sunday 10 july, 2022

Reflection: “It’s Just What Neighbours Do”

Amos 7:1-7

Psalm 82

Luke 10:25-37

Colossians 1:1-14

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Our story this week is set in a run-down, inner-city coffee shop, in a neighbourhood that’s known for being quite dangerous.
One day, a church minister comes in to get some coffee on his way to a meeting.
He sits down to wait, busying himself with the newspaper, not paying attention to the man in the opposite corner, who is clearly the worse for wear and sobbing quietly.
Just as the minister’s order is ready, in walks a church elder.
The two share a lively greeting and conversation as they wait for the elder’s coffee, with no acknowledgement of the man in the corner, who by now, has put his head down in his arms and is heaving with sobs.
In fact, as they leave, they comment to one another, “What’s up with that guy?”
As they leave, the next customer comes to the door.
She’s a young woman with short, spiky hair dyed in a rainbow of colours, heavy black make-up on her eyes and lips, wearing all black leather, with piercings in her eyebrow, lip, and several places in her ears.
The minister and the elder give her a very wide berth and both think to themselves, “What’s up with kids these days?”, as they leave the parking lot to rush to their next destination.
The young woman comes in and immediately notices the man sobbing in the corner.
She’s moved with compassion.
He doesn’t look too good, with a black eye and what seems to be blood matted in his hair.
There’s no one else around, as the barista’s doing something in the back and the minister and the elder have departed.
She sits down across from the man and states the obvious, “It looks like you’re having a hard time,” and added, “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
The man looks up with bloodshot eyes and sees a face looking at him with care and concern.
She’s been the only person who’s spoken to him in all the time he’s been there that morning.
She gets some paper towels from the bathroom and a cup of water from the barista, as well as the man’s coffee, and cleans up his wounds while he drinks and then he tells her his story.
The young woman quickly realizes that the man has been mugged and she proceeds to help him contact the police, as well as buy him a gift certificate from the coffee shop, so that he can order whatever he wants for the next couple of days.
She gives him a spare Opal card that she has, so that he can get to work and won’t get fired.
She even calls him at work later in the day, to make sure that he’s on the mend.
 
The man wants to pay her back, but she refuses and won’t even tell him how he can find her.
The young woman tells him that she’s a neighbour and that’s just what neighbours do.
The man says that he’s never seen her in this neighbourhood and thinks that her understanding of being a neighbour, is much broader than his.
She laughs good-naturedly and says to him he’s probably right, wishes him well, and hangs up the phone.
The man was left dumbfounded.
The distressed man was amazed and rightfully so.
 
As we hear this modern re-telling of the Good Samaritan story, it can cut us to the quick.
Sure, it’s full of stereotypes, but there is a grain of truth to each character, and we’ve probably all been in each of their shoes in one way or another.
We’ve been asked by God, through circumstance, to expand our vision of what it means to be neighbourly.
 
Like the people who would have heard today’s gospel story in Luke’s community, we have boundaries and rules that we have to live by.
In the Jewish culture of that time, there were rules about how men should treat women, parents should treat children and how Jews should treat foreigners like gentiles and Samaritans.
These systems set up a social order where certain positions of power and privilege were well maintained.
Their society was not that different to what ours is now - over 2,000 years later.
We have those sorts of systems in place, and they’re difficult to escape, or overcome.
 
Yet, this is precisely what Jesus was calling the people of his time to do, and I think it translates to our time, too.
 
Inheritance meant tangible goods back then – land, wealth, herds.
It was the promised reward to Abraham and his descendants who belonged to God’s covenant.
The Israelites were a covenanted people, and over time, the message of inheritance also included a future age to come.
 
But Jesus brought a different message.
Eternal life meant living a life in God’s kingdom and not sticking to the existing societal boundaries.
Jesus turns the lawyer’s challenge around to show that God’s sovereignty is over your whole life.
Reading and knowing the law isn’t enough.
Loving God, your neighbour and yourself, characterizes someone who is already living a life in the kingdom.
The gift of inheritance is now attached to a demand: “Go and do likewise.”
 
How do we go about showing that kind of mercy in our own lives?
The kind of mercy that doesn’t expect any kind of reward.
The kind of mercy that has no boundaries, as Jesus so cleverly identifies in his parable.
The kind of mercy that often has a steep price: being beaten for defending a defenceless person; losing money to help someone else get back on their feet; losing a job because you stood up for a colleague who was being treated unfairly; being the victim of vandalism after standing up to the neighbourhood bullies on behalf of an elderly neighbour.  
The list can go on.
 
We all know these types of stories and must ask ourselves whether we are willing to pay the price of mercy - or will we just walk on by.
Being a true neighbour means that we’re living actively, not passively, in the kingdom of God.
 
Sometimes in our church rituals, like baptism, we’re asked by the minister “Will you do such and such”?
Our answer should always be, “With God’s help, we will.”  (we can’t do this alone)
 
It’s clear that our work is never done.
We need to keep looking out for our neighbours.
They include: the marginalized, those of a different colour, people from a different culture, the old, the young, the ones missing all their teeth, those with the flashy car….. not just the one who is us.
 
What is surprising, is how difficult it is to show mercy to those who don’t fit inside our comfort zone, despite what we know Jesus is asking of us.
 
Living a merciful life is not defined as helping someone once.
Instead, it’s a life in which a person’s character is formed by the basic premise that they love God, love their neighbour, and love themselves.
 
To put it another way, Mahatma Gandhi was once quoted as saying:
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
 
The call of Jesus, to go and do likewise, is challenging and transforming.
Living out mercy, changes us as a people.
May we be blessed with God’s own mercy and grace as we strive to walk worthy of God’s calling in our own lives and communities.
Pastor Rick