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

Are we pretending to follow Jesus?

Amos 7: 7-17

Hold plumb line

This is a plumb line, have you seen one?

Used one?

Chat a bit about plumb line and use

Amos sees a vision, and in that vision the Lord is holding a plumb line to the nation of Israel.

And the result isn’t good for Israel.

Amos is a prophet, a reluctant prophet.

If you read through the book of Amos, you will hear the nations condemned. In chapter 2, the transgressions of Israel are:

 “They sell honest people for money,

and the needy are sold for the price of sandals.

They smear the poor in the dirt

and push aside those who are helpless.

My holy name is dishonoured,

because fathers and sons sleep with the same young women.

They lie down beside altars on clothes taken as security for loans.

And they drink wine in my temple,

wine bought with the money they received from fines.”

Amos 2:6-8 Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Contemporary English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society

God will no longer overlook the failures of the people of Israel, described primarily in the book of Amos as economic oppression (Amos 2:6-7; 5:10-12; 8:4-6). [Blake Couey, Working Preacher]

I wonder what it would look like if a plumb line was held up to our nation.

Amaziah, the priest at the national temple, is annoyed at Amos, he is making things uncomfortable. So he tries to send Amos away.

I wonder which voices we try and shut down.

We live in a nation, yet often we see ourselves as individuals, especially in matters of faith. In Amos the plumb line is being held against a nation, not an individual.

As a nation, what might God make of:

• our destruction of the earth
• our treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
• our lack of compassion for those fleeing persecution
• our lack of regard for working conditions for those who produce our clothing and food
• the number of people who are homeless
• children growing up in poverty
•  

Just as Amaziah, who stood for the status quo,

tried to shut down Amos, and

told Amos to leave,

the same happens today.

I know some will say to me:

Why should we worry about people seeking asylum, it isn’t pour problem?

Why should we recognise that aboriginal people lived here, and had their own culture, before white settlement?

Why should we increase the rate of social security payments?

I worked hard for my money, why should it go to someone who isn’t working?

Hold plumb line 

Luke 10: 25-37

We looked at this passage at the Friday evening worship time. Here is some of the work we did together.

Poster of heart

Posters: love God/love your neighbour/as you/love yourself

There are so many possibilities for discussing this passage that I will skim over a few of them.

Most people who hear this story today think of themselves as the Good Samaritan, as the one who helps. But the people who first heard this would have imagined themselves as the man lying by the side of the road.

They would understand why the Priest and Levite didn’t stop to help – touching a dead body would make them unclean and they would not be able to fulfil their duties. Also it may be a trick, the robbers may be hiding nearby and attack them.

But they would expect a good Jew to help the man.

Samaritans were the enemy, to be despised. A bit like the relationship between Israel and Palestine at present.

If you are the person who is hurting, bleeding, in pain, you don’t get any say in who helps.

It may just be that the person who comes to help you is your enemy.

…….

From Bruce Prewer:

The robbers, represent all those whose basic attitude is: Yours is mine if I can get it.

The Priest and Levite: They are self-protectors. The attitude is: Mine is my own if I can keep it. What I have I will hang on to.

The Samaritan, despised by righteous Jews. His attitude is: “Mine is yours if you need it.”

http://bruceprewer.com/DocC/C44sun15.htm

….

I wonder what a modern version of this story would be like.

A man was walking down Ocean Beach Road one night, and he was mugged and bashed and dragged behind the bus shelter near Umina Mall. And a shop keeper arrives for work early in the morning, notices the man and figures he is drunk, anyway they need to get to work so they can open in time.

A person on their way to church goes past, notices the man, and doesn’t want to be late for church – not my problem, and anyway I don’t know first aid.  

An aboriginal teenager comes past, sees the man, calls for help and stays with him until the ambulance arrives.

Who is my neighbour?

The lawyer is trying to trap Jesus, then wanting to justify himself. If a neighbour was only Jewish, or only male, or only someone living next door that would make loving them easier.

The lawyer knows what he must do, but doesn’t want to do it, and really does not want to hear that the worst of worse persons, in his mind, is the good neighbour, the one who showed mercy. [Rev Mindi]

We claim to be people who follow in the way of Jesus, people who are brought to life, loved and forgiven. Yet at times it is hard to follow in the way of Jesus.

It is hard to put the interest of another ahead of our own.

It is hard to see, really see, the pain of another, and act compassionately in response to their pain.

So often following the way of Jesus, goes against the status quo. Speaking for the least and the outcast

Caring for the unloved

Accepting help from the stranger.

We can try and justify:

• our treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
• our lack of compassion for those fleeing persecution
• our lack of regard for working conditions for those who produce our clothing and food
• the number of people who are homeless
• children growing up in poverty

We can try and justify and explain away the inequality, racism, poverty and violence in our heart, our community, the nation and the world.

Or we can admit our failure to live in the way of Jesus.

We can stand with the oppressed

We can feed the hungry

We can see the beauty of each person

We can live out the generous, inclusive love of Jesus.