Lived Love
Rev. Cynthia Anderson, July 11, 2010 Some years ago a famous experiment was conducted with seminary students. Researchers gathered the students in a classroom and told them that each of them had an assignment to record a talk about the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The thing was, the recordings were going to be done in a building on the other side of the campus, and because of a tight schedule, they needed to hurry to that building. Unbeknownst to the students, on the path to the other building the researchers had planted an actor to play the part of a man in distress, slumped in an alley, coughing and suffering. The students were prepared to make a presentation about the Good Samaritan. But when they actually encountered a man in need, would they be Good Samaritans? Well, no. They rushed past the hurting man and one student even stepped over the man's body as he hurried to teach about the Parable of the Good Samaritan!1 How do we account for that? How do we explain this disjunction between what we say we believe and what we do? And how do we address that disjointedness in our lives – not only for our sakes, but for the impact it has on our ability to witness to the truth of Christ to others – for whom our behavior so often speaks louder than any of our words. Today’s story places that question squarely in front of us. It starts with a provocative question from a lawyer that Jesus has encountered on the road. This lawyer asks Jesus a question that has occupied the minds and hearts of millions of people across the ages – what must I do to inherit eternal life – to have a life with purpose now and a life with God eternally? Jesus responds with a counter question – well, what does the law say? And the lawyer replies quickly that the law commands that we love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and that we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. By his question, Jesus has pointed out to the lawyer that the way to eternal life is hardly a secret – love God, love neighbor – commands that have been part of the Jewish law since Moses encountered God on a mountain. But it’s important to notice Jesus’ further response to the lawyer. Well, he says, you’ve given the right answer – you know what to believe and profess – now do that – love God and neighbor with everything you are and have and you will live. Knowing it isn’t enough. Saying it isn’t enough. Do it. Love of God and love of neighbor must be lived. Love has to be lived. But the lawyer’s wants to test Jesus. So, he says, who is my neighbor? I mean after all, we can’t be indiscriminate about who we regard as a neighbor. We need to define things, to set some boundaries around our obligations and our commitments to people. The lawyer is asking Jesus – where do we draw the lines around our love? And this time, Jesus doesn’t refer the man back to the law books. Instead, he tells the story of a man traveling on the notoriously dangerous road from Jericho to Jerusalem, who is overtaken by robbers, beaten and left for dead. First a priest comes along, and surely we would expect a priest – an official holy man – to stop and care for the wounded man. But the priest must have an important appointment, perhaps an official religious duty and if he stops to help this man, he will become ritually unclean and it will interfere with his plans and responsibilities for the day. The priest moves on. Next comes a Levite – again, someone of significant religious and moral training and responsibility among the Israelites. But the Levite also is in a hurry – he has pressing business to attend to, people are waiting on him and he mustn’t disappoint them. He too passes by. Finally, another man comes along and he stops. But the twist here is that this man is a Samaritan – and the Jews and the Samaritans hated one another. But this Samaritan stops. No one would expect him to, no one would think badly of him if he kept going. He probably has important business in Jerusalem, there are probably people waiting for him, but he stops and he crosses over that line dividing Jew and Samaritan, clean and unclean, known and unknown. He puts himself at risk by stopping to administer basic first aid there by the side of the road, puts the man on his donkey and walks with him to the nearest hotel, where he puts him to bed, gives the hotel manager some money for the man’s care and then gives the hotel something of a blank check if that’s not enough to get the man on his feet. Jesus finishes the story, looks at the clever, knowledgable lawyer and says, -- who acted as a neighbor? Notice, he doesn’t answer the lawyer’s question -- he doesn’t tell the lawyer who is the neighbor in need of care – that’s completely obvious. Jesus turns the tables on the lawyer here – the focus isn’t on looking around, trying to decide who our neighbors are, who is in need and who we should help. No, Jesus’ question is its own answer – who acted as the neighbor? Who obeyed the command to love God and neighbor with all they are and have? Who lived God’s love rather than staying inside those human lines we draw to keep ourselves separate from those we don’t like or those we fear. And the lawyer responds, “the one who showed mercy.” If you want real and eternal life, then go and live love like that, responds Jesus. It’s not easy or without risk. After all, Jesus lives love by dying on a cross. So we must be on guard about turning this story into a nice, fuzzy story about morality. We need to recognize the uncomfortable, challenging, even dangerous aspect of living God’s love in the world. The Samaritan stops to help his enemy and encounters real risk to himself – and you know that wounded man may even not have been all that grateful that a hated enemy – a Samaritan – was the one who stopped. We can’t pretty the story up if we are to really see the radical call Jesus issues here. Lived love is tough stuff. Former Yale Divinity School professor Peter Hawkins tells the story of walking with a friend along Madison Avenue after a performance of Alec McGowan’s one-man Gospel According to Mark.2 The two left the theater exhilarated and feeling as if they had heard the old story for the first time. Then the door of a bar opened and a very drunk man stumbled out in front of them and fell to the pavement. The drunk man made it clear that he didn’t want to be helped. However, with the Gospel of Mark still fresh in their minds, it just wasn’t possible to walk on by. Hawkins writes, “What we hadn’t counted on was that the man we’d rescued and brought back to his gorgeous Upper Eastside townhouse was not interested in the kingdom coming. He wanted a drink; he wanted a smoke; he didn’t care if he burned the whole building down; he wanted us to get out. Commandeering an address book, we called every Manhattan listing only to be told over and over again by former friends that the man we were calling about was a drunk, a bully, spoiled and abusive -- in short, everything we had discovered about him on our own. There was nothing to do but flush away the matches, drain the Scotch, allow him to pass out in exhaustion and keep watch until dawn. When we tiptoed out, I left behind my name and telephone number. ‘Please call if you would like to talk.’ He never did.” Living the love of Christ that we have received – living that love in a world that quite often couldn’t care less or outright rejects it – is not easy, pretty or sentimental. It’s tough, sacrificial, risky business. And we shouldn’t kid ourselves otherwise. But Jesus tells us that if we want to inherit eternal life – that is real life, a life with lasting meaning and purpose, a life lived in the presence of God – then we must live the love we have received. For love that is not lived, and a life that is not grounded in living out God’s love, simply withers and dies. We can only live love because Jesus has come among us to live God’s love for us to its utmost reaches – even when we we’re ungrateful, oblivious or outright reject him. Jesus lived that love all the way through death to resurrection and we live in the power of his love – we really do. He’s truly present to us through the Holy Spirit and animates our lives with the power to love – to experience abundant meaning and purpose in life now and to live eternally with God. But we have to let that love in and to let it flow through us. We have to remember those who have lived love for us and to stop trying to guard our hearts and put protective barriers around our love and our lives. We’re called, and empowered to live the love of Jesus Christ in the world. May it be so for you and for me. Thanks be to God. Amen. 1 Darley, J. M., and Batson, C.D., "From Jerusalem to Jericho: A study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1973, 27, 100-108. 2 Peter S. Hawkins , The Christian Century, June 20-27, 2001, p. 13. |
