10th June - Black Lives Matter - The Good Samaritan

10th June 2020 APC
“Black lives matter!” – “Lessons from the Good Samaritan”
 
Welcome and Introduction
Good morning everyone and welcome to our midweek prayers and reflections.  Following the death of George Floyd and the media discussion that has followed, I thought it would be appropriate today to interrupt our series on the Holy Spirit to think about what it means to love our fellow man as we reflect together on the story of the Good Samaritan.  But before we do that let’s talk to God, let’s pray…
 
Opening Prayer
Loving God, we come to you today as the family of your people, those you have united in Christ, and as we come, reminded of that great truth, we give you thanks for all the families to which we belong. 
Lord of all, join us together in love.
We think of the families among whom we have been raised – those with whom we have shared so much, to whom we are especially close, and who will always be uniquely precious to us.
Lord of all, join us together in love.
We think of the family of our church – the fellowship we find here, the friends we have made, and the encouragement we give to one another.
Lord of all, join us together in love.
We think of the family of the church as a whole – those across Ireland, across the world across the centuries who are one with us in Christ.
Lord of all, join us together in love.
We think of the family of humankind, the common bond that ties us together, the wonderful variety of peoples and nations of which we form a part, the diversity of cultures, customs.
Lord of all, join us together in love.
Loving God, we thank you that we share something in common with all people near and far, our lives interwoven, inter-related, interdependent, intertwined.  Help us we pray to recognise more fully what that means, to appreciate the responsibilities it brings and the opportunities to share it offers.  So may we learn to love our neighbours as ourselves and to see your image in every one.
Lord of all, join us together in love.
For the sake of Jesus Christ our Lords, Amen.
 
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name,
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever, AMEN.

Bible Reading         Luke 10: 29-37            
 
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
 
Reflection      “Black lives matter!” – “Lessons from the Good Samaritan”
 
“Black lives matter.”  What began as a statement of truth following the murder of George Floyd, has evolved into a global movement where all of us are being challenged to reflect on our prejudices and in particular our treatment of people whose skin colour is different from our own.  I welcome this movement wholeheartedly because all lives do matter and every form of prejudice is wrong because it causes untold hurt to those who are its victims.
 
One of the reasons this movement is so important is because it has caused many of us to realise that we have become complacent, blinded to the reality that despite all that was achieved through the peaceful protests of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi, prejudice, racial-hatred and cruel injustice are still alive and kicking in our world today.  What’s most disturbing of all is that the seeds of these disgusting attitudes and behaviours lurk not far below the surface in all of our hearts, even in those of us who consider ourselves to be religious, and in those of us who are fully behind the movement “Black lives matter!”
 
So what can we do?  Where can we go to be re-awakened to the prejudices within our own hearts?  Where can we get the help that we need to be different, to make a lasting impression on this broken world?
 
Well let me direct your thoughts to Jesus, the greatest glimpse we’ll get of God this side of heaven.  And let me turn your thoughts to his encounter with someone who was completely blind to their own inner prejudice.
 
The story begins in Luke’s gospel, when an expert in Jewish Law asks Jesus what seems like a reasonable question.  “Teacher”, he says, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
 
Luke tells us that the man was out to test Jesus rather than to get an answer to his own spiritual searchings.  He probably wanted to know if Jesus really knew the Jewish laws, if He was a true or false prophet.
 
Despite the hidden motives behind the man’s request, Jesus takes the opportunity to lead the man forward in his understanding of God.  Instead of giving him a direct answer, Jesus responds with a question.  He says, “What is written in the law?  How do you understand it?”
 
Immediately the man quotes two verses of scripture that he would have known off by heart.  Most likely he would have had these verses written on a tiny piece of paper and housed securely in a little leather box called a ‘phylactery’ which was tied around his wrist. 
 
He puts these two verses from Deuteronomy and Leviticus together in his mind and replies, “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 love your neighbour as yourself.”
 
“That’s the right answer!” says Jesus, “If you do this you will live forever!”
 
Unfortunately this wasn’t enough for the man.  He was a scribe.  His job was to go through the law with a magnifying glass and try to come up with exact details of how each of God’s laws could be carried out in daily life.  General principles of ‘loving God’ and ‘loving other people’ were too simplistic an answer for this educated academic.  He was used to defining words like
‘neighbour’.  In fact, in their academic research, some rabbis had narrowed the meaning of ‘neighbour’ down to their fellow Jews.  Some of them were so strict in this interpretation that they said “it was illegal to help a gentile woman in childbirth because this would only bring another gentile into the world.”
 
So to try and get a more specific answer from Jesus, to see where he stood on this point of teaching, the man asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”
 
Jesus knows this man’s mind-set needs challenged and changed, so he tells him a story with a punch line that will shock him to his senses.  It is the story we know as “the Good Samaritan”.
 
The story would have been familiar to the man.  The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notorious.  It was narrow, rocky and twisty and dropped over 3,600 feet.  It was perfect bandit country!  Hardly a day would pass without a reported mugging in the daily news along this notorious black spot.
 
The story was familiar, but the actions of the characters and the identity of the hero would take this religious leader by complete surprise.
 
Jesus includes 4 main characters in the story.  The first is a rather foolish traveller.  He is carrying valuables and he is alone.  Anyone with common sense would have travelled such a dangerous route in a larger group of people.  Even though it is deeply sad, it is no surprise then that this person ended up robbed, beaten up and lying at the side of the road.
 
The second character is a Priest.  His daily job was to help minister to God’s people as they came for worship in the Jewish temple.  He would have been familiar with God’s ceremonial law recorded in Numbers 19 v 11.  This stated that anyone who touched a dead person would become unclean.  Not knowing if the body was dead or alive the Priest wasn’t willing to take the risk of losing his turn of duty in the temple.  So he walked on by.
The third person to take the stage is a Levite.  Like the Priest, he also would have had a role to play in the temple worship. Perhaps he too walked on by because of the fear of ritual defilement.  It may even be that he was simply trying to avoid any danger to himself.  It was a common practice for a robber to lie at the side of the road pretending to be injured.  When someone came to help, the rest of the gang would jump out and ambush the unsuspecting helper.  It may be that the Levite was simply applying the common sense rule of safety first.  Whatever his reasons, he too walked on past the injured traveller.
 
Undoubtedly the scribe who was listening to Jesus’ story would have been somewhat surprised that the Levite and the Priest did not stop to help despite understanding the possibility of ambush or spiritual defilement.  However, his jaw must have dropped when he heard the conclusion to the story.
 
For onto the scene steps a character who would have been despised by any strict orthodox Jew.  This man was a Samaritan.  The word Samaritan was sometimes used to describe someone who was a law-breaker or a heretic.  ‘Real’ Jews would have absolutely no dealings with anyone considered to be a Samaritan.
To the scribe listening to Jesus, the Samaritan would automatically be seen as the villain in the story.  What a shock he must have got when Jesus goes on to paint the Samaritan as the hero. 
 
When he sees the man lying at the side of the road the Good Samaritan rushes to his aid.  He has no worries about ritual defilement.  He sets aside his natural fears for his personal safety.  He forgets about the inconvenience and the cost of helping- He
may have missed an important meeting.  He may have upset a few people by being late.  It certainly cost him in time and effort.  A ripped shirt or scarf to act as a man-made bandage.  A generous helping of olive oil and wine.  The blood stains on his clothes and the blankets on his donkey.  A night away from his family in a roadside hotel with no mobile to phone home.  A lot of explaining to do to his worried wife without any pictures as evidence.  He had to cover the man’s expenses for the duration of his stay in the hotel and with no cheques or postal service he had to make another journey back to the hotel to make the payment. 
 
If anyone was ever an example of what it means to show God’s love to another human being it was this man.  Here was a man who was showing the signs of having eternal life- a love for God that flowed out in love to others.  A life in God that would last for all eternity.  What’s more he was a Samaritan.  He wasn’t supposed to be religious, he wasn’t supposed to have any claim on God.
 
When he has finished telling the story, Jesus turns to the Jewish scribe and asks,
 
“Which of these 3 characters do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
 
The scribe replies, “The one who had mercy on Him.”
 
“Then go and do likewise,” says Jesus.
 
We can learn a number of important lessons in this parable of Jesus.
 
I suppose the first lesson is an answer to the original question, “How can I inherit eternal life?”  The story of the Good Samaritan suggests that eternal life is a gift that we receive from God that causes us to love God and love all other people.  God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.  Through Jesus’ death we become God’s friends when we repent and believe.  When we experience God’s love in Christ we begin to love Him in return.  As our relationship with God deepens we become more like Him and we find ourselves wanting to share God’s love by being kind and helpful to other people.  This is the essence of eternal life.  It is a life lived in God, a life of love which begins with God, flows into our lives and then flows out again into the lives of other people. 
 
This better way of life, this ‘Eternal life’, is a gift of God.  It is not something we can engineer by our own efforts.  I think that’s an important piece of the jigsaw that needs to be included in the ‘Black lives matter’ movement.  I think if we are to see lasting change within society, not only must we campaign and re-educate people, but we must also encourage people to seek the help and the power of God to overcome the prejudices that lie hidden within their hearts.  History has proven time and again that education on its own does not have the power to effect long-term change.  It must be coupled with the power of the Divine to change the heart.  This is what telling people the good news about Jesus can do.  God’s love for us changes us from the inside out.  It motivates us to love Him and love other people.  This is eternal life.  It is a life that begins here on earth and will continue forever even after death.  It is a life that can overcome the deep seated prejudices in all of our hearts.
 
Reflect    What are the prejudices that you are blind to?  Have you realised that you might need the power of God to help you to change?
 
The second lesson is that we need to be wary of the many obstacles to love.  As the characters of the priest and the Levite suggest, there are many obstacles to loving other people.  We may simply be too busy to notice or make time.  We may have natural pride that feels people deserve the predicament they are in.  Our prejudices may cause us to look down on others and not offer help because we feel threatened or lack an understanding of those who are in some way different from us.  We may simply be unwilling to pay the price either in time or money or effort that it will take to get involved.  We may even feel that there is nothing we can really offer or that whatever we do will not make much difference anyway.  There are any number of things that can hold us back from really loving others or helping others. 
 
Only this morning I heard the story of a young woman from the Caribbean who has grown up in Ireland but has experienced terrible racial abuse on many occasions in Dublin.  She described one incident when a gang of individuals hurled racial abuse at her on public transport, and even poured a can of beer over a baby’s head.  Her biggest concern was that no one else said anything.  Even if they were too afraid to confront the gang, she was deeply hurt that no one made eye contact with her or asked her if she was ok.  What was it that prevented those people from showing any form of support?  Evil prevails when good men stay silent.
 
Reflect    What are the obstacles that might be preventing you from showing solidarity with those who are experiencing injustice or making a stand against attitudes or actions you know to be wrong?
 
The third lesson in this story is about who the objects of our love should be.  They should be those who God loves.  And who does God love?  He loves everyone even if they don’t deserve it.  The traveller in the story was stupid.  He shouldn’t have been travelling alone, carrying valuables.  In one sense he deserved what he got.  But the Samaritan loved him despite his foolishness.   None of us deserved for Christ to die on the cross for us because we are the ones who have sinned.  We are the ones who have grieved God.  Yet God still loved us enough to die for us!  So too we need to love people even if they are in trouble because of their own actions.  Whether that’s the child in the class who’s hard to handle, our own kids when they do something foolish, the addict who is placing a drain on public services or someone who’s hurt us in the past who has fallen on hard times.  God calls us here to love all people even when they don’t deserve it. 
 
This story also challenges us to love all people no matter what their creed, their colour or their country.  The person who saved the day was a Samaritan.  Samaritan’s were despised by any orthodox Jew. Yet by choosing their arch enemy as the hero of the story Jesus was saying to the scribe- Look! It was those you consider to be ungodly that actually showed the greatest likeness to God in this story.  He was the one who truly showed love to God by loving his fellow human being!  Therefore if he showed signs of having God’s love then how can you despise him the way you do?  Here Jesus challenges us to love all people no matter what their creed, colour or their social class and to stand against every form of prejudice that we may encounter.
 
Reflect    Who are the people in need that you do not love because you feel they deserve it?  Who are the people that you do not love because they are somehow different to you?
 
The final lesson this story teaches us is what the outcome of true love will be.  You see real love always results in action.  It is not just an emotional feeling towards someone in need, although compassion is where it must begin.  True love moves from compassion to action.  I’m sure the Priest and the Levite both felt some sort of sympathy when they passed the man’s body at the side of the road.  But neither of these men really loved him.  It was only the Samaritan who truly loved him because he took the time and made the effort to help him.  That’s what God’s love is like.  God didn’t just say to us, “I love you.”  That would have done us no good.  No, God showed His love to us practically.  He came and fed the hungry.  He healed the sick and welcomed the stranger.  Above all, He willingly went to the cross and died so that we could be released from the guilt and power of our sins.  God showed His love to us in action!  That’s why if we are to show God’s love we must take action.  Sure there is only so much we can do.  Sure our resources our scarce.  But if we are looking and if we are willing, God will present each of us with fellow travellers that we can help along life’s journey.  God’s love is practical it’s not just an emotional feeling.
 
Reflect    What are you doing to practically share the love of God?
 
Conclusion
 
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a lesson in love. 
 
It shows us that eternal life is not something we earn it’s a gift of God gives us.  That gift is Jesus Christ.  The miracle is that when we receive God’s love it motivates us to love God back and to love other people the way He has loved us.
 
It reminds us that there can be many obstacles to loving others.  We need to ask God to show us these and help us to remove them.
 
It teaches us that the objects of our love are to be all people without exception no matter what their colour, class or creed.  Even if we think they deserve their troubles, even if we consider them to be our enemy.  God loves everyone and so must we.
 
It demonstrates the nature of God’s love.  It is practical action that springs from compassion.
 
May God help us to think about these lessons and may we ask Him to apply them to our lives, Amen.
 
Prayer
 
Gracious God, you call us to love you with all our hearts and minds and souls.  You challenge us to love our neighbour as ourselves.  You tell us through Christ that the whole law is summed up in one single commandment; to love.  It all sounds so easy, so straightforward, but we know in reality it is so very difficult.
 
Gracious God, forgive us the feebleness of our love.
 
Too often we love only ourselves, our every thought for our own welfare, our own ends, our own esteem, our own pleasures.  Too often we reserve our love for the exclusive few – our families, our closest friends, our own colour, class, creed or clan.  And too often we are forgetful of others, indifferent to them, even hostile.
 
Gracious God, forgive us the feebleness of our love.
 
Yet worse than that, even when we think we love we are sometimes deceiving ourselves.  We are impatient with other’s mistakes.  We are slow to give help when it is needed, especially if it means putting ourselves out.  We are envious of others good fortune, more concerned with our own well-being than that of those around us.
We are careless in what we say and self-centred in the way we think, ever prone to take offence, bearing grievances and harbouring resentment, even distorting and deceiving in order to get our way or to avoid facing truths we would rather ignore.
 
Gracious God, forgive us the feebleness of our love.
 
All too easily our love is destroyed.  Instead of holding fast through difficulties, we automatically find ourselves believing the worst, feeling ourselves betrayed, giving up on love instead of  working to nurture it.
 
Lord of all it is hard to love, especially when love is thrown back in our faces, or when those we are faced by seem unlovely or when love is costly or demanding.  We confess we wonder at times whether love is the right way at all, or simply a naïve illusion, a pleasant but foolish fantasy.
 
But you have shown us the way of love, made flesh in Christ- love that came to our world despite rejection, that reaches out to us in all our unloveliness, that was willing to pay the highest price and make the ultimate sacrifice.  And through that love you offer life, not only to us but to all people, a life that can one day be free from all things that divide and hurt and frighten us.
 
So now, take the little love we have – nurture, deepen and expand it until we have learned what love really means, until your love flows through our hearts, until love is all in all.
 
Take a moment now to include your own prayers…
 
Closing Words
It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today.  Thanks again for logging on.  I hope you’ve felt challenged at the reality that we need God’s help to overcome the prejudices in our own hearts and to do all we can to stand against such things wherever we encounter them in society. 
Given the government announcement last Thursday that churches may now reopen from the 29th June we are currently hoping we can begin church services on Sunday 6th July.  This will be subject to confirmation from our denomination.  There will be more details to follow.  Please do pray for our church leadership as we pray and plan for holing our services in a socially distanced way.
 
I hope you can tune in again on Sunday morning as we reflect more deeply on the role the Holy Spirit plays in producing spiritual fruit in our lives.  I also want to say a big thank you for all your support and prayers for my mum and family at this difficult time.  To close let me share the benediction, after which I invite you to say the grace together…
 
Benediction
Go now, with your trust in Christ
who quenches your soul’s thirst with the wine of God’s love.
Do not be silent about God’s faithfulness,
when in need, take shelter in God’s provisions
and keep your hearts honest.
And may God rejoice over you and call you “My Delight”;
May Christ Jesus bring out the best in you, to his glory;
And may the Spirit equip you all with gifts for the common good.
We leave here to love and serve
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.”