Monday, July 7, 2025

Live your truth- like the tower of Pisa ? Proper 10C 13th July 2025

 2025  07  13  Proper 10 Year C   

Amos 7:7-17    Psalm 82      Colossians 1:1-14     Luke-10:25-37

 

A question was posed to us at Alpha, “If you could ask God something, what would it be?”  A few of us thought we’d ask, “Are we on the right path?”  It is kind of the idea of wanting to know what is true so that we can line our life up with it.  Kind of like lining our life up to the plumb line.  The plumb line is a string with a weight on the end.  This line is held so that the weight can fall freely, and then an exact vertical measurement can be defined.  In our reading from Amos, we are told that God is setting a plumbline in the midst of his people.  That plumbline is the truth of God’s right and holy standard.  That plumbline, being placed in the midst of the people, reveals both what is good, correct, straight and true and therefore, revealing also what is crooked.  How do you think our current society would measure against God’s plumbline.  Mind you, the idea of the plumb line is to see how we measure against it.   Are we growing in the wisdom and knowledge of God, bearing fruit like the Colossians? Or ….  ?

 

Whatever was happening in ancient Israel, was important enough for God to declare that he was taking action and measuring.  Now, God didn’t HAVE to measure.  He knew where the society was going askew, but he declared that he was measuring so that the people had the opportunity to self-correct.  The job of the prophet was to warn the people and try to correct them.  That declaration sort to teach the people that God had a standard…. A standard of truth.   What is truth?

 

What is true?  “You do you, and I’ll do me”….   “You live your truth”.  “Be true to yourself”.   These are catch phrases of today’s society.  Looking up quotes about truth on the internet, there are SO many about “YOUR truth”… not about THE truth.  For so long, truth has been subjective.  Here is one I found, “Whatever human Endeavour we choose, as long as we live our truth, it is success.”  These sound great and positive but imagine that your human endeavour is to dominate others….  As long as we live our truth, it is success…  hmmm…   All these indicate that there is no real plumbline, but that individual truth is subjective.  What do you think?  Where will this take society?  Leaning like the leaning tower of Pisa!  You and I know that there is a plumbline.  God has a standard.  Whether people know what that standard or truth is, or not, doesn’t change the fact that there is an ultimate truth and a spiritual plumbline.   

 

A plumbline is about testing.  It is about checking to see what measures up and what does not.  It is fundamental to our faith that we understand that God is good and perfect.  God has a standard.  God is real.  God is true and God is the standard.  We also constantly measure what is good and true by using God’s plumb line…. We test things – and we are meant to test things and be discerning. 

 

In our Gospel reading an expert in the law “tested” Jesus.  This was not a pharisee trying to trap Jesus.  This was a good man who was doing what we all should do, he was being discerning and checking the words and actions of Jesus against what he knew to be the plumb line of God’s revelation through God’s Law.

 

The expert asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life.  Jesus does what was typical of the Rabbi’s and answers the question with a question.  This was expected.  The expert then answers with something that is very familiar to us, by summing up the law into the two commandments; "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."  This, while familiar to us, was not so common to Jesus’ audience and something that showed Jesus that this man was an expert and not a novice.   Jesus says, “… "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."  When Jesus uttered, “Do this and you will live”, he was also quoting scripture.  He was referencing when Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy grain; Genesis 42:17- 19 tells us “So he put them all together in prison for three days. Now Yoseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine which is upon your households,”  Do you notice the 3 days… and on the third day?  This is a shadow of the way to be restored to life, foreshadowing the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. 

 

Jesus was also referring to the giving and reciting of the Law in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Leviticus, which also end with similar encouragement to keep the law because by them you will live.  (Jewish commentary ( https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary/the-samaritan-luke-1025-37 )  )

 

The words; “Do this and you will live”, also informed the “expert” pharisee that there must be a corresponding action to match the intellectual understanding.   In Jewish understanding there was no such thing as believing without it being shown by action.  

 

What follows next is the expert trying to stay in the game with the question, “and who is my neighbour?”.  The Expert already knew the answer.  The Hebrew word, “rea” is the word for neighbour and implied friend, fellow Israelite, countryman, or a person living in close proximity.  It did not refer to an adversary or enemy and it is important to note that Jesus did not imply that the Samaritan was an enemy.  The Samaritan was the Israelite half-brother.  He was already considered a Rea… a neighbour, but he was often looked down on because he didn’t do things in the way that was thought to be strictly correct. 

 

The story goes on to tell us that a man is travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho.  It is worth noting that at the time of Jesus, Jericho was one of the cities designated as a place for priests and Levites who were rostered for duty in the Temple.  It is believed that About 12,000 priests and Levites lived there, and they were a familiar sight on the road. (https://www.seetheholyland.net/jericho/) .

We aren’t told if the man was a priest or a Levite, but we can safely assume that he is someone who legitimately belongs in the Israelite and Jewish society and Jesus is wanting his audience to identify with him.  (This now includes us).

 

This man fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead.  We are told that a priest came by and a Levite, and both passed by him on the other side.   We could sympathize and say, “Yes, but touching the man would have made them ceremonially unclean, as it was against God’s law to touch the man.”  The problem with this is that the men were also traveling “down” that road… on the way to Jericho.  This means that they had already completed their priestly duties in Jerusalem and were on their way home. 

 

A Samaritan found the man, bandaged his wounds and treated them with oil and wine - the equivalent of first aid.  The Samaritan didn’t stop there, but took the man to an inn, and took care of him, paid the innkeeper to look after him and promised to repay any other expenses. 

In the end Jesus said to the expert, "Go and do likewise." – In other words; “Do this and you will live.”

 

Let me emphasise that the Samaritan was not an enemy, but he was a bit of an outsider.  The Samaritan is our neighbour who lives near us in peace.  It is our family, friends and acquaintances.   We are the man beaten and left for dead, helpless to help ourselves.  Jesus is the one, somewhat outcast…  He was rejected by his own people and crucified, but He is our “Good Samaritan” who has rescued and cared for us, and he continues to heal us and help us grow.  And now we are called to “Go and do likewise”. 

 

In the Jewish understanding there is no belief without action.  If we are the people of God, our actions MUST show it.  We can not say we love God and our neighbour and not show it by our actions.  We are told that God has a plumb line.  There is an absolute truth, and we find it in God and His law.  But how do we keep that law?  By action.  Putting our money where our mouth is, so to speak.  It isn’t always easy, because it means stopping our own journey momentarily to help another. 

 

Research has informed me that the Oral Torah (Mishnah), places the sanctity of life above all but the instruction to love and worship God alone.  Jesus, in his story, is emphasising that the law of God is not complete unless there is action and the action to value life and protect it supersedes any other law besides loving God.  This is why we hear so much about caring for the poor and the vulnerable.   The priest and Levite, talked the talk, but didn’t walk the walk.  This is our challenge for today.  There is a plumb line…  there is a truth; Life is precious and we too are to “Go and do likewise”… this is the way to life. 

 

And to finish, here is a parable of the parable….

A man was traveling through the tough, mountainous and extreme journey of life.

 

At the beginning of his journey he happened upon some “bullies”.  They pushed him around and told him he was weak, worthless and weird.  The man was injured but he found that if he wrapped his cloak around him and kept his eyes forward he could push on through the icy atmosphere that chilled his bones and made his joints ache.

 

A little later the man found an open field in a valley where he thought that he could heal and thaw out, but not long in that valley he was met by disappointment and more rejection for the people of that valley were suspicious of the traveler and they sort to ensure he didn’t take up residence there.

Where ever the man went the people at first would treat him kindly, but they never offered him a place to sleep and when he tried to find a place of rest they very politely explained that there was really no room in the Inn, no land for sale and simply no place for him.

 

The man shrugged the rejection off his shoulders and continued on his journey.  Or at least he though that he shrugged the rejection off, but in reality the rejection stayed and added a considerable weight to his baggage.  Not only that, but the abuse in the cold lands had actually caused fractures in his bones.  Though they had an appearance of healing the fractures left areas of weakness and seasonal pain and without being fully aware of it the man moaned and complained.

 

Finally the man came to a mountain.  It was hard and rugged but the man believed his travels had made him fit to climb in hard conditions.  His experiences had formed him to face the hardship with courage.

He was making his way up the mountain when the earth seemed to shake.  Just a tremor, however he became acutely aware of his earlier injuries.  He waited for the earth to steady and continued his journey.

 

The man stopped at a picturesque spot where there were others on a journey just like him.  His heart was warmed by the company and like-minded adventurers and they journeyed together.

It wasn’t long before the fellow travelers became annoyed by the man’s complaining and they longed to be rid of him.  The fellow travelers noticed the man was limping so they explained to him that he shouldn’t be there. 

 

The man knew that he had to climb the mountain, as it was the path of his journey and he actually felt strong and was making good time.  He continued on his journey.

The group of fellow travelers conspired to take the man out of the picture.  They felt justified because they truly believed that a mountain was no place for a man with a limp, plus he had begun to complain about aching joints and was slowing their own progress.

Each and every day the travelers pointed out faults about the man and these became like rocks in the baggage the man was carrying. It finally became too heavy to go on.  He lay down on the rocky path and waited for death.

 

As it happened another traveler was passing by and saw the man.  This person had been working at self-care and could see that this man would simply bring him down, so he quickly walked by.

Another person walked by, noticed the man but thought that helping the man would mean helping to carry his baggage, plus it was assumed it was the man’s own fault he was there in that predicament.  This person also walked by.

 

Then came a very frail and old woman. 

The woman sat with the man and listened to the story of his journey. 

She realized that he was seriously hurt and did not tell him how he “should” do things differently but offered to help him to where he could get more support. 

 

At the onset she assured him that she would not leave him alone.  She encouraged the man and together they journeyed to the place where the man was able to rest and truly heal. 

She paid the price willingly as she conveyed the value and worth of the traveler.  Why did she do it?  Some things are a mystery, but the traveler was certainly glad she did.