2008.04.13 Who will receive the benefit of what God has given to you?

Scripture: Luke 10:29-37

Last week, we looked at a parable of Jesus that is often called “The Parable of the Rich Fool.” That story revealed ways in which we can behave selfishly. For example, like the wealthy man in the parable, we can

• Think more often and more intently about our own needs before others’
• Hoard for ourselves more than we can ever use or need
• Adopt the dreams of our society—to be rich, comfortable and spend our days playing golf every morning and lounging by the pool in the afternoons.
  

When the rich man died, God asked him: “Who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” And the question for us is, “Who will get what we are preparing?” The work we do, the time we use, the attention we give, the money we spend—who is receiving or will receive their benefit?

And a second question.. who should receive the benefit?

The answer to the 2nd question is, according to Jesus, God and our neighbor:

36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' n 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."Matthew 22:36-40

Who should receive the benefit? God and our neighbor.

Note in verse 39 that Jesus says this: “And the second is like it.” The 2nd greatest commandment, to love your neighbor, is like the 1st. Why?

Because once you fall in love God, the next thing that happens—the next thing that you do to express that love—is to love your neighbor. Every life is a gift from God; Every male and female is made in the image of God. So when we honor another, care for another, serve another, we are, in fact, loving God.

So let’s consider the idea that it is our neighbor who should receive the benefit of what we have been given by God. In Luke, Chapter 10, we find the question:

29 .."And who is my neighbor?" Luke 10:29b

Jesus’ answer is commonly known as The Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Now before your brain slides into autopilot mode, let me tell you a quick story.

Back during my 1st year in medical school, I had a friend who would pick me up every morning for our 8:00 am lectures. The ride was not very long, and we were often suffering from sleep deprivation, so we usually didn’t have profound philosophical discussions or anything like that.

However, one day my friend (who was a non-Christian) had a question: “What’s the deal with the Bible? After a person reads it once, maybe twice, isn’t that enough? Why do Christians keep reading it?” Now, his perspective was that the Bible must be like our Neurobiology textbook. You read once, you get the concepts, and after that, it just becomes a reference book.
Why do Christians keep reading the Bible?

We keep reading the Bible because it is not a textbook; it is a holy text. As such, we regard it as God’s truth, and we believe that the Holy Spirit works with us so that the text is relevant time and time again. The oldest parts of this text are 3500 years old. Let’s stop and ponder that for a moment. Over 3500 years old. For 3½ millennia, this text has remained relevant. This text has continued to teach us truth. The Bible can do this because although society changes, the core truths of life do not.

So today we’re going to take another look at the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I preached to you on this same passage 14 months ago. At that time, we were examining what it looks like to Walk with God. Today we are looking at this passage to see who should benefit from what we have been given by God. It is our neighbor, and this parable is a great way for us to remember who are neighbor is.

30-32Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
33-35"A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I'll pay you on my way back.'
36"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?"
37"The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded.
Jesus said, "Go and do the same." -The Message, Luke 10: 30-37

There is a man who is injured and in need. The two most likely people to help him walk right by him. The third man, the one who stopped, is a Samaritan—a racial minority, one that is hated by those who were listening to Jesus’ story.

In this country, there was racial minority that was hated by some of Jesus’ followers as well. One of the most famous of that minority was also a pastor, and when he read this same passage in Luke, he thought this:

"The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But ... the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'"
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hopefully this quote reminds you of our sermon from last week with the rich man. His first question—and his only question—was what will happen to me? How can I take care of “me”? The parable of the Good Samaritan reverses that question of rich man’s selfishness by turning the question outward: What will happen to him?

If I don’t stop and do something, what will happen to him? It is a much harder question to wrestle with (what will happen to me versus what will happen to him) yet at the end of the story, Jesus says, “Go and do the same.” He’s talking to you and to me.

Now, let me say a word about family. When I was in college, my little brother would refer to me as the black sheep of the family. There are only two of us, so basically, he was saying that he was the better child. He said this because during every vacation, my brother would dutifully fly home to see my parents. On the other hand, I went home twice a year—for Christmas and in the summer. My college was closer to my parents’ home than my brother’s was, so distance was not the excuse. The reason I did not go home that often was because I loved my church. I was there all of the time.

What I neglected to understand in my service to the church is that Scripture clearly asks us to take care of our families. One example can be found in the 1st Letter to Timothy, Chapter 5, it is written:

3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family.. for this is pleasing to God… 8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
-1 Timothy 5:3-4, 8

Why do I mention this? Because when Jesus asks us to love our neighbor, to “go do likewise,” he is not asking us to let go of all that we are doing right now. Several of us have children whom we are trying to raise as faithfully as possible. Many of us are in the process of figuring out how to care for our aging parents. Consider that your son, your dad, your mom, your daughter—each of them is your neighbor. When they are in need, you are the first one who is responsible to care for them.

With Jesus’ challenge to “go and do likewise,” our first thoughts are often of the stranger. This is totally correct b/c Jesus used a story about an unknown man being helped by a stranger from a despised race. Yet before a crushing weight of guilt descends upon us, I want to acknowledge that Scripture clearly asks us to take care of our families. Even church leaders were not able to be chosen as leaders unless they were taking good care of their families—in 1st Timothy, Chapter 3, it says ”If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?”

So through the care that you provide to your family, you are loving your neighbor. However, we can do more. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, there two folks who pass the injured man: a priest and a Levite.

In the book of Leviticus (from the Old Testament), this is what God said about priests:

1 The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: `A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die, 2 except for a close relative… 4 He must not make himself unclean.., and so defile himself. Leviticus 21:1-2a, 4

The priest was not allowed to touch the man if he was dead. The thing is, he didn’t know if the man was dead—he crossed over to the other side of the road to avoid the guy. And we know, from the rest of the story, that the man was, in fact, not dead. In the execution of his duties—in doing what he thought was the right thing, the priest missed a chance to help a neighbor, a fellow brother, another human being, who was in need.

In taking care of our families, we are doing the right thing. However, in the execution of our duties—in doing the right thing, do we miss chances to help other neighbors, other people who are in need?

Since my oldest child started school last year, I have met a LOT of families. Some of them have the most insane schedules for their children. One child in Kindergarten (which means he is 5 years old) had an enrichment activity every day of the week—all 7 days: language school, athletics, academic tutoring and music lessons—every day. We can be appalled at this family’s choices, but each one of those activities is done to address a perceived “need” in the child. So let’s step back and consider—whether you are a household of 5 or a household of 1—how much of your time is spent meeting needs—whether your own needs or someone else’s needs? And then ask, how far does the circle extend? Meaning, to what extent do you go to meet the needs around you? Is it this far (only yourself)? Is it juts far enough to include your immediate household? Or can it go farther?

When Jesus said “Go and do likewise,” I believe that he is challenging us to extend our boundaries when it comes to meeting others’ needs. The priest was doing what was he was supposed to do—but no more—and he is not the one that Jesus identified as a neighbor.

On the other hand, the Samaritan—what was he doing on that road? We may think: It would be easier to help others if I had more free time. I would gladly help someone if my budget were just a bit larger.

The road between Jerusalem and Jericho was nicknamed the “Bloody Pass.” It was no stroll through the park. It was more like walking through Hunter’s Point or lower Tenderloin at night. You only go that way if you absolutely have to. And the Samaritan did need to go that way, for after caring for the man, he asked the innkeeper for help, promising to cover any extra expenses when he returned. He obviously had somewhere to go—things to do. And if he were a wealthy man, I’m willing to guess that he wouldn’t have been travelling alone on that road.

So then, Jesus’ challenge to go and do likewise is not only for the wealthy or for those who have a lot of free time.

37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." Luke 10:37

Jesus’ challenge is to US: Go and do likewise.

Today is Compassion Sunday. I want to close this message with a story of a real-life Samaritan named Everett Swanson. This story was found on the Compassion website.

It was 1952, the Korean War was raging and Everett Swanson, an American evangelist, was on a preaching tour of Japan and Korea. Everett shared the gospel with thousands of troops, and by the end of the tour, the young evangelist had led many people to Christ. Certainly, he could have gone home satisfied that his mission for God’s kingdom had been accomplished — and accomplished well.

But one thing hounded Everett Swanson — troubled him all the way back to the United States. While in the city of Seoul, Korea, he had noticed scores of children who were living on the streets, orphaned by the war. They huddled together to keep warm and begged for coins. The plight of these little children touched Everett’s heart. But one morning before departing for home, he had an experience that did more than touch his heart — it changed his life.

On an early walk in the city, Everett glanced up when a flatbed truck stopped a few blocks ahead of him. Sanitation workers emerged from the cab to gather up trash from doorways and alleys and gutters along the street. They threw what appeared to be piles of rags on to the truck bed.

As he came closer, Everett noticed that the workers were kicking the rag piles before picking them up. That made sense; rats were common. One rag pile lay in a doorway not far from Everett. He reached it about the same time as one of the workers. That’s when he noticed that the pile was not just a tangle of rags. A small arm extended from the pile, and Everett began to make out the shape of a child sleeping underneath it. Opening his mouth to warn the worker not to kick the pile, the words stuck in his throat as he caught sight of the cargo on the flatbed truck.

The horror of what he was witnessing suddenly dawned on him. The workers were not there to gather trash. They were gathering the bodies of children who had died on the streets overnight. Those who had survived another night of that bitter Korean winter would be awakened by the kick of a sanitation worker, checking for signs of life, only to face another day of hunger, cold and despair.

Everett couldn’t get this horrific image of Korea’s abandoned children out of his mind. Like the priest and Levite in Jesus’ parable, he could have simply left the country and washed his hands of the whole matter — not my children, not my country, not my problem. But he didn’t. Not sure how to help these poor children, but determined to do whatever he could for those left to die on the streets of Seoul, he returned to the United States and started asking people to commit to contributing a small amount of money each month. He planned to use this money to provide for the needs of destitute Korean orphans.

Everett Swanson’s efforts steadily grew as more people caught the vision to follow Christ’s command to “go and do likewise.” Now, 54 years later, what Everett started is a thriving organization called Compassion International. Through the years, Compassion has enabled hundreds of thousands of people to reach out to impoverished children around the world who have been left by life’s roadside.

Who will receive the benefit of what God has given to you? Jesus challenge is for us to give to our neighbor. There are thousands and millions of people in need around the world. Just this past week, we heard about 400+ children in Texas who were regularly abused and now face life in the child welfare system, trying to negotiate a world they have not known until this week. In the words of Dr. King, “If I will not stop to help them, what will happen to them?”

Like Everett Swanson, like the Good Samaritan, we have to choose. Let God lead you to one person—one person that you can help. That one act of compassion will lead to others, so that ultimately, God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

(Pastor SKA)