St Columba Presbyterian Church:

JULY 11, 2010

SERMON.

Let us pray,

Almighty God, we thank you for the gift of your Word. By the power and prompting of your Holy Spirit, help us to receive it, and consider it, with joy; and so to live according to it, that we may grow in faith, and hope, and love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray.

Amen.

"WHAT'S STOPPING YOU?"

Nowadays, it would most likely unfold on the likes of "Twitter", or on some 'blog' or another. Back in those dark and distant days in the early nineteen-seventies, when I was at university, the debate progressed instead, in the scribbles on the wall of the men's washroom in the Department of Philosophy. At least, that is where I first saw it.

It began with someone writing "To be is to do." - Socrates. Then, in response, someone else wrote "To do is to be." - Descartes! At that point, some intellectual giant stepped into the fray, and both broadened, and summed up, the debate, by adding "Do, be, do, be, do," - Frank Sinatra!

It's actually an ancient argument, that has exercised the minds of philosophers down the ages to this day; is it enough that we simply exist, or does how we live out that existence, matter?

For us as the people of God, the very same kind of question spills over into our life of faith. What matters most, believing, or doing? Is it enough to profess to be a Christian, or do you also have to do Christian things? Or, is doing Christian-like things, enough to make you be a Christian? Is there a difference between indicating that you might support the teachings and values of the church, and acknowledging that you have committed your life to the Will and Purpose of God?

In a world, today, that tells us that there is no higher standard of righteousness than "what seems good to me at this moment", are we willing to love, and serve, a God who will judge how we respond to these kinds of questions?

The question of believing and doing was front and centre in our Gospel lesson from St. Luke this morning; St. Luke chapter 10, verses 25 to 37, "The Parable of the Good Samaritan.". It's a story that many of us know well.

Luke tells us that, "On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher", he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?". Note the question he asked Jesus: "what do I need to do to get eternal life?", that's how Eugene Peterson expresses it in "The Message". Not 'what do I need to believe to get eternal life?'. What must I do, this Hebrew legal scholar asks.

Jesus immediately puts the man into his comfort zone. 'You're a legal expert, what does the law say; "How do you read it?" Jesus asks. And the lawyer responds by quoting two of the great ethical demands of the ancient Law; Love God with all that you are, and love your neighbour as much as you love yourself. 'You've got it', says Jesus, 'that's all you really need to know. Live by that teaching and you will enjoy eternal life.'.

Thinking there has to be more to it than that, maybe even looking for some sort of loophole in the argument, the legal expert comes back at Jesus with a supplementary question. "And just how would you define 'neighbour'?". Again that's how the question is put in "The Message". And in response, Jesus tells a story about someone who needs help along life's way. And in the course of that story, shows how the concepts of believing, and doing, are not isolated, but relate to each other, and indeed profoundly inter-connect.

You need to begin, by believing that that person lying in the ditch by the side of the road, bleeding and bedraggled; or whatever other trauma or tragedy may have befallen them, whether self-inflicted, or not; you need to believe that that unfortunate soul, matters; that they are your brother, or sister, in Christ; regardless of how different they may appear to be. You need to begin by seeing that they are in need, and that you are being prompted, called, to offer that help they need. And with that, you need to believe that, at that moment, that matters more than anything else that may seem to want to get in the way. What we believe, should prompt what we do.

As is very clear from Jesus' story, however, what we believe can equally stop us doing what needs to be done.

Three individuals saw the wounded traveller lying in the ditch beside the highway from Jerusalem to Jericho. Dangerous road that, narrow, steep cliffs rising on either side; lots of clefts and crevices, and blind corners,; perfect place for bandits to hide, and then spring out and ensnare the unwary traveller; probably should have known better our 'friend' who is now lying by the wayside. As I say, three people came by.

The first was a priest, someone who would lead worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. He saw the man lying there; he could not be sure, but most likely the man was dead. If he was dead, there was no help he could offer; and the Law said that if you touched a dead body you were ritually unclean for several days, and he would need to forfeit his turn of serving at the Temple, and he may not get another chance for some years. He couldn't risk that. This man believed that ceremony, and ritual, and liturgy, meant more than someone else's suffering.

Next came a Levite, they were the tribe responsible for assisting at worship in the Temple; they made sure that the priests had all the things they needed so that they could do what they had to do; and the Levites cared for the holy places within the Temple buildings. The Levite came a little closer to our wounded traveller; but what if this was a set-up? Those groups of bandits were famous for using decoys to lure you into their trap; what if this guy wasn't injured at all, what if he was just pretending, so that some unsuspecting traveller would fall prey to his buddies who were hiding just around that bend there? Our Levite was a cautious man, thinking first and foremost of his own safety, he wasn't taking any risks to help anyone, no matter what there needs might be.

And then along came a Samaritan. Today, and largely as a result of our familiarity down the generations with this very story, we see Samaritans as Good; they are heroes. The first telephone help-line established in the U.K., many decades ago, is called "Samaritans". There is a camping organisation, where part of belonging means helping your fellow-members along the way if needed, called "The Good Sam" Club. There are liability statutes written to protect those who stop to help others in need, known as "Good Samaritan" laws. To us, the Samaritan in our story is the hero. He stopped, he went over the victim of this highway robbery, he checked him out; he bathed the traveller's wounds, took him to an inn, and provided for his welfare, whatever that might involve.

To the teacher of the law debating with Jesus, this man could be no hero however. Samaritans were outside the realm of the Hebrew Law and culture; they were unclean and unworthy; indeed they were hated. They should not be held up as an example of anything. But Jesus puts him up there as an example of God's love in action. The Samaritan believed that the most important thing of all, in that moment, was to do something about the wounds that this poor unfortunate fellow-traveller had suffered. And he set about offering all the help, comfort, sustenance, and relief, that he possibly could. Even to the point of picking up the tab, for any further care this man might need, after the Samaritan had left him in the good hands of the local innkeeper.

This man, this outcast, this ritually unclean, this individual unacceptable in the eyes of the ancient Hebrew Law; he knew, how what he believed, and what he should do, related to one another. He saw that interconnection between believing, and doing. He believed that that person on the side of the road was someone he should help, and that he better do something about it.

It is one of the most frequent criticisms leveled against the Christian community; that what we profess to believe, is not reflected in who we are, and how we live. We talk about "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, loyalty, gentleness and self-control', we claim to know that those are the fruits of God's Holy Spirit at work within us; but do others see that in us, do they feel any sense of that when they are in our company? As our Responsive Reading from "Living Faith", our Church's Statement of Christian Belief, reminds and challenges us, "We cannot claim to love God, whom we do not see, if we hate those about us, whom we do see.".

What, then, stops us from being as concerned and compassionate as we know we ought to be? What causes us to "pass by on the other side"? It can be all kinds of things; fear, apathy, self-absorption, endless distractions that crowd into our lives, not wanting to appear too 'different' in today's culture, believing that people may have caused their own griefs and should thus sort them out for themselves, or simply not noticing!

We need to remember that what we do, reflects what we believe. And that we should constantly strive, to respond to all that we know God has offered us in His love.

Paul wrote to the nascent Christian community in Colossae, which was in

what we would now call Turkey; he wrote encouraging them to not let any of their previously held beliefs prevent them from serving God, and reflecting His love as they should. That was a tough battle in that particular culture. And so Paul cheered them on saying, "We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul - not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is the strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He's set us up

in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.".

What is stopping us responding to that redeeming, renewing, love in Jesus Christ? What we believe, and what we do; they both matter!

Let us pray,

Great God, you have taught us in Christ that love fulfills your law. And so may we love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; and may we always love our neighbour, as much as we love ourselves; that you may be given all glory, and your Kingdom may more truly come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for evermore.

Amen.