PROPER 10 (15) Fifth Sunday after Pentecost Year C July 10, 2022
We have a saying; “Let’s
draw a line in the sand”. It implies we
are placing a limit between one thing or another… putting things on one side of
the line or the other – placing them into categories according to the standard
set by that line, or saying “this far and no farther. Somewhat like the famous line in the Lord of
the Rings movie where Gandalf cries to the Balrog Demon, “YOU SHALL NOT
PASS”.
Likewise, in our Old
Testament reading, God says, "See, I am setting a plumb line in the
midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by;…”
Not being a builder, I
was not completely sure of how the plumb line worked, but it is a heavy object
with a pointed end at the bottom attached to a string. The string with the object at the bottom
would hang vertically and show the builders a straight vertical line so that
they could build straight and ensure their angles were correct.
The prophet Amos,
declares the word of the Lord, that God is setting a plumb line among His
people. In this first reading it seems
that God has been like a parent with His people, Israel. He has warned and corrected them and been
patient with them, but now he declares a boundary line. “This far and no farther… “, In other words…“You
shall not pass!” Enough is enough! He declares “this is the standard -measure up”!
From https://www.gotquestions.org/plumb-line-Bible.html we read some thoughts on this. “When God said
He was setting a plumb line among His people, He was declaring an end to their
attempts to justify their crooked ways. The Lord was setting the standard. God
does not negotiate His laws. He does not change with the whims of culture God’s
moral law is the plumb line against which we determine right and wrong. Just as
a carpenter’s plumb line is not subject to the opinions or the frustration of
the worker, so God’s moral standards are not subject to the opinions of man.
Wise people are those who line up their lives according to God’s plumb line
rather than trying to move it to satisfy their own agendas.”
Amos lived in the middle
of the 8th Century BC. The
Israelites at that time considered themselves to be the chosen people of God,
but they were enjoying peace and prosperity.
We ourselves live in a very prosperous time. We may complain about certain things, but there
is really nothing we lack. When it comes
to questions about what we might want for birthday presents… even wedding
presents, the answer is “Nothing”…. We have everything we want and desire. In this kind of environment the people of
Amos were increasingly self-centred, and the middle class disappeared with
people either exploiting others or being exploited until there was only the
rich and the poor.
Are we in danger of becoming
a society like the one to which Amos is prophesying? Interestingly, the Israelite kingdom of the
north, became taken over by foreigners and foreigners were settled there in
their place. These foreign people became
known as Samaritans.
In the book of 1 Kings
there is a description of what happened at that time. It says; 2 Kings 17 from verse 24 “Then
the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from
Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of
Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.”….. “And
it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the
Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So
they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, ‘The nations whom you have removed
and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the
land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them
because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land.’ Then the king of
Assyria commanded, saying, ‘Send there one of the priests whom you brought from
there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the
God of the land.’ Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from
Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the
Lord. However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in
the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in
the cities where they dwelt.”
We can now understand why
the Jewish people despised the Samaritans.
They were a people with some knowledge and ritual of Judaism, living in
the land that should have belonged to the Jewish kingdom. These people worshiped God and also practised
their own traditions.
Now that we understand
this, we look to our New Testament reading; The parable of the Good Samaritan. We have all heard it before. It is a story about someone who fell into the
hands of evil people. We don’t know if
this person was in that predicament due to their own folly, or if they were
evil themselves, a hated person by all, due to their actions…. What we do know,
is that the church people passed them by.
This is a model that our Street
Chaplaincy is based on. It is a non-judgmental
ministry of helping where we see the need.
Some have said that we are helping people who should have known better,
and that no one should be foolish enough to get into that situation. In our experience, no one plans to get
themselves into trouble and many have said, “why are you helping me, I’m not
worth it”. It seems that self-loathing
sometimes accompanies this behaviour and inebriation.
We may hate ourselves,
but God loves us deeply.
The bottom line is that none
of us is perfect. We all have made
mistakes, and we all have had experiences of regret at some point. Maybe some will point the finger at others,
trying to place blame there instead of taking responsibility for our actions… re-enacting
the sin of Adam…. “She made me do it.”
Hmmm… The bottom line is still
the same, and God loves us deeply.
Jesus, on his way to the
cross, didn’t stop and ask each of us if we were worthy. He didn’t ever say to the father… “No, I don’t
want to do this because this is a sinful people”. He knew our sinful nature to be a fact. He knows our relentless tendency to go from one
mistake to another…. From one sin to another, even though we don’t actually mean
to, or intend to do so. In fact, we all
want to do what is right. Jesus knew
all this. He loves us deeply.
We can cry out, “Lord I
am not worthy.” He says, “I am the word
and I say you shall be healed”. By his
sacrifice he is our Good Samaritan.
We are the traveller on
the road of life and one way or another we all sin and fall short of the
perfect glory of God. Jesus does not ask
us if we are worth his sacrifice – WE ARE because he loves us. Jesus gladly picks us up and carries us to a
place of healing. Jesus pays the price
for that healing.
Jesus asks us to do
something similar. To love our neighbour,
and in doing so, to sacrificially care for their needs. He lets us know that we are not to ask if the
person is worth our care. We needn’t ask
this question because we know that Jesus loves our neighbour deeply and died to
save them…. Therefore, no matter what they have done, they are worth our care. This is actually not an option in our faith.
The reason that Jesus
told this story of the Good Samaritan was because someone asked him what he
must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responded
by asking him what the law said about inheriting eternal life and he responded;
“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 neighbour as yourself."
Have we failed to keep
this command?
The prophet Amos, was
also concerned about this command. To
care for others is all about social justice.
It is about living justly, loving mercy and walking with God. It is the command of God. It is the command about which God said, “See,
I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again
pass them by;”
The plumb line is
Jesus. We need to be doing what he has
done and measuring ourselves by his standard.
Jesus showed us the true and correct standard of God and the truth be
known, none of us can really measure up.
Jesus rescues us. We strive to be like Jesus, but we do fail
and we fail often. This doesn’t mean we
give up trying, but now that we have been rescued by the God of the universe,
who counts us so worthy that he died to save us, we respond in mercy and love
to others. We who have the care and
healing of God, are called to bring the heart of God to those who have also
fallen by the roadside – literally and figuratively.
God has rescued us from
the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
We are rescued. We are loved.
Let us spread this Good News!
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