Grace and Peace to you from God our Creator, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, Amen
Who is your neighbor? The lawyer in today’s Gospel asks Jesus… Who is his neighbor? So, I ask you the very same question - Who is your neighbor? Jesus tells us exactly who our neighbor is. It’s exactly who you don’t expect it to be. Exactly who you don’t want it to be. The Samaritans weren’t well liked in those days, which makes this parable that Jesus tells even more profound. Love your neighbor as yourself. The Golden Rule. The same idea that has passed between peoples of different areas and different religions for ages. The Greatest Commandment. It’s the ability to look at one another as human beings, just as you are a human being… and know that they have blood running through their veins, and air running through their lungs…
Love. It’s a complicated emotion that is talked about many times throughout the entire bible, but especially the Gospels. Love. Such a complicated emotion, and yet, it’s rather quite simple, or at least it should be. Compassion. Knowing that the person sitting next to you, living next you, breathing next to you… is just as valued to God as you are. Is just as worthy of all the life, liberty and freedoms you desire and need. It’s about love folks. It’s always been about love. It will always be about love.
Who is your neighbor? Who is deserving of love when others deny it? Who are the voices crying out for help, lying beaten and defeated on the road of life?
I’m going to be honest with you. This has a terrible week to be a law enforcement officer, a terrible week to be a person of color… and a terrible week to be a human being. I mean it. If we can’t look at the events that happened in Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights and Dallas… and see a total breakdown of human existence…. This isn’t how life should be. If we can’t look at the events of Orlando a month ago… In Baghdad… Istanbul…
It seems like life is devolving into chaos, with people at each other’s throats… And it makes me sad. I think it’s safe to say that it makes God grieve as well.
The Psalmist writes in the thirteenth Psalm…
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
The nation seems to be in a perpetual state of mourning. It seems that there’s something new every week. A mass shooting here, another minority attacked there, and terrorist attacks in between. It’s almost enough for me to want to get back to hearing about emails and walls…
But maybe not.
Why is this message of love - so hard for us to hear? Love God, Love your neighbor and be the Good Samaritan to help another stranded on the road. Simple. And yet, we fail all too often.
We are the Levite and priest, passing by the man hurt on the road. We are the ones passing by, letting life go… watching Rome burn as we stand and watch. Sure, we say our prayers and thoughts are with the victims… but how often do we stand up for the one on the road? How often are we standing against indifference, and staring at the face of injustice?
Why am I asking this? Because Love Matters. Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust and author said, “The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference”
Because Love Matters. When we are faced with injustice, we can either pass by and let it happen… or be the Good Samaritan and stand up against it.
Because Love Matters, the man who called on us to love one another… to love our neighbor as ourselves… the man who lived among, walked alongside of, and preached for the other… the outcasts… Jesus the Christ… died for them, for us, for me, for you… to save us all from ourselves. Our indifference. Our injustice. Our pain. Our sorrow. Our weariness. Jesus the Christ died to save us all... through the unwinnable, unshakeable grace, love and mercy of God - poured out for us all.
Jesus died, through the ultimate sacrifice and the ultimate act of love… Jesus died for the neighbor.
So, I ask you again - who is your neighbor? Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were your neighbors. The five police officers killed in Dallas were your neighbors. The people who pulled the triggers were your neighbors.
Jesus calls on us to love. Because Love Matters. Amen.
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