I had the nicest sermon planned out for this Sunday. It tied in beautifully with today’s passage of the Good Samaritan. It would have been about a neighborhood up in arms because the women’s center wants to build a low incoming housing unit in the area. The kids of these battered women would have attended the nice middle class elementary school. I would have compared the women that were beaten by their men to the poor fellow in the ditch that Jesus is talking about. I would have compared various neighbors in their rejection with the priest and the Levite. Their refusal to help comes from a similar place. It would have been a nice, challenging sermon.
But I am not going to talk about that today. It has been almost a month ago that 49 LGBT persons were shot dead in Orlando. Now this week happened: Tuesday morning in Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Alton B. Sterling was shot while being arrested. Wednesday evening in Falcon Heights, Minnesota: Philando Castile was shot during a traffic stop. Thursday night five Dallas police officers, Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa, were killed by a sniper.
Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan in response to the question: “Who is my neighbor?” That is still a very valid question in our day and age and so I want to take Jesus’s lead in telling the story as if it were meant for us, because it is:
A person was mugged in the street and is lying in the ditch, badly wounded. It just so happens that we are talking about a young black man in his early twenties. Now by chance a well-intentioned white person happens to come down that road. Do you even stop your car? After all, this fellow is probably a gang member. Maybe there are still more bad guys around. One of his kind will come and help him for sure, sooner or a later. You may slow down. But the odds are you are not going to stop.
A person was mugged in the street and is lying in the ditch, badly wounded. She is all dressed up: short skirt and high heels. Chin bone and chest give away that this woman was born a man. Here pulls up a minivan with a soccer mom with the kids in the car, doing the right thing for her family. Will you stop? She and her husband are working hard to keep their marriage strong and raise their kids with good values. She wants her kids to be normal, raise a family similar to the one they have now. Being exposed to this trans person would confuse or even scare the precious little ones and mommy herself would be very uncomfortable. The good mother hits the pedal and presses on.
A person was mugged in the street and is lying in the ditch, badly wounded. His uniform is soaked in his own blood. This police officer was certainly trying to do the right thing and keep this community safe. Along comes a young black man in his twenties. Seeing the officer in the ditch he has flashbacks of that horrible night when his nephews were caught in the crossfire and shot by police a few years ago. It feels like yesterday. Actually seeing this bleeding officer it feels like right now. What if they find me bent over his dying body? I better make a run.
A person was mugged in the street and is lying in the ditch, badly wounded. He just came back from the mosque, his stomach full after breaking the Ramadan fast. His long beard is drenched in his own blood. A good Christian man comes by while he is doing a food drive in the neighborhood. You know we need to help those less fortunate than ourselves. We collect canned goods for children in need in our own neighborhood and we send Christmas presents to those kids in Africa with their big teary eyes. I would really like to help that guy in the ditch, because I am a very loving and caring person. But honestly I can do more good by collecting some more cans from my neighbors. And by the way: It was people like him who blew up the World Trade Center and keep killing our Soldiers in the Middle East. Why do we need Muslims in our neighborhood anyway?
There are so many reasons not to help. Life is complicated. Answering the question: “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus yells NO IT’S NOT COMPLICATED! Your neighbor is the person lying in the ditch!
Every day people shoot each other dead. The main reason is fear. Fear what would happen if I were to stop and help that person in the ditch. Making the world a better place involves taking risks. If we allow fear to put a lid on love we will just continue to blow each other up.
In 1963 Martin Luther king said, “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.”
Amen.
(In collaboration with the Rev. Mirjam Haas-Melchior)
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