Who is My Neighbor?

July 15, 2007 The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost Sermon: Who is My Neighbor? Text: Luke 10: 25-37 It is wonderful to have a faith community to call home, isn't it? It is unique joy to know our neighbors and call them by name. But what about those neighbors we are told to love deeply without knowing their names? How do we actively care for them and their needs if we don't know them? Jesus, in this teaching, will challenge us to want to know those who are not known to us but precious to God, perhaps those unknown neighbors. Jesus may even ask us to broaden our definition of what it means to be a neighbor. We begin our study together by asking about our definition of "neighbor?" Part of my fun reading on my travels recently was the book Memoirs of a Geisha. The popular novel was made into a movie so the story has become well-known. I choose to talk about it because the story relates a definition of "neighbor" in an odd but compelling way. The story is of the young Japanese girl, around nine years old, who is sold by her father into the trade of a "geisha." Chiyo's story is one of extreme poverty, a story of desperation; her mother was dying and her father did not know how he would support and care for his two young daughters. He sold them, probably, believing that they would have a better life in another place. One daughter is sent to a brothel in Kyoto and the other, Chiyo, the younger girl, is sent to a house where young girls train to be geishas. Not all make it to the life of a geisha and most, indeed, live their lives as housemaids or prostitutes. Once during a trying time in Chiyo's young life (while being groomed to be a geisha), she feels she cannot go on; she realizes after a time that she will never see her sister, her father, her mother again and she wants to run away. She knows there is no place to run to but she is ready to risk all to leave the cruelty of the geisha house where she lives. She is like the man on the side of the road, robbed, beaten and left for dead. The turning point for Chiyo is a kind-hearted man who sees her crying in a street near where she lives and has compassion for her. He gives her some money to buy a special food to cheer her up and a handkerchief to dry her eyes. In the story, she'll meet this kind man again and she'll cherish the handkerchief he gives her for her whole life. The compelling part of the story is the moment the man reaches out to care for her and encourages her to live, not to die. It was the action she remembered, the one kindness that took her through difficult days. The man resembles the Samaritan we meet in the Gospel lesson. The Gospel of Luke contains one of Jesus' greatest parables, one that is dear and familiar to us, because it is a parable about breaking social, religious, cultural barriers so that compassion has the last word. Compassion must have been in short supply in those days. For Jesus, the teaching "be compassionate as God is compassionate" was central to his life and message. We know this and take it for granted, but the story he told was remembered for its radical message. It is the story of two people who passed by on the other side of an injured man and did not act, and one man who acted on behalf of the injured person. The people you expected to "act," to help the injured and dying man, were the ones who passed to the other side of the road. The person who acted with compassion gave the shocking ending. "A Samaritan could be good?" was the response of those who heard his story. But, clearly, the story is not focused on "why" the Good Samaritan stopped to help the man in the ditch but rather that he did stop. He actively reached out and risked for the one in need. He did something. The young Chiyo was changed because of the small gesture of this man who went out of his way to care for her in her suffering. I connected the parable and this story from the book, Memoirs of a Geisha, to my years living in Southeast Asia when efforts of Christian and Buddhists were rallied to save young girls from the life of the brothel or the sweatshops. It was amazing what a little intervention could accomplish. Jesus doesn't simply say, "Love your neighbor." Jesus says to go and do. The important thing is not the reason. The important thing is the doing. It is not a question of motivation; it's one of action. In the Greek, an emphatic personal pronoun is used, "You do likewise!" "I'd rather see a sermon than hear one." Ever heard someone say this? I hear it repeatedly as people tell me why they are not active in church. Too many words and too few actions, is usually the comment. The great German thinker Goethe, said, "I am tired of that mode of reflection that does not issue forth in action." Today we commit ourselves to ponder our response to the ending of parable. Jesus ends the teaching with "Go and do likewise." How do we measure up? Yes, we all agree, with the lawyer's answer as to how we are to inherit eternal life. We are to love God with the totality of our being. But, how are we to define the neighbor we are told to love as we love ourselves? Love for one's neighbor can be limited by the definition of neighbor, and so, we ask "Who is My Neighbor?" I am grateful for worship because in worship we become transformed, therefore invited to stretch our definitions and perspectives on the world and our definition of "neighbor." In worship, we receive better reasons for being here than when we came. We see that our motivation, our stated reason, our rationale is not the point. The point is God. And God wants us to live the ethical life, acting upon what we know is right. Speaking up for the truth and having the courage to act upon our beliefs. As we are committed to be the church of Jesus Christ, I hope that we'll summon the energy and courage to take seriously this call of Christ to action. We have many who have gone before us who will tell us to stop and take action, even if we do not understand "why." Jesus asks, "Who is your neighbor?" and expects us to know when we have that opportunity to respond. My Baptist heritage has given me much to ponder about what it means to take action and to be the neighbor. I go back to these stories of the past to find encouragement for help and inspiration. One of those stories is the story told of Dr. Clarence Jordan. Many years have passed since a group of people led by a man named Clarence Jordan, a New Testament Greek Scholar from my alma mater, Southern Seminary in Lousiville, Kentucky, felt God's compassion leading them to work for some kind of change in the system of land ownership in Georgia. Clarence was a farmer with a passion; it was a compassion that led him to advocate for people in the South, people of color, to own land and build their own houses. Kononia Farm, in Americus, Georgia, started because Clarence and a group centered in God's call, were compelled to let their compassion be their guide. They believed in action but it was not easy. The story goes that Clarence had much opposition when he established an interracial community in segregated Georgia in the mid-1950s. The opposition was led by his own people, the Southern Baptist congregation that excommunicated the whole Kononia Community. The charges leveled against them read: "Said members...have persisted in holding services where both white and colored attend together." Clarence turned to his brother attorney Robert Jordan, for legal counsel and asked him to become legal representative of the Koinonia Community. Robert, who also served as a Georgia state senator and a justice of the Georgia State Supreme Court, declined. This was their conversation: "Clarence, I can't do that. You know my political aspirations. Why if I represented you, I might lose my job, my house, everything I've got." Clarence responded: "We might lose everything, Bob," "It's different for you." "Why is it different?" Clarence asked. "Why is it different?" Clarence remembered that he and his brother were baptized and joined the church the same Sunday. Clarence persisted to tell his brother that he was not a disciple of Jesus; he said he was an "admirer" not a disciple." (David Augsburger, Dissident Discipleship: A Spirituality of Self-Surrender, Love of God, and Love of Neighbor, Brazos Press, 2005) The message of compassion was not to be limited, according to Clarence, by any fear, threats or doubts. Those early settlers were a group on the move and believed that faith was about doing. Today stands the Koinonia Farm and from this group came our well known Habitat for Humanity. It is the compassion of Christ that compels us to join with others to be a compassionate people. Jesus repeatedly emphasized the compassion of God. First century Judaism spoke primarily of the holiness of God but Jesus redirected their thinking to focus upon the compassion of God. You hear it all through the scripture. "Jesus went about, saw the crowds, and had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."(9:35-38) Friends, I hope that in our life together as the Immanuel United Church of Christ will be marked by action. I pray we will be a group on the move marked by the compassion Jesus. I pray we will acknowledge our bond with the whole creation and remember our neighbors, in the biblical sense, are those persons who live in God's creation with us in the solidarity of our life together on this earth. (Joseph Sittler, Gravity and Grace: Reflections and Provocations.) "Who was a neighbor to the man in need?" The neighbor was the one who acted, who reached out to the man in the ditch, healed his wounds, risked all, and gave a great deal of money for the wounded man's healing. "Can we be that neighbor?" God will give us the energy, courage and grace to act if our spirits are willing. We'd rather see a sermon that hear one...we pray God's transforming power will give us the chance to be a disciple not only the admirer. Amen.