Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Luke 10:30-37; Ephesians 2:17-22

Preached by Rev. Robert Matlack
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Sometimes in life we stop and look back, at the things that have happened, the things that we've learned, have accomplished and have done. We might take great pride in some of those things - in our children, our family, our accomplishments. There might be other things that are disappointing or scary or that we desperately hope will change.

There is something to be said for reflecting on, learning from, and of course celebrating the past - where you have come, what you have accomplished, and of course all that it means. While we spend time doing all of those things, we also need to look ahead to the future. Ultimately much of the meaning of what you have done will be found in how it prepares you to deal with the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. You see there is much that is mysterious about this gift called life, much that we don't understand, but one thing that seems clear is that it is a Journey of Faith. It's a journey where we don't know what lies ahead. We can only guess, and often whether we achieve the things that we want or not is not the most important issue in the eyes of God and the context of eternity. For I suspect that far more often the most important issue is how we face what life holds for us.

Near Hodgenville, Kentucky there's a plaque that marks Abraham Lincolns' birthplace. On that plaque is recorded this scrap of conversation from the past: "Any news down t' the village, Ezry?" " Well, Squire McLain's gone t' Washington t'see Madison swore in, and ol' Spellman tells me this Bonaparte fella has captured most o'Spain. What's new out here, neighbor?" "Nuthin', nuthin' a'tall ‘cept fer a new baby born t'Tom Lincoln's. Nothin' ever happens out here."

Some things don't seem real important at the time, like the birth of a baby to the Lincoln family, but they can have lasting impact later. We don't always know or understand the full importance of actions, of the choices that we make, of the way that we live, but it is important.

Jesus tells a wonderful parable in response to a question by a teacher of the Law. It is, of course, the parable of the Good Samaritan. You've heard it before, in fact I used it in a sermon on Mother's Day. Now in this parable a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho is robbed, stripped, beaten, and left half-dead along the side of the road. This was not an unco9mmon occurrence back then. Traveling was a dangerous business. People normally traveled in large well armed parties, because of what might happened.

So this traveler is lying there half-dead and along comes a priest, a man of God, who sees him and carefully walks by on the other side of the road. We're not told why he avoided this man - but it probably was to avoid becoming ritually unclean, which would keep him from some of his priestly duties. But once again he's missing the point which is that our biggest responsibilities are to love God and to love one another. None of those other responsibilities were more important than the need to care for this man, but he walked on by.

Next comes a Levite. Now the Levites were a tribe of Israel selected to be priests. Not all priests were Levites, but in general they were thought of more highly if they were. Not all Levites were priests, but many were. They were considered to be a tribe of priests, a people of God, and the Levite goes over to look at the man who is lying there, and then he too walks by on the other side.

Finally, along comes a Samaritan. The Samaritans claimed to be descendants of two of the northern tribes of Israel, while the Israelites claimed that the Samaritans were not their descendants but rather descendants of colonists brought into the region by the Assyrians in a period when they had conquered much of the land. Whatever the truth might be, there was bad blood between the two. Israelites looked down on Samaritans as inferior. They were not seen as people of God, but as some other race whose faith was inadequate and whose practice of faith was incomplete. A Samaritan was the last person an Israelite would expect something good to come from.

Nevertheless, it is the Samaritan who was traveling along and stops to help the man. He stops and binds up the man's wounds and then takes him to an inn where they will care for him. But he doesn't stop there. With his own money he pays for the man's care and says that he will come back that way and will pay whatever else his care might cost. The Samaritan not only takes care of the man, but goes over and above any reasonable expectation of caring for your neighbor.

The priest and the Levite were thought of as respected, people of God, but by their actions they failed to live out their faith. They ignored their neighbor in his time of need. On the other hand the Samaritan who was thought to have an inadequate faith, was the one who really loved his neighbor.

You never know what challenges life will throw your way, perhaps the only thing we really know is that there will be some, and they don't often come at convenient or expected times. None of the people in the parable - the priest, the Levite or the Samaritan - none of them expected the events that happened as they traveled on that road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Yet even though they didn't expect it, they were faced with this special challenge, a challenge to love their neighbor, an opportunity to live out their faith, and only one of them did that well.

We're sort of like that too. We don't really know what this afternoon holds in store for us, much less tomorrow or the next day. Yet it will hold both challenges and opportunities for us to live faithfully, or for us to carefully go around pretending that we didn't see the hurt and the pain of our neighbor.

We don't know the implications and the meaning of all the meaning of all the little incidents that we will encounter, but God does. God knows their importance and the way that they will help to shape as, as well as to set an example for others.

In the book of Ephesians the Apostle Paul shares some of his understandings about Jesus, some of his faith. He reminds us that through Jesus Christ we're all able to come into the presence of God. Those artificial distinctions that we have made in the past - distinctions like the Israelites are people of faith and the Samaritans are inferior - those distinctions are made irrelevant, for in Jesus Christ we're all able to come into the presence of God. In Jesus Christ we're all offered the opportunity to I've faithfully and fully.

Paul reminds us that we are a part of the family of God. We are built on the foundation of those apostles and prophets, those people of faith who have gone before us. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone who builds us, who builds our community into a sacred temple dedicated to God. As Paul writes, "In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit.

So often the temptation is to let artificial distinctions and differences divide us. You look different! You think different! You act different! You come from somewhere different! Paul reminds us that in Jesus Christ those differences, those artificial distinctions that we make are irrelevant, for in faith we are all joined together into a place where God dwells. God is present here not only in our midst, but in each and every one of us.

Our task is to live in faith, to live as people in who God dwells - and not to pretend that we're better than someone else by judging them, but rather for all of us to work on those areas where we need to grow and be more loving as we seek to live in the presence of God.

Amen.