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.
