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 two things; that the law of God is not complete unless there is
action, and the action to value human life and protect it, supersedes any other
law besides loving God. Understanding
this view of the sacredness of human life throws new light on what it means to
keep the law of God, and perhaps, in this light, we should review some of our beliefs
and actions. If we are going to stand up
and advocate for anything in this life, it must be firstly and foremostly to
guard and protect human life.
This is our challenge for today. There is a plumb line -a way that is right - a
truth; Life is precious. In the Good Samaritan story, Jesus was clarifying that
the sanctity of LIFE is above all, but the love of God. This is what it means
to love your neighbour; to remember that the greatest gift God has given us is
life and we must protect it, heal and even pay the price to guard that precious
God given gift. Not to draw too much
attention to issues that have been challenged by legislation such as euthanasia
and abortion… but then again – maybe that
is what this is all about. We need to
know the word of God and what God really requires of us. We recite those two great commandments every
week, but do we understand what it means?
Now, we do! To love your neighbour is to work to safe-guard our
neighbours life. Our lives are precious gifts from God. Treasure that gift - and
we too, like the Samaritan, are to “Go and do likewise”,
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