A Game We Church Folks Play

Dr. James Mayfield
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

July 11, 2004

Text: Luke 10:25-37 (read 10:25-29)

The lawyer in the passage we read today was not a lawyer like today's lawyers who are schooled in matters of secular law. The lawyer Luke mentioned was schooled in matters of Jewish religious law. He asked Jesus an appropriate question, "What must I do to inherit, to receive, to experience eternal life?" The problem is, he was not really asking a question to obtain information. He was like my mother when I was a teenager. "What time did you get in last night?" She was not asking for information either. She knew what time I had come in. The question was merely her way of preparing to declare me guilty before she handed down the sentence.

Jesus knew the lawyer knew the answer, so in good school teacher fashion he turned the question. "You are a student of Jewish law. What does the Scripture say?" And the lawyer quoted the Old Testament laws telling us to love God with all we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus not only agreed the lawyer's answer was correct, he went on to respond to the lawyer's first question: "Okay, to experience eternal life, to receive eternal life, to inherit eternal life go and do what you know the scriptures command."

Jesus was close to the heart of the issue. Having correct theological answers about God and how we are relate to God is not the same thing as knowing God and living in faithful obedience. There is a huge difference between intellectually knowing what is right, true and good and having our daily living shaped by what is right, true and good. It is not enough to be able to agree with the basic beliefs of Christianity. As important as beliefs are, (and beliefs are important because the way we think does impact the way we live) it is our actual living of life that is what really matters. It is not affirming approved statements of belief that enables us to receive, to participate in eternal life. It is what we do in our day to day living that finally matters. Our real beliefs are not always accurately revealed in what we think in our heads and say with our lips. But what we really believe is always revealed through a close examination of what we do with our time and our money.

Jesus told us that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of God." He knew it is all too easy for us to play religious games, fooling even ourselves. It is not unusual for us humans to declare we believe we are to live our lives loving God with all we are and our neighbor as ourselves while at the same time living self-centered lives, focused primarily on our own desires and taking ethical shortcuts on our way to being what the world calls "a success." Talking this way makes me uncomfortable, and so I assume what Jesus said also caused that lawyer similar discomfort that motivated him to respond I can imagine myself responding -- defensively. "Just who is this neighbor I am supposed to love as I love myself? Are there no limits to compassion? At what point can I say, 'I have now fulfilled God's law? Who is my neighbor?"

What follows in the Gospel of Luke, is Jesus telling what we now call "the story of the good Samaritan." As you probably remember, this is the story about a man who was going from Jerusalem to Jericho. We do not know if he was a Jew, a Samaritan or a Roman or someone else. All we know is that he is that he was attacked by robbers, beaten and left dying by the side of the road.

First a priest and then later a Levite came along, saw the dying man but avoided becoming involved. At this point, we can take much of the sting out of this story if we picture these two religious people as being more hypocritical and blatantly more uncaring than we are. But it is highly probable there is more accurate explanation. If the man died while they were helping him, they would unclean because they had touched a dead person. For a priest or Levite this meant that for some time they would be unable, to carry out their duties in the temple -- duties others were depending on them to do, expecting them to do, and paying them to do. If they stopped to deal with this dying man, they might not be able to carry out their temple responsibilities.

When I look at the story from this perspective, I have to admit, all too often I behave just as these two did. I excuse myself saying: "I'd would like to help but I have other responsibilities."

I wish I could remember the details of an experiment that a psychology department at one of the leading universities conducted more than 20 years ago. The gist of it was some students were enlisted to act as if they were going through some sort of crisis and placed at various points on campus. Then, written notes were delivered to other students. The notes from cooperating professors contained some sort of urgent message. It may have been something like this: "I have discovered a problem that may require me to give you a failing grade. Report to me in "X number of" minutes. Your failure to be here by then, will be interpreted by me as an admission of guilt." Each of the notes stated a different deadline. The note of one might say "five minutes," the note of another "30 minutes," the note of another "an hour and a half."

What was being tested was how these students would respond to the crises they encountered in between the time they received the note and the time of their appointment. What you would expect to happen, in fact happened. The less time the students had to get to their appointment, the more likely they were to pass by thodr in obvious crisis; the more time the students had, the more likely they were to stop and try to be helpful.

I heard about this experiment in a lecture delivered to clergy, and the point being made was that our calendars and schedules impact our ethics. The more we clergy fill our calendars to the brim with activities, good and worthy as they may be, the less likely we are to respond appropriately to the needs and crises we encounter. The more we allow ourselves to be pressured about what we need to get done now, the more likely we are to behave as the priest and the Levite behaved.

In this parable Jesus told, the hero is a Samaritan. This is an important detail because Jews viewed Samaritans as heretics who were to be shunned and as potential enemies who were to be avoided. And Samaritans viewed Jews the same way. It was not too unlike the way Israelis and Palestinians view each other today. So, it is significant that it was a Samaritan, the man the lawyer looked down on, who stopped and not only rendered first aid, but took the man to a place where he could be cared for; and not only that, the Samaritan left money equal to two days pay to pay for the man's care, promised to return to check on the man, and committed himself to cover any additional costs.

When Jesus finished telling this story he asked the lawyer: "Which was the neighbor to the man beaten by robbers?" The answer was obvious. "The one who showed him mercy" It was clear the Samaritan recognized that whoever was in need was his neighbor -- be that person Samaritan, Jew, Roman or whoever..

"Go and do likewise." Jesus said. "Go and do like this Samaritan." Going and doing are essential to inheriting, receiving, experiencing eternal life. The lawyer in the passage we read today knew all the correct beliefs. His problem was not that he did not know or understand what God expected of him. He knew the correct answers. The problem was he quibbled and tried to shape the answers to fit his prejudices.

When I think of the good Samaritan story, I am somewhat uncomfortable, because this story exposes gaps within me - the gap between my knowing about God and my knowing God, and the gap between my knowing what God expects and my doing what pleases God. These are the gaps exposed in that lawyer's life, and all too often they are the gaps in mine and quite probably they are the gaps some of you can recognize in yourselves as well.

The lawyer asked Jesus: "What must I do to inherit, to receive to experience eternal life?" But he already knew the answer, just as most of us do. We know we are to love God with all we are and our neighbors as ourselves. But like that lawyer we quibble. We want to redefine the terms so that we can do what pleases God and yet stay in our comfort zone. "Okay," we say, "but just who is my neighbor? Where are the boundaries? Just how far do I have to with this compassion stuff in order to please God?" And when this happens, I pray the Holy Spirit will move within us reminding us about this story Jesus told about a dying man, two religious passersby and a compassionate Samaritan who understood that whoever is in need was his neighbor. "Go and do like this Samaritan," Jesus said. "Go and do likewise; this is the way to receiving, experiencing eternal life".

God, help us learn what Jesus was trying to teach that lawyer. Amen.