This morning
we heard 2 well known stories. We all know that the Good Samaritan story means
help other people, and the point of the story about Mary and Martha is to
listen to Jesus and leave the dishes in the sink.
I wonder if that
is all they tell us, or if there is a different purpose in these two stories.
Starting with
the Good Samaritan – it is a parable, so not an actual event. Oh, and nowhere
in the story is the Samaritan called good.
How often do
we make assumptions about people based on how similar they are to us, in terms
of race, gender, political and religious views, work status, postcode, dress
style ….?
Do these
assumptions devalue people, including ourselves? I hear people talking about ‘no
good blacks, Muslims, Indians, druggies, unemployed ….
You get the
idea.
I have not found
a place in the Bible where Jesus says some lives are worth more than others. That
your life is worth more than the life of a Pacific Islander, or a person of different
faith, or someone in an unskilled job, or a beggar, or someone with a disability,
or even someone who has made poor life choices.
I know some
people were troubled by Black Lives Matter, but the reason for the movement is because
traditionally black lives have been devalued, as we have seen in the USA with
the number of black people killed by police.
In the newspaper
this week has been stories about aged care, asking if we do care about people
living in residential aged care. We would say we do, but the conditions in some
centres shows that as a society we do not.
This parable is told in response to an educated man asking Jesus about eternal
life.
Jesus asks
the man what he knows from scripture, and the man answers correctly:
“Love the
Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.’ and, ‘Love your
neighbours as much as you love yourself.’”
That could
have been the end of this story, except, the clever man asked another question:
Who is my neighbour?
As with
other people who asked Jesus about the requirements for eternal life, each
story ends slightly differently. Here the man asks who my neighbour is, in
chapter 18 the rich young ruler is told keeping the commandments is not enough,
sell everything.
As we often
see with Jesus, his response to people’s questions and situations are different
for each person.
As with some
other situations, I wonder how genuine this question is. By asking: Who is my neighbour?
he is implying that some people are not his neighbours, and therefore he does
not need to love them.
Do we try
and avoid the wideness and generosity of God’s love?
I wondered
about the questions we ask God.
Like this
one:
this
cartoon, during the sermon
http://www.jasonvalendy.net/blog/2013/3/30/the-poor-will-always-be-with-you-is-jesus-a-hypocrite
The clever man asked Who is my neighbour?
Then Jesus
tells this parable, a scenario they would have known, of a traveller being
mugged and robbed.
Who will
help?
The unlikely
one.
This parable
tells us how to be neighbours, being a neighbour means accepting help from the unlikely
as well as helping those in need.
Notice the
person who was mugged had no say in who did or did not help him.
A story I read
on Facebook this week, it may not be true, but I think it contains some truth. A
woman had left a violent partner and moved to a new town with her children, she
had a job and was staying with someone who befriended her. They shared living
expenses, until one night, after taking the children to a park after school,
she returns home to find the house empty. It turned out her new ‘friend’ was evicted for
not paying the rent.
They sleep
in their car overnight and in the morning, she goes to a park with a toilet. The
girls wait while Mum rings and tells her boss what has happened, and the boss
says she will see what she can do, ring back later.
In this same
park, a group of people are rummaging in garbage cans. The woman sees them talking
to each other and putting money into a hat.
She uses her
last ten dollars to go shopping for some food for breakfast and goes back to
the park to eat.
When she
rings her boss back, it is good news, they will give her her wages today, a few
days early.
One of the homeless
men comes to her and offers her the money, he had heard her talking to her boss,
they put some money together for her.
I studied
Greek in my first year of college but am not an expert. I rely on Greek
Interlinear Bible or people whose Greek is better than mine to look into some
of the technical aspects of the readings.
1. When Martha
is serving, the word is diakonian – where we get our word Deacon from. It is
about ministry. She is anxious because she has so much to do – ask anyone involved
in Ministry, lay or ordained, and they will know that feeling.
2. “sitting at the Lord’s feet” isn’t a literal,
physical thing — Mary wasn’t actually sitting at Jesus’ feet when this happened.
Instead, this was common way of indicating discipleship. These two sisters were
disciples of Jesus — Martha in the village of Bethany: Mary out with other
disciples in the countryside as a traveling disciple.
3. Some translations
end with Jesus telling Martha that Mary has chosen the better part, but the
Greek is the good portion.
This is a
short passage that has been used to devalue the work of people who serve in practical
ways like meals, caring for children, cleaning etc. The story is about two
female disciples, fulfilling their individual callings as they are gifted. One
is taking care of the sick, orphans, new believers, or whatever is required in
a first century Jewish village. The other is evangelizing in the countryside.
that Jesus
listens to Martha, tells her he understands, but Mary has her work and Martha
has hers. It is not necessary to choose one or the other, but to follow where
we are called.
…
what does
all this mean for us? today if we find someone lying on the side of the road,
we can call an ambulance, we don’t need to carry the person to the hospital or
a hotel.
One thing
that stands out for me is: Love your neighbours as much as you love yourself.
I sometimes
wonder if that should be changed around to Love yourself as much as you love your
neighbours.
I wonder if
Martha loved herself as much as she loved her neighbours, she would take enough
of a break to feel whole, not torn in many directions.
Or ask her
neighbours for help.
I wonder if
the clever man loved himself, he might be able to accept his imperfections.
A quote from
Mitzi J. Smith, Professor of New Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary
Self-love
is neither egocentric nor individualistic. Self-love is not obsessed with
self-preservation; it takes risks for violated, vulnerable humans living in the
borderless neighbourhood we inhabit[i]
Do you love
yourself enough to love your neighbour?
Let God
love you, let God teach you to love yourself and your neighbour.
[i]
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/good-samaritan-2/commentary-on-luke-1025-42-3
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