We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Commentary

The Good Samaritan – ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’

This is one of the most practical Bible lessons.

“Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? This is a basic, universal question that is asked by almost all human beings, even today. In Mark and Matthew, the question is more of a Jewish question. That is, “What is the greatest/first commandment of the law?” Mark and Matthew were asking a fundamental Jewish question; Luke was asking a fundamental universal question.

Luke was written to a larger world which he knew as a follower of Paul. This was the first time the idea of Dt 6:5 (“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength”) being combined with Leviticus 19:18 (“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”)

Jesus is challenged by a lawyer. The lawyer’s presence and public questioning of Jesus shows the degree of importance his detractors are placing on finding a flaw they can use. The lawyer is trying to see if there was a distinction between friends and enemies. Luke in the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”) had eliminated the distinction and the lawyer was trying to introduce it again. As Jesus’ influence with the crowds continues to grow, the alarm of the religious establishment grows as well.

His first question is “what must I do to inherit eternal life.” Jesus answers, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” The lawyer follows up with a second question, also a very good one. If doing this, i.e., loving God and loving neighbor as oneself, is a matter of eternal life, then defining “neighbor” is important in this context. The lawyer, however, in reality, is self-centered, concerned only for himself.

Jesus shifts the question from the one the lawyer asks — who is my neighbor?–to ask what a righteous neighbor does. The neighbor is the one we least expect to be a neighbor. The neighbor is the “other,” the one most despised or feared or not like us. It is much broader than the person who lives next to you. A first century audience, Jesus’ or Luke’s, would have known the Samaritan represented a despised “other.”

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Of the four characters in this story (besides the robbers and the victim) – the lawyer, levite, priest and Samaritan – the first three were known in Jewish society. The Samaritan is the outsider.

The idea of being a “Good Samaritan” would have been an oxymoron to a first century Jew. During an ancient Israeli war, most of the Jews living up north in Samaria were killed or taken into exile. How can the Samaritans be anything but “bad”? Jews would do anything to avoid these people. However, a few Jews, who were so unimportant that nobody wanted them, were left in Samaria. Since that time, these Jews had intermarried with other races. They were considered half-breeds by the “true” Jews. They had perverted the race. They had also perverted the religion.

Note also that the Samaritan acts not to receive anything for himself (like self-justification). He responds to the needs of the man in the ditch and his actions cost him — time and money. The others can’t go beyond their limited role in society. The levite can’t touch the injured because of laws against uncleanness. The priests (Pharisees) are more concerned with rules and structures. We must look beyond the mores of society.

The verbs used with the Samaritan are worth emulating: to have compassion others; to come (near) to others; to care for others; to do mercy to others. It is not enough just to know what the Law says, one must also do it. To put it another way, it is not enough just to talk about “what one believes,” but “what difference does it make in my life that I believe.”

The man in the ditch may represent us. Brian Stoffregen quotes Bernard Scott in Jesus, Symbol-Maker for the Kingdom. “Grace comes to those who cannot resist, who have no other alternative than to accept it. To enter the parable’s World, to get into the ditch, is to be so low that grace is the only alternative. The point may be so simple as this: only he who needs grace can receive grace.. all who are truly victims, truly disinherited, have no choice but to give themselves up to mercy.” And we are victims in our own way.

He goes on to say “the parable of the Good Samaritan may be reduced to two propositions: In the Kingdom of God mercy comes only to those who have no right to expect it and who cannot resist it when it comes. Mercy always comes from the quarter from which one does not and cannot expect.”

Stoffregen says “I have usually taken the second interpretive approach to this text. We are the ones in the ditch and the Samaritan represent God — God who is both enemy and helper. Our sin makes God our enemy. Yet, in the parable, the “enemy” gives new life to the man in the ditch. The “enemy” expends his resources (apparently unlimited) for the care of the half-dead man.

“The problems with the lawyer is that he couldn’t see God as his enemy. He hadn’t recognized the depth of his own sinfulness. (He wants to justify himself and probably had a bit of pride that comes along with that.) He was too strong and healthy. He assumes that he has the ability to do something to inherit eternal life. He assumes that he can do something to justify himself. He is not helpless in the ditch. He thinks he doesn’t need God’s grace.

“God also gets into the ditch of the dead. On the cross, God died. There is the resurrection “donkey” who transports us to the heavenly “inn” where there is complete recovery from all pain and suffering.”

“I also noted in this sermon that at times we might identify with the innkeeper. In the parable, the Samaritan used the innkeeper to continue the healing process the he had started. The Samaritan promised to provide everything that the innkeeper would need to care for this man. Sometimes God helps us out of the ditch directly. Sometimes God uses other people.”

In the end our neighbor is everyone.

Jesus said to him, “You have answered rightly. Do this and you will live. We don’t repeat the words – we need live them as they had at the time. It is part of living a transformed life in the Kingdom away from structure of society that inhibit us and put blinders on us.”

Commentary, June 19, 2022, Pentecost 2

Today’s readings focus on the understanding of how Jesus’ presence changes our lives. Isaiah describes God’s necessary judgment and promise of final deliverance and cleansing for the people. The psalmist yearns for God’s presence, especially in times of suffering. Paul writes to the Galatians of their unity and freedom in Christ Jesus. Jesus’ begins his mission to the Gentiles with the expulsion of many demons.

1. Old Testament – Isaiah 65:1-9

Today’s reading comes from near the end of the second part of Isaiah’s prophecy (chapters 40-66) that is primarily composed of words of consolation and encouragement for the exiled Jews. But even here, the Jews are reminded that they must show the proper reverence for God. The long history of improper conduct in response to God’s sacred presence in their midst cannot be forgotten. It will certainly bring God’s judgment.

But as Isaiah emphasizes over and over, this moment of judgment will give way to a time of blessing and restoration for the chosen people and their land. God’s loving faithfulness overrides the demand for judgment and punishment. So, despite the long catalogue of the people’s failures in relation to God, Isaiah once again affirms God’s promise of fidelity and restoration.

2. Epistle -Galatians 3:23-29

This passage is part of Paul’s message that faith in Christ fulfills the law of Moses. Through baptism into Christ, all are now “children of God” (v. 26), the Old Testament designation given to anointed kings (Psalm 2:7) and to the whole people of Israel (Exodus 4:22).

Verses 28-29 are probably based upon a baptismal liturgy. The baptized clothe themselves with Christ and adopt a new personality and a new way of life. Even today the new white baptismal garment reminds us of our incorporation into Christ’s body, the church. Baptism makes us all God’s children and so heirs of the promises to Abraham made long before the law was given to Moses.

The sermon in 2019 took up the above passages.

“What brings God joy? God’s great hope is that we come to know, through Jesus, that all our divisions have come to an end and that we are ONE in Christ Jesus.

Paul says it this way. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are ONE in Christ Jesus.”

“I like this idea that we are all one in Christ Jesus, because our oneness points toward the Trinitarian nature of God—one in three and three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“When we are one in Christ Jesus, we are showing to the world what God is like—God, Son and Holy Spirit dwelling in eternal intimacy, One God. That’s why Paul says that we in the church are clothed in Christ. Christ Jesus and his healing, freeing love—Christ Jesus is our uniform. The man possessed by demons in today’s gospel who ran around naked and lived in the tombs ends up clothed and in his right mind at the feet of Jesus after Jesus sends the demons out of him. Jesus has clothed this man with healing love.

“Since the days of the early church, people who decided to follow Jesus and to become a part of the church spent several years in preparation, and when the day of their baptisms came, they took off their old clothes, and entered the water naked. After their baptisms, they came out of the water and were clothed in white robes. Everyone could see that they were now clothed in Christ. And everyone rejoiced.”

“Baptisms are joyful. We are celebrating because we get to witness the person being baptized getting dressed up in Christ. The person being baptized gets to put on the uniform that we are already wearing.

“Yes, good news, a cause for celebration, now and in the world to come! Our places are waiting for us, and our robes are ready.

“The Good News is news we want to share, like the man who has been freed of his demons and clothed in Jesus’ healing love, who goes and proclaims throughout the city how much Jesus has done for him.

“So remember, when we rejoice in our ONENESS, God rejoices too! And God’s joy makes our joy complete.”

3. Gospel – Luke 8:26-39

Jesus turns his attention to the Gentiles by crossing the Sea of Galilee into their territory. From the Jewish perspective, such a ministry would demand enormous cleansing since Gentile territory would have many possible sources of ritual impurity or “uncleanness” that would prohibit Jews from taking part in worship services. Thus it is not surprising that Jesus confronts a man who is possessed by a multitude of demons—so many that they are identified as a legion (the name for a large Roman military unit of 3000 to 6000 men).

The dramatic healing is only the prelude, though, to the further development of the characteristics of Jesus’ mission. Jesus confronts the demons, requires that they reveal their name—thus giving Jesus power over them—and then grants their wish to infest a herd of swine rather than return to the underworld.

The community is rightly afraid of a man like Jesus who has demonstrated the power and control over demons. This kind of power could be very upsetting to their community and its traditions. So because of their fear, they ask Jesus to leave. The healed man, knowing how his life has been changed for the better, wants to follow Jesus and continue to be with him. Jesus, however, speaks the words that might become the guideline for all his followers, reminding them that the first and most obvious place for their mission is their own household.

So What does this say to us ? Lutheran minister David Lose wrote the following this week:

“I was struck very much by the tail-end of verse 27: “he did not live in a house but in the tombs.” The details of this man’s life are already bleak. Completely dominated by what has mastered him, unable to restrain himself or be restrained, naked and alone, we discover he is also homeless, abandoned, and lives among the tombs; that is, among the dead, in a wasteland, in territory considered unclean, unsafe, and unapproachable

“Horrible. And yet, if we’re honest, not unfamiliar. There are very likely folks in your congregation who have experienced homelessness or been on the brink of that experience. Others “live in the tombs” and in the place of death more metaphorically, but no less painfully. Those trapped by mental illness or addiction. Those in abusive relationships. Those who feel terribly alone. Those who feel that something they’ve done, or something that has been done to them, disqualifies them from acceptance. Those who have been rejected because they do not conform to the norms and identities with which we are most comfortable. Those who struggle to find any sense of value in themselves or purpose in life.

“And the list goes on. Indeed, broadening what it means to “live in the tombs” in this way, there is likely not a single person who has not had this experience.

“What’s easy to overlook in this odd story of eventual healing is that this whole encounter between Jesus and this man lost and living in the tombs is the result of a nearly inexplicable and totally unnecessary detour. This larger scene is set in motion by Jesus’ decision to cross to the other side of the lake. Luke’s narration makes it sound so incredibly happenstance: “One day, Jesus got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, ‘Let’s go across to the other side of the lake’” (v. 22). That’s it. No rationale, like pressing crowds or the need for rest. It’s not a shortcut to some ultimate destination. And no plan or purpose is made apparent. Just a desire to cross from the familiar to the unfamiliar, from the known countryside of Capernaum and Galilee to the land of the Gerasenes… and to this man.

“Which may mean that Jesus’ whole point with this detour is to seek him out. To rescue him from his occupation, to return to him his life. While it may seem utterly unnecessary to us, that is, it is absolutely necessary, even crucial, to Jesus and his mission. This is what Jesus does – seeks out and finds the lost. Even more, this is who Jesus is – the one who is: the one who brings good news to the poor, proclaims release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and lets the oppressed go free (4:18).

“And here’s the thing: Jesus is still doing that. He is still going out of his way, still taking the long route, still crossing boundaries, still daring to meet us in the middle of our tombs, in order to heal and restore us. To put it another way, if Jesus goes so far out of his way to encounter this one man, what will keep him from seeking us out, from meeting us where we are and accepting us as we are, from inviting us to come out of the tombs, from daring us to imagine life in abundance, from bidding us to share the news of what has been done for us. The answer, in short, is nothing. Nothing will keep Jesus from reaching out to us, finding us, accepting us, releasing us, calling us, loving us. Nothing.”