Sunday, March 9, 2025

Sermon Notes

In today’s scripture, we read a familiar parable, which is only found in Luke’s gospel. Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem, and the seventy disciples have just come back from their mission.

A Torah lawyer comes up to Jesus, and asks how he can inherit eternal life. For the first century Jewish community, this question of ‘eternal life’ (chayei olam) is less about an afterlife, than it is a contrast to ‘fleeting life’ (chayei sha’ah). This is therefore a question about how to have a life which is more focused on the eternal, rather than the fleeting.

Note that this is a pleasant and respectful dialogue between equals, the lawyer calls Jesus by ‘teacher’ and Jesus asks the lawyer’s answer to his own question, and accepts it is a good one.

The lawyer gives an answer that is a blending of Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. It was a common practice in this time, inspired by neo-platonic thought, to try to distill Torah to it’s core. Rabbis and scholars would have argued about what the best summation was, but this one of loving God and loving the neighbor seems to be a common one (the other gospels give similar stories, with a similar answer. As an interesting note, the Hebrew version of Deuteronomy does not include ‘mind,’ since the metaphysics of the day located cognition in the heart (emotion was considered in the gut or stomach). The Greek version (called the Septuagint) which Jesus and the lawyer would have been more familiar with, adds ‘mind’ because (again inspired by Greek thought) the understanding of cognition had shifted to being located in the head/mind.

Jesus likes this answer, and tells the lawyer as much. However, the lawyer then lawyers, and asks the follow-up question, “but who is my neighbor?” It seems from the context that he is trying to figure out the boundary to this loving, who is my neighbor (and by extension, who isn’t). This desire to exclude or prioritize our duty to others is a pretty common human trait. We are good at defining who is, and who is not a part of ‘us,’ and who is a part of ‘them.’ However, that is not the question that Jesus answers with his question, he raises a news one.

Jesus tells the story of a man who is assaulted on the side of the road, and three people who do or do not help him. The story highlights the difference between the larger Jewish culture. The first person is a priest, one who has taken on the role and ordination of Torah and serves in the Jerusalem Temple. The second is from the tribe of Levi, the tribe from whom the priests come. Both of these represent the height of privilege in their society, their status and station would come with authority and respect.

The third, however, is a Samaritan. The Samaritan people were the ‘left-overs’ of the populations of Israel and Judah after they fell to the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. When the elite Judahites who had been brought to Babylon were allowed to return, they discovered the descendants of their poorer neighbors, calling them Samaritans. Some Christian authors have a very strong opinion about Samaritans, and their role in the wider Jewish world. John’s gospel says that there were rules against Samaritans drinking from the same cup as observant Jewish people. Historical accounts seem to suggest that these ethnic tensions were somewhat exaggerated (though there were probably some in the wider population who had such biases). Luke’s gospel treats this group as a distinct, but not separate one; Jesus does ministry among the Samaritans, and in the beginning of Acts, lists them along side of Judeans, and in contrast to the Gentiles). This Samaritan represents a minority out-group, someone considered ‘other,’ ‘mixed,’  or even ‘lesser’ by the more elite and pure-bread.

Notice how Jesus shifts the question with his own, not ‘who is my neighbor?’ but ‘who was a neighbor to the man?’

Questions

– Who are those who you would consider your neighbor, ‘us?’

– Who would you consider to be outsiders to that, ‘them?’

– What might this story tell us about our duty to others, and who is worthy of that human compassion?

Reflections:

First Sunday in Lent

Introit: Four parables frame the text of the hymn “What is the World Like?”; the third verse from the parable in our scripture reading, the Good Samaritan.

Opening Hymn: “The Lord is God” paraphrases the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), which is quoted by Jesus in his answer to the question “What must I do to gain eternal life?”

Transition Hymn: For the month of March, “As the Deer”.

Responsive Hymn: “Take Thou Our Minds, O Lord”, a hymn of dedication and stewardship, references the scripture from Deuteronomy, which is, of course, referenced in our scripture reading. Verses begin with “Take thou our minds (hearts, wills, ourselves).

Sending Hymn: For our Sending Hymn, I choose something tied to the season of Lent, rather than the scripture reading, “Our Song is Love Unknown”.

Benediction: Through the season of Lent, we will sing the 3 verses of “Love Will Be Our Lenten Calling” as our Benediction; words by Elizabeth J. Smith, sung to the PICARDY tune.