Who is Your Samaritan?

Happy Labour Day (notice the Canadian Spelling of Labour with a u) to everyone in Canada and the United States.  This is one of the many holidays that we celebrate in common.  There is much in common between our two countries even though the differences seem to have become more of a breech in recent years with the great contrast between our two ‘Great Leaders’.  However, even Trudeau the Younger seems to be revealing that he also has feet of a clay-like substance.  Where are the Happy Days that we were promised?

That being said or ranted (albeit only a little rant which I didn’t set out to write) I must admit that this Labour Day Weekend was unusual for me.  I had to beg-off or bow-out of the two worship services I was scheduled to preside at yesterday because or flu-like symptoms that stuck around.  Lorna and I have for the first time in our joint memories, been sick at the same time with the same symptoms.  I noted this morning that our coughs were like a call and response.  However, we are both on the mend and we sound sicker than we feel this morning.  In respect to the worship services, fortunately was reminded that I am not indispensable and one of the lay readers stepped up and short notice and replaced me.  I do want to note that this was the first time since I was ordained that I was not was my not able to fulfill my scheduled Sunday worship duties. 

Bottom line is that I have a sermon that was undelivered and there is the eternal question if a sermon is unpreached, did anybody hear it?  In response, here is it for the most part as I would have delivered it so it won’t fade too quickly into the place where most sermons go to their eternal rest.

The Gospel reading in our prayer book is the well-known account of the ten lepers who are healed by Jesus and only one returns to give his thanks after he sends them to the priest to be declared clean.  The catch line in the story is, “and he was a Samaritan”.

  

I’m not sure if that should be read as a question or an exclamation.  When we hear of this account it is natural to think of the parable of the Good Samaritan which has resonated down through the millennia since Jesus told it.  Again, it has the same message; it was the Samaritan who did the right thing – who was the neighbour to the traveler.  The priest and the Levite stayed on the other side and looked the other way.  Have you ever done that when someone has approached you on a street for a hand out.  How easy it is to look the other way and ignore the request.

However, why did Jesus use the Samaritan in the parable, and why was it surprizing that it was a Samaritan who returned to give thanks to Jesus for his miraculous healing?

The bottom line was that Samaritans and Jews did not generally get along with each other.  That is something of an understatement.  Well, actually you could say that the Samaritans were closely related to the Jews.  They considered themselves to be descendants of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who were the sons of Joseph. 

These tribes were considered half tribes making up the twelve tribes of the Israelites.  So, in effect it was what could be considered a family feud.

What then was the basis for this feud?  Well, it probably won’t surprize you that it was religious.  The Samaritans’ bible was the Samaritan Pentateuch based on the torah, the first five books of the Hebrew bible.  You only have to look at Christian Church history to know how many wars and battles and schisms have been fought over what tis the true bible and in what language it should be written.  It still comes as a surprize to some people that Jesus did not speak the Queen’s English or Latin or even Greek.  But I digress somewhat.

If that was not enough, there was more to this feud than just the Holy Book or Books.  There was also a dispute over which place of worship was the true place.  This is mentioned in the account in John’s Gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well who encounters Jesus.  She tells Jesus that the mountain is the centre of their worship.  Of course, the centre of the worship for Jews was the Temple in Jerusalem.  She poses the question to Jesus when she realizes that he is the Messiah. Jesus affirms the Jewish position, saying "You (that is, the Samaritans) worship what you do not know" which seem to settle the question for Jesus’ view of the true religion.

There was also the question of the Samaritans worshipping idols in addition to an impure form of temple worship.  Of course, the problem of idol worship and false Gods such as Baal, was an ongoing one with the Jews which the prophets railed against and prophesied doom if the chosen people did not repent and return to the one true God.   

  

There were other differences in beliefs and practices but bottom line is that they both worshipped YHWH and had the same foundation to their religious beliefs.

It reminds me of a great sketch I heard once - I think it was one of Garrison Keillor.  In the story, as I remember it, two men meet and begin to talk.  They discover they are both Lutherans.  They go through the various branches and divisions of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and so on and find they that they are both members of each division.  Finally, they come down to a rather obscure branch and find they find themselves on different sides of the branch.  The one responds to the other, “die apostate”!  It is amazing how we can find things that divide us rather than things that unite us. 

Who would the Samaritans be in your life?  Who would Jesus have to substitute for the Samaritan to make his point in telling you the Parable of the Good Samaritan or the one leper who returns.  Who would he have to identify to shame you into realizing you are finding division rather than unity with your brother and sisters?  Would it be a Palestinian if you were a Jew?  Would it be an American if you were a Canadian who felt superior to those Americans who are so divided in their politics and seemingly everything else?  Would it be those refugees that land on one of our borders?  Would it be you next door neighbour who isn’t a good neighbour? Would it be a member of your congregation who acts in ways you do not approve of?  Would it be a member of your family who you find embarrassing?  Would it be a member of your family who comes out as gay or lesbian?

And he was a Samaritan. 

Jesus commands us to love one another as he loves us.  He commands us to love one another and yes even to love our enemies.

Who is your Samaritan?