Year C Proper 10 2022 Be Merciful

 Year C Proper 10,  July 10 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Be Merciful”

Collect: O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Amos 7:7-17

This is what the Lord God showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said,

"See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; 

I will never again pass them by;

the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,

and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,

and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said,

`Jeroboam shall die by the sword,

and Israel must go into exile

away from his land.'"

And Amaziah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom."

Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, `Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'

"Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.

You say, `Do not prophesy against Israel,

and do not preach against the house of Isaac.'

Therefore thus says the Lord:

`Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,

and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,

and your land shall be parceled out by line;

you yourself shall die in an unclean land,

and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.'"

Luke 10:25-37

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "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." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, `Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

When I was learning to drive, I remember well what my teacher taught us. Always be on the lookout. You might be following all the rules, following the proper “right of way,” but the other driver may not be. You might be “right” but you could be dead wrong depending on the other person, emphasis on dead. That is defensive driving. Do the right thing at all times. But the right thing in that moment may not be the “proper” thing at all. If you claim the right of way when an 18 wheeler is not, you might be right and you might be flattened simultaneously.

Doing what is correct, and doing what is right can sometimes not be the same thing. I know it is not the first thing that comes to mind, but it is true.

We read the story of the Good Samaritan, and we see that the Samaritan showed mercy, and we praise him. By the transitive axiom of equality, the other two, who passed by on the other side, were in the wrong. Jesus’ story is about that conflict of what is correct and proper, and true Goodness. Kingdom of God goodness, which often goes against the norms and expectations of society.

The priest and the Levite passed the man. Now by touching a wounded man they would have been ritually unclean and would need to be purified before performing any functions. Now the wounded man was going from Jerusalem down to Jericho. It is about thirty miles of nothing. I have ridden on that road. They paved over the dirt path that had been the connector for thousands of years. This wilderness between the two is still there. It is where the Temptation of Jesus took place. Looking down from the heights of Jerusalem, you can actually see the shimmering Dead Sea, and Jericho is just above where the Jordan River flows into this lowest point on earth. It would have been a road well known to the Galileans who would travel that way to go up to the Temple.

If the priest and Levite were going up to Jerusalem, if they had stopped to assist the wounded man, then they would have been unclean, and would not have been able to perform their duties at the Temple. This would potentially have been a very rare honor that they would have missed. But even if it was not, society’s norms would not have allowed them to touch the man.

And then we have the other extreme. Society’s norms surrounding Samaritans. They had been left behind during the Babylonian Exile, and had interbred with the folks who had come in. They were despised religiously and culturally. And they were seen as “less than” by the powers that be.

Now remember, this is a parable, a story that teaches from Jesus. And it was a lawyer who had asked about “inheriting eternal life.” Jesus tells this story about breaking the “rules,” those cultural norms that bind us from being gracious. And after the telling of this tale, Jesus asks the lawyer this self-apparent question.

Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Even the lawyer, knowing all the “correct” things, must answer that the Samaritan, the unclean and despised class or race of Samaritans, was more loving according to the commandment of loving the neighbor than the two professional religious folks. It is a story of extremes to point out the differences and truth.

This is another example of the Great Reversal, the last being first and the first being last. The Unclean are more Righteous than the Clean. And Jesus tells us to go and do likewise.

Do what is right and good and true, and let go of the Correct and Proper.

These days we are going to be tested, and there are accusations flying over what is right and good and true. We have lost our way, and have forgotten what truth is.

Remember it was Pilate who asked Jesus, “What is Truth?” The Spirit is what is in us to discern the right and good and true.

Jesus summed it up with which one was the neighbor to the wounded man. The lawyer’s response was the one who showed mercy. Jesus affirmed this.

What we do and what we say is so important. Our actions must let the love of God and neighbor come out. Our words speak what is right. Here is a way to look at that. You may have seen the slogan going around, to T.H.I.N.K. before we speak. T- H- I- N- K before we speak. Before we open our mouths, ponder if what is about to come out is all five of these things. Is it True; is it Helpful; is it Inspiring; is it Necessary; is it Kind? True-Helpful-Inspiring-Necessary-Kind. This is a secular way to look at what we are talking about today.

For me, in the language I use and the way my mind thinks, I use these filters. 

• Where is the Good News in this?

• Is this loving?

• How do we get to Grace?

We need more Grace. We need more Love. We definitely need Good News to be good.

In our Amos reading, Amos uses the metaphor of the plumb line. A plumb line is one of the simplest and easiest tools, and masons still use it because you cannot go wrong. Amos holds a plumb line up to Israel to show that things are not straight, and need to be undone.

Somewhere along the way, many in the Church have gotten the idea that we are here to hold up a plumbline to condemn. But only God can judge. “None are righteous, no not one.” [Romans 3:10] And Jesus teaches us to “Judge not lest we be judged.” [Matthew 7:1] We can call people to righteousness, yes. But it is not our job to condemn anyone. We can invite someone to their better selves, but nagging them usually gets the opposite reaction.

Think of it this way. It is simple physics.

A plumbline is a way to show us when we are off kilter, when we are not on the straight and narrow. But how does it work? Is the plumbline magical? Of course not. The weight is attracted to the largest thing around it. It is attracted to the earth because it is massive and cannot be avoided. The moral universe is much the same way. We are held to the straight and narrow by what we are attracted to the most.

If God is the first priority in our lives, then that is what attracts us most and helps us hold the line to the straight and narrow. Even our word Orthodoxy comes from the Greek for straight belief, like our orthodonture comes from the Greek for straight teeth. Our spiritual plumblines are to hold ourselves to God’s way. 

Why on earth would we expect someone who is attracted to other things be held by what attracts us?

Our job is to make this thing we hold most dear, what attracts us most, so attractive to them that they shift the ground under their feet, and they can set up the plumbline for themselves and get on the path to the straight and narrow.

Jesus did it with the lawyer. “Don’t be fixated on the correct. Show mercy, and that way will be the right way.” That is what gets you eternal life, not by keeping all the etiquette that society demands of us.

A much needed lesson, especially in the living of these days. God help us all. God help us keep the straight and narrow. God help us live out Grace and mercy and love. A very narrow path to tread. May we “Go, and do likewise.” Amen 

Recorded version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kom2R1XWSBw