SERMON - Pentecost 6 (Trinity 5)

It’s been a funny few weeks, and not just the weather. Of course, my sermon will be shorter this morning, because like most people, I am going home to build an ark. But this time, I’m not going to take wasps, snakes, or spiders.

Today’s texts bring us to the centre of it all: faith in God is expressed through love.

The theme is introduced by some apparently re-assuring words from Deuteronomy “this command that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away”. God, in His infinite wisdom, does not require superhuman acts from us, he knows of what we are made (as it might have said last week in the readings), he knows all too well our frailties and our weaknesses. So God asks something very human of us; Love – to love God with all your heart, and immediately after, and your neighbour as yourself. The law and all the commandments are contained in this neat and all encompassing love.

The lawyer who is questioning Jesus knows this. The problem comes in terms of determining who exactly is “my neighbour”. If neighbour means “close-by”, then how far does the proximity extend? Is it down the bottom end of the street where the strange people live, or is it something else. He needed to know.

With the parable of the Samaritan, Jesus doesn’t respond with a complicated theory, but with a simple comparison. The lawyers question didn’t quite focus on the real issue. The parable however, makes it all quite clear. The theory about “who is my neighbour” is not about previous bonds of family, friendship or similar, instead what makes us neighbours is our generous attending to the needs of others – this brings us close to them, they become our neighbours.

Hence, the final question of Jesus in the reading “Which of these do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” And the lawyer has to respond (because he has no other choice at this stage) “the one who showed him mercy”.

Jesus is explaining that the focus of our love should not be so narrow as to restrict it to the things that are close and known to us – for in doing so, we restrict the free and gratuitous love of God.

The saying “charity begins at home” is undoubtedly popular, but unfortunately, according to the reading today, home is exactly the place charity doesn’t begin.

On another point really…

The reading a few weeks ago about the towns in Samaria, and the Disciples wanting Jesus to call down lightning on them. Jesus says rather cryptically about the people doing rather than just believing. Here, this week is the story, as undoubtedly it is, about a Samaritan doing the unexpected.

The parable makes other specific points. First of all, the love of “neighbour” is genuine human love, moved at the sight of someone who is mistreated or injured. This is why the Samaritan is quite smart and thoughtful in his care – bandages, food and drink. So not only is charity widespread, it is also effective, and not just well meaning. The Gospel is telling us that we need to make a careful analysis of the needs of others, personal, social, material, and then give an appropriate response.

I was away for a couple of days at a conference this week in Birmingham, it was about homelessness, and how we should all have the target to end “rough sleeping” in our towns and cities by 2012. Currently there has been a huge drop in “rough sleeping” leaving only a fraction of the people on the streets that once were. This is because projects have been utilising government money well, and the services are found in every city and most towns. People have been trained to help others and it is all very impressive.

The remaining people on the street are a different story however. The few hundred, that’s all it is, that sleep rough each night in our nation have a huge and varied need. They might have physical or mental health problems. They might have addictions to alcohol or drugs. They might have emotional difficulties and might be very suspicious. They might now be so used to sleeping on the streets that they need slow coaxing to remember what is was like to live under a roof, and sleep in a bed. I visited a project that is trying to do this.

The Samaritans love is just like this last push on ‘rough sleeping’, we must tailor our care and love to those who need it, and not merely to say ‘this is what I have’ take it if you want.

Love of neighbour, in the same degree as the love of God, both are the same, is realised in practice.

Addressing the lawyer, Jesus concludes with the categorical “Go and do likewise”. Love is made real in action, and at that moment, his theoretical question finds a practical answer.

Taking the love of neighbour as the criterion of Christian life, that is to say, being moved by the suffering and need of others, and doing something constructive and effective about it does not exceed our human strength. However, it is tremendously demanding, and it is the sign of the new life of God’s children.

The great Christian challenge to serve the cause of peace is to make the love of neighbour the centre of our transformation and the transformation of the world