Sermon: Who is NOT my Neighbor

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Who is NOT my Neighbor?

By Rev David Snyder
World Vision – HOPE Initiative

November 13, 2005

ve you ever noticed how, sometimes, the questions people ask aren't the questions folks are really asking… Jesus told what many have described as the “greatest story ever told” in response to a lawyers' question, “Who is my neighbor”. But that wasn't the question he was really asking…the question he was really asking is, “Who is NOT my neighbor” ?? What is the boundary…where do I draw the line between a neighbor (who the Law requires me to love and respect) and a non-neighbor, whose suffering, pain and brokenness I can ignore and still consider my self to be a good, Godly and righteous person. That is the question the lawyer is really asking, isn't it? Not “who is my neighbor” but “Who is NOT my neighbor”…there must be a line…I can't be expected to treat everybody like a neighbor…where can I draw the line…certainly not terrorists, or Islamic fundamentalists or child abusers or drug addicts? Who is NOT my neighbor…what are the limits of my obligations to love and respect people I don't particularly like.

And it is response to this deeper and more urgent question that Jesus tells a story…a magnificent story about a man traveling the road from Jerusalem to Jericho who is the victim of a violent assault.

If you listened carefully to the story, you noticed that there are three kinds of people in Jesus' parable, just as there are three kinds of people in the church…First, there are people who beat people up (the thieves and robbers)…then there are people who pass people up (the Priest and the Levite) and then there are people who help people up (the Good Samaritan). And the people who beat people up usually say, “what's yours is mine and I'll take it”…and the people who pass people up usually say, “what's mine is mine and I'll keep it” and people who help people up…the Good Samaritan's in our midst…they usually say, “what's mine is yours and I'll share it”.

The question which begs to be answered when thinking about the Priest and the Levite (the religious professionals) in the story is, of course, “why did these godly, religious leaders pass by on the other side” rather than stopping to render assistance to a fellow human being lying wounded on the side of the road? What do you think?

My friends, the Priest and the Levite did not “pass by on the other side” because they were cold, heartless people who didn't care about their fellow human beings…they “passed by” because they were afraid that the man lying in the ditch might, actually be dead, and if they stopped to render assistance and, as a result, came into physical contact with a dead person they would be rendered UNCLEAN, and therefore disqualified from service at the altar in the Temple in Jerusalem.

If we are to really understand this parable, we need to appreciate just how subversive…how radical a story it really was (and is). You see, Jesus told the parable to seriously challenge the conventional religious wisdom of the day which said that Godliness and righteousness meant keeping oneself pure and uncontaminated from a dirty and unclean world full of dirty and unclean people…and nobody was considered more dirty and unclean than a dead person!

My friends, it was fear, not hardness of heart, which prevented the priest and the Levite from stopping to render assistance to the wounded traveler…it was fear that caused these good, Godly people to “pass by on the other side”. And it is fear that prevents us from responding with compassion to our neighbor in need…not fear of contamination, but fear of getting involved. We are afraid that if we stop and see the suffering we will be compelled to get involved, so we too “pass by on the other side”…we choose to live naively…oblivious to the suffering of our neighbors which is all around us…we close our eyes and our ears and our hearts, not because we are cold-hearted and we don't care, but because we are afraid that if we really see, then we will be compelled to do whatever we can to reduce the suffering of our fellow human beings.

Did you know that we are living in the midst of the greatest humanitarian crisis the world has ever known? Did you know that, since the epidemic began more than 30 million have died…and before this day is over another 8k will be added to the death toll…that is almost ¼ of a million each month…a tsunami every month. Did you know that by the time I have finished preaching this morning 65 children…children created in the very image and likeness of God…children who are precious in God's sight will loose one or both parents to AIDS…every 14 seconds a child becomes an orphan because of AIDS.

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Who is not my neighbor? What are the limits of my obligation to love…what does it really mean to be a Godly person? That is what the lawyer was really asking…and that is precisely what Jesus' parable helps us to understand. Jesus says that authentic Godliness is not about keeping all the religious rules and regulations…it is not about maintaining personal purity…it is not even about going to church every time the doors are opened. Authentic Godliness…the kind of Godliness that will count in the end, is about living a life of spontaneous compassion…especially for your neighbor who is suffering.

And the Good News in the parable? We don't have to be afraid to get involved…we don't have to be immobilized by the enormity of the challenge…We who are here this morning have an opportunity to be a part of the solution to the greatest humanitarian crisis in human history…we who belong to Christ by faith have an opportunity to stop the cycle of suffering…we have not only the sacred obligation as Christians but the joyous opportunity to be the hands and feet and arms of Jesus…reaching out to touch and bless and heal and bring hope into the lives of the victims of HIV/AIDS….tobe a part of a growing epidemic of compassion that is bringing hope and help to millions of the victims of this hideous disease.

After church this morning I will tell you a simple way that every member of this church can become an instrument of God's relentless love and a source of light for a child whose life and future has been darkened by AIDS through the compassionate ministry of World Vision. Noelle Regner (one of my World Vision colleagues) and I will be in the narthex during the coffee hour to tell you how, for about a dollar a day, you can sponsor a child whose life and future has been jeopardized by AIDS. We will tell you how, for less than a cup of Starbucks coffee you can bring hope and help to a child…how you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you did not pass by on the other side, but got involved and changed the life and the future of a child. And my friends, if you change the life of a child you change the world…you make it more compassionate and kind, not only for the child you sponsor but for all of us.

“and who was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of thieves”, Jesus asked. The Lawyer responded correctly, “The one who showed mercy…the one who wasn't afraid to get involved…the one who showed compassion”. GO AND DO LIKEWISE…Jesus said!

My friends…if you remember nothing of what I have said this morning, please remember this. We are never more Christ-like…never more in harmony with the heart and mind and spirit of Jesus than when we are choked with compassion for the brokenness of our neighbor…especially when that neighbor is a child!! God bless you…

Amen