus calls us all to in this parable, to bind up the wounds of others we come in contact with.

    Sometimes the wounds are obvious; sometimes they are not. We must be the one who has mercy. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 

   So our neighbour is everyone. And in this day of internet and global communications, our neighbour may well be on another continent. We must be the one who has mercy. We must be the one who listens, who hears, who gives space for others who hide their wounds. 

   In another sense, we are the innkeeper. We have been given a stewardship for the care of others. We must attend to them, for the Lord has already made payment to us, and has promised to recompense us if we spend more. We also, as innkeeper, have a charge to keep our inn in good order. The inn was a hospital to the wounded man. Here we have this church that is a hospital for wounded souls. We must do our best to make sure this ministry is available for all. 

   Thirdly, we are the man who fell among thieves. During the 5th week of Great Lent the hymns of Vespers and Matins remind us of this; many of them are based on this very parable.  Thursday Vespers before the Great Canon has this hymn:

In my wretchedness, I have fallen among the the thieves of my own thoughts. My mind has been despoiled, and cruelly have I been beaten; all my soul is wounded, and stripped of the virtues, I lie naked upon the highway of life. Seeing me in bitter pain and thinking that my wounds could not be healed,  the priest neglected me and would not look at me. Unable to endure my soul-destroying agony, the levite when he saw me passed by on the other side. But Thou, O Christ my God, was pleased to come, not from Samaria, but incarnate from Mary: in Thy love for mankind, grant me healing and pour upon me Thy great mercy.

I am the man who fell among thieves, even my own thoughts; they have covered all my body with wounds, and I lie beaten and bruised. But come to me, O Christ my Saviour and heal me.

   Jesus is the Good Samaritan Who binds up our self-inflicted wounds. We are our own enemy. We inflicted upon ourselves grievous wounds. But Christ comes to us to bind up and heal those wounds.

   To Him be glory, now and ever and unto ages of ages. 

Parable of the Good Samaritan

 

Once again we come to the story of the lawyer testing Jesus. Once again Jesus bounces the question back at the lawyer. Once again the Lawyer answers rightly “Love God; love your neighbour.” Once again Jesus tells him he is right, do this and he will live. Once again the Jesus turns back the attempt to ensnare Him.

But Luke continues the story where Matthew left it. The lawyer seems to sense that Jesus has pointed out to him especially the need to love his neighbour. And so he seeks to justify himself, and asks, “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus answers with this well known parable of the Good Samaritan.

Samaritans were viewed as halfbreed New Age semi-believers; they believed a little bit of everything.  The Jews despised them. If Jesus were giving this parable to the Westboro Baptist, the Samaritan would be gay; if He were giving this parable to a racist,  he would be black. So we must ask ourselves, who do we despise? This is the person who is the Samaritan for us.

We all know this parable well, there is no point in me retelling it. But who are we in this parable?

First, in a very real sense, we are that lawyer in that question, “Who is my neighbour?”

Do we respond to need like the priest or the Levite? both of whom had legitimate reasons that they could use to justify not helping? Do we respond with questions, “what will happen to me if I help?” If they touched blood, or if the wounded man died on them, they would not be able to serve in the temple. Both priest and Levite put their own concerns above the needs of the wounded man. The Samaritan realized that the man could well die if he did not help, and so he helped him and bound up his wounds. This is a service that Jesus calls us all to in this parable, to bind up the wounds of others we come in contact with.

Sometimes the wounds are obvious; sometimes they are not. We must be the one who has mercy. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

So our neighbour is everyone. And in this day of internet and global communications, our neighbour may well be on another continent. We must be the one who has mercy. We must be the one who listens, who hears, who gives space for others who hide their wounds.

In another sense, we are the innkeeper. We have been given a stewardship for the care of others. We must attend to them, for the Lord has already made payment to us, and has promised to recompense us if we spend more. We also, as innkeeper, have a charge to keep our inn in good order. The inn was a hospital to the wounded man. Here we have this church that is a hospital for wounded souls. We must do our best to make sure this ministry is available for all.

Thirdly, we are the man who fell among thieves. During the 5th week of Great Lent the hymns of Vespers and Matins remind us of this; many of them are based on this very parable.  Thursday Vespers before the Great Canon has this hymn:

In my wretchedness, I have fallen among the the thieves of my own thoughts. My mind has been despoiled, and cruelly have I been beaten; all my soul is wounded, and stripped of the virtues, I lie naked upon the highway of life. Seeing me in bitter pain and thinking that my wounds could not be healed,  the priest neglected me and would not look at me. Unable to endure my soul-destroying agony, the levite when he saw me passed by on the other side. But Thou, O Christ my God, was pleased to come, not from Samaria, but incarnate from Mary: in Thy love for mankind, grant me healing and pour upon me Thy great mercy.

I am the man who fell among thieves, even my own thoughts; they have covered all my body with wounds, and I lie beaten and bruised. But come to me, O Christ my Saviour and heal me.

   Jesus is the Good Samaritan Who binds up our self-inflicted wounds. We are our own enemy. We inflicted upon ourselves grievous wounds. But Christ comes to us to bind up and heal those wounds.