"Choosing to be a Neighbor" **sermon for 13 July 2025, Proper 10C**
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Many, if not most of us here, grew up with
these words. Perhaps we watched the show
as youngsters. Maybe we saw it with
children or grandchildren. Or at least
we are familiar enough to know where they come from. Each episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood
began with Fred Rogers singing this song as he entered his home.
A lawyer comes to Jesus asking how he can be
sure of eternal life. The lawyer wants
to be sure that he has earned a place in God’s heavenly kingdom. And, on the surface, the lawyer has
succeeded. He has done everything
right. He can even recite the two great
commandments: love God with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus’ response to the lawyer’s question of
“who is my neighbor?” is to tell the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ more
familiar teachings. So much so, that “A
Good Samaritan” is part of our everyday speech.
Even non-Christians will call someone who helps in a crisis a “good
Samaritan.”
To truly understand the situation, however,
it is important to keep a few things in mind:
The
Holiness Code forbids touching a corpse.
Touching a dead body makes one unclean.
One would be temporarily banned from the Jewish community. This is especially true for priests and
Levites who serve in the Temple.
The
Samaritans and the Jewish people were once one people. Samaritans are descended from the northern
kingdom. When Assyria destroyed Israel,
the Assyrians intermarried with the people, creating a mixed-race people of
Samaritans
This
assimilation resulted in a blending of religious traditions. At the heart of the conflict is where to
worship. Traditional Jews (see John 4)
said Jerusalem. Samaritans countered
with a Temple in Samaria.
Scholar Jennifer S. Wyatt and others observe
that there is more going on here than meets the eyes. Such scholars see a deeper meaning behind the
lawyer’s follow up question. He desires
clear lines between who is “in” and who is “out.” Are there people he can legally discriminate
against and still be part of God’s kin-dom?
In the end, the lawyer shows that he does not
truly understand God’s law. Not does he
keep it as well as he thinks. By seeking
to exclude others, the lawyer shows that he does not really love his neighbor
as himself. As Wyatt further notes:
“The lawyer
was asking for boundaries over who should be considered a neighbor. If neighbors must be loved as oneself, surely
there must be limits. Jesus refuses to
set any and instead doubles down.
Instead of describing who is a neighbor, he discusses
how to be a neighbor.
He switches the conversation from neighbor as an object you
decide to love to neighbor as the subject—how you embody being a
neighbor.”
She continues: “the Kingdom of God allows
no such divisions, and neither do the scriptures, which call us to love our
neighbor as ourselves. And so, like the
lawyer, we are left not with the question “Who is my neighbor?” but with the
much harder one: “Will I choose to be a neighbor?”[1]
We saw Jesus’ teaching in action this past
week. Parts of Texas were devastated by
flooding. Homes were destroyed. Lives were lost. Assistance did not appear to be coming. Then the President of Mexico made a bold
choice, the caring choice. Mexico’s
President saw the people in need in the United States and sent help. She chose to be a nieghbor to those in need.
You and I, as Episcopalians, also have an
opportunity to help. ERDF is there
helping in relief efforts. I have given
to ERDF to assist with the flooding. I
hope you will join me in supporting their mission and ministry. ERDF is just one way in which you and I can
be a neighbor to those in need, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus.
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