Loving God and Neighbour v2

 

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, as if Samaritans are expected to be bad.

That started me thinking: 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 ….?

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 the Black Lives Matter movement, 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.

I wonder if we also try to circumvent the wideness and generosity of God’s love?

 And I wondered about the questions we ask of Jesus?

“what must I do to have eternal life?”

Who are my neighbours?”

Lord, doesn’t it bother you that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?

It reminded me of a song:

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

 

In the gospels Jesus is asked many questions:

Eternal life?

Who is the greatest?

Can my sons have the best seats?

Heal me?

Help me?

Have pity on me.

 

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.

 Who are you willing to accept help from?

 

Then we come to Martha and Mary, in my reading this week I came across some other ways to think about this reading.

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.

 [https://www.marystromerhanson.com/blog?fbclid=IwAR2FVERJr_rxCh1aJKxdU_McBycFPccrLIlVlR1NP5SDslYe6EUyyV2PBy4 gives more detail of what follows]

 A little bit of Greek.

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 part.
 

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.

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.

 …

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.

And what is considered ‘women’s work’: caring for children or the elderly, cleaning, cooking etc. is still undervalued.

 One thing that stands out for me is: Love your neighbours as much as you love yourself.

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.

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 or allow her neighbours to help.

I wonder if the clever man loved himself, he might be able to accept his imperfections.

It is hard to love our neighbours,
all of them,
the smelly and annoying,
and those who live so far away we have never met them,
when we don’t recognise our own humanity
when we don’t love ourself.

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

loving yourself and your neighbour

 

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.

 Who are you willing to accept help from?

 Then we come to Martha and Mary, in my reading this week I came across some other ways to think about this reading.

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.

 [https://www.marystromerhanson.com/blog?fbclid=IwAR2FVERJr_rxCh1aJKxdU_McBycFPccrLIlVlR1NP5SDslYe6EUyyV2PBy4 gives more detail of what follows]

 A little bit of Greek.

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