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Sunday's Sermon
Mar 11, 2007

1063
Where Jesus Walked - Lent 3
The Rev. Dennis Posno

 

Two tourists from central Canada had traveled east
and having passed through New Brunswick
crossed the border and were now driving through Nova Scotia.

As they drove through that beautiful province,
they approached Shubenacadde (shoe-been-aack-id-dee),
and they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town's name.
They argued back and forth until they stopped for lunch.

They parked their car in the lot,
walked into the lunch spot,
and stood at the counter.
One of the fellows, believing he was right and his buddy wrong,
put this question to the counter person.

“Excuse me, miss,” he said.
“Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us?
Would you please pronounce where we are ~ ver-r-ry slo-o-owly?"

She leaned over the counter and said
"Tiiimmmmm Hoorrrrttoooonnns"

Well, we all walk into our moments, don’t we.

In this series of messages for the Lenten season,
I have indicated that I will be wrapping my thoughts around the phrase
“Where Jesus Walked.”

And the “where Jesus walked” I will be talking about today and in days to come
are not the usual places of the here and there
but the places of the heart …
the moments He walked into …
the stories of people He told …
the lives of people He encountered and entered.

We have looked at 2 moments in Jesus’ life
where He walked into people’s lives …
did wonderful things …
and taught profound lessons.

We have learned through His treatment of a sinful woman
that our God is a forgiving God
who calls us to be as forgiving.

And we have learned through His treatment of little children
that our God is a welcoming and inclusive God
who calls us to be the same.

And today we witness another moment where Jesus walked.

We don’t know exactly where the moment happened.
But it seems, as was often the case,
that Jesus was teaching a crowd that had gathered around Him.

An expert in the law was among the people there.
We don’t know whether he was a religious scholar ~
one who had studied the first 5 books of the Hebrew Scriptures,
commonly referred to as the books of Moses ~
or whether he was a lawyer.
It is not made clear.
Regardless, the lawyer knew, it seems,
that Jesus answered well and with insightful wisdom
questions that were asked of Him.

So, at an opportune time, he asked Jesus his question.
“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

Now there’s no small question.
The man asking the question, and the many who were listening,
would have known that there were hundreds of commandments from scripture
that guided them in their every day living …
that would have been the principles
by which their lives were shaped …
that would have been their understanding
that this was the way God wanted them to live.

Of all these ~ which is most important?

Jesus walked into that moment and gave answer.
Now we have heard this passage of scripture so often
that I think we sometimes forget the power of it ...
sometimes forget that when Jesus answered it was a startling answer.

Drawing not only from His great understanding of His scriptures
but drawing even more deeply from His great understanding of God,
Jesus quoted from two texts of His scriptures.
They are words that would have been repeated by worshippers
every time they went to synagogue.
They were as familiar to them as The Lord’s Prayer is to us.

Jesus said to His questioner.
“The most important one (commandment) is this:
‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your mind
and with all your strength.’
The second is this:
‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
There is no commandment greater than these.”

And His questioner acknowledged the wisdom of the answer …
affirmed that there were no commandments greater than these …
indicated that they were “more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices,”
understanding, I believe, that the truest form of worship happens
when our adoration and devotion to God is lived out
not only in our love for God but in our love for neighbour …
when “each smile” becomes “a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer.”

That question about which is the greatest commandment
also appears in the Gospel of Luke,
but it is the questioner who gives answer and not Jesus,
after he asks what he has to do to inherit eternal life.
And in response to the man’s answer Jesus says,
“You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”

Now that answer is telling.
Jesus didn’t say, “Understand this … and you will live.”
He didn’t say, “Believe this … and you will live.”
He didn’t say, “Preach this … and you will live.”
He said, “Do this.”

For Jesus, it was the connection
between the heart and the hand that mattered.
Simply hearing it
and in the hearing, understanding it
and in the understanding, believing it
wasn’t good enough.

So the questioner in Luke’s story asks Jesus another question,
a question that had to do with the doing of the commandment.
“And who is my neighbour?” he asked.
And in response to that question
Jesus tells the story we know as The Good Samaritan,
the story that was read today.

We have heard that story hundreds of times, too.

But have we really heard it …
I mean heard it enough not just to nod our heads in agreement
but enough to be ~ the neighbour?

For, as the story points out,
the neighbour wasn’t just the man who was helped;
the neighbour was the man who did the helping.

And it is interesting to me
that the man who stopped ~
who bandaged the wounds,
who poured on oil and wine,
who put him on his own donkey so that he would have to walk,
who took him to an inn and took care of him,
who paid the innkeeper
and who promised to return to look after any extra expenses ~
stopped because “he took pity on him.”

He didn’t ask questions.
He didn’t screen him.
He didn’t ask what he believed or who he believed in.
He didn’t ask whether he would be able to repay him.
He didn’t ask him anything, it seems.
Jesus in His story tells us that the Samaritan
“came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.”

“Pity”, as it turns out,
is the “sorrow and compassion aroused by another’s condition.”

When Jesus asked,
“Which of these do you think was neighbour
to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
the man answered by saying, “The one who had mercy on him.”

“Mercy”, as it turns out,
is the “compassion or forbearance shown to a powerless person,
especially an offender or one with no claim to kindness.”

And “Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”

Pity for the man’s condition moved his heart.
But he didn’t just “stop in to see what condition his condition was in”
as the song by Chicago says.
Pity shaped his heart.
Mercy shaped his response.

Let me tell you something you already know.

For many there is joy … and love … and laughter.
There are dreams coming true and beautiful possibilities unfolding.
There is wealth … and health … and meaningful work … and life that is secure.
There is confident belief and abundant grace.

They are our neighbours.

Let me tell you something else you already know.

For many there is great sorrow … and broken relationships … and little laughter.
There are broken dreams and beautiful possibilities have vanished like a vapour.
There is poverty … and illness … and meaningless work or none at all.
Life is wrapped in the insecurity of having too little.
There is faith, if there is faith at all, that has been beaten and battered.
Abundant grace? Many don’t see it … or feel it … or claim it.

They are our neighbours, too.

And, as Jesus told us,
so are the hungry ~
not just the physically hungry
but those who hunger for meaning …

so are the thirsty ~
not just the physically thirsty
but those who long to drink life in …

so are the homeless ~
not just the physically homeless
but those who have no loving hearts to welcome them …

so are the naked ~
not just the shivering who have no clothes
but those who have also known the cold shoulder
and the unwelcoming attitude …

so are the sick ~
not just the physically sick who long for a visit
but those who are sick at heart
who long for someone to take an interest in them …

so are the prisoners ~
not just the physically imprisoned
but those who are prisoners of bigotry or prejudice
or horrific circumstances or great injustice
who long for liberation.

They are, in many ways, the least … the last … and the lost.
There is a lot of hurting out there.
And, to be sure, there is a lot of hurting in here.

So how do we do love?

A man once talked about a contest he had to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four-year-old child whose next-door neighbour
was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry,
the little boy went into the old gentleman’s backyard,
climbed onto his lap and just sat there.
When his mother asked him what he said to the neighbour,
the little boy said,
“Nothing, I just helped him cry.”

Sometimes, as the story illustrates,
love does its best work just be being there.

How do we do love?

A man wrote in his diary
the story of a young newspaper boy
he met on a street near his home in London.
His father had abandoned the family when the boy was a baby,
and his mother had died shortly after he began selling papers.

All attempts to place the boy
in either an institution or foster home were thwarted,
because the boy refused each offer of help and ran away
when attempts were made to confine him.
“I can take care of myself just fine, thank you!”
he would say to kindly old ladies
who questioned whether he had eaten that day.
Indeed, he never looked hungry
and his persistence at selling papers, load after load,
gave the impression he spoke the truth.

But the streets are a lonely place for a child to live,
and the man’s diary reflects a conversation he had with the boy
about his living arrangements.

As he stopped to buy his paper one day,
the man bought a little extra time
by fishing around in his pocket for coins
and asked the boy where he lived.
He replied that he lived in a little cabin
in an impoverished district of the city
near the river bank.
This was something of a surprise to the man.

With more interest, he inquired,
“Well, does anyone live with you?”
The boy answered, “Only Jim.
Jim is crippled and can’t do any work.
He’s my pal,”

Now clearly astounded that the boy
appeared to be supporting not only himself
but also someone who was unable to contribute any income,
the man said, “You’d be better off without Jim, wouldn’t you?”

The answer came ~ swift … true … clear:
“No, sir, I couldn’t spare Jim.
I wouldn’t have nobody to go home to.
And say, Mister, I wouldn’t want to live and work
with nobody to divide with, would you?”

Sometimes, as the story illustrates,
love does its best work when we find someone to divide with ~
be it money … or food … or conversation … or time … or affection.
Love that does something shares itself.

How do we do love?

Said the little boy, “Sometimes I drop my spoon.”
Said the little old man, “I do that too.”
The little boy whispered, “I wet my pants.”
“I do that too,” laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, “I often cry.”
The old man nodded, “So do I.”
“But worst of all,” said the little boy, “it seems
Grown-ups don’t pay attention to me.”
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
“I know what you mean,” said the little old man.

Sometimes, as the story illustrates,
love does its best work when it simply understands.

Someone wrote:
“Some people come into our lives and quickly go.
Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our heart
and we are never, ever the same.”

Be that kind of person. Stay awhile.
Leave footprints on the heart.
Do that kind of love.
Be that kind of neighbour.
Be the grace of God
bursting into people’s lives

SOLI DEO GLORIA

SCRIPTURE
Mark 12:28 – 34 The Greatest Commandment
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Luke 10:29 – 37 The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Jesus told this story when a man asked
"And who is my neighbor?"

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins, 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.'

Then Jesus asked the man who had asked the question, "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

 

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