Jwquaker's Blog
Sermon
One Thing
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
July 17, 2022
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Luke 10:38–42 (ESV)
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
When I read scripture, I am challenged. If you have known me for a while, you might know that I am opinionated. I try extremely hard to avoid political conversations because I will make everyone upset. I make people upset because I tend to pull out areas that people have not thought about and I ask questions concerning those areas. This is part of my personality. I try to encourage people to think a bit deeper than talking points when making their decisions. And because of this you all probably think that I agree with you, until you ask me a question. After that, you will regard me as the very problem with the world.
I am not proud of this aspect of my personality. At times it is good, but there are other times where I just wish I would shut up and let things be. I have had close friends ask me questions, I have tried to avoid the question and even warned them that they would not want me to answer the question, because I am not an either-or type of person. To me the world is rarely black and white, I rarely find a yes or no answer, but tend to look at things through situational awareness. I look for the exceptions, and if we have not spoken to those exceptions satisfactory, I will drag my feet. I do this because the exceptions are usually the ones that affected the most. I have lost friends because of this aspect of my personality, and it saddens me, but it is who I am.
It is generally better for people to get an education, go to college and get a job. But there are exceptions to this. Bill Gates, love him or hate him, did not finish college and he became one of the wealthiest men in the world. Generally, it is better for pastors to go to bibles college and get a degree, it is even better if they go on and receive graduate degrees and even complete doctoral studies. But there is an exception to this, George Fox the person most regard as the founder of the Society of Friends from which our Church finds its roots, did not go receive a traditional education and his contemporaries often regarded him as illiterate. And yet he spoke passionately, authoritatively, and often the things that he promoted and were regarded as heretical when Friends first began have since been affirmed in many ways through scholarship. Generally, we can make many statements and many of those statements would be right most of the time. But what about the exception, will we deny God’s ability to do great things because of generality? That flies in the face of the miraculous.
If you have come here for political advice, I am not your source. But I will encourage you to look deeper. God has given me the gift of being annoying. We cannot dictate what gifts we are given, and at times we may not be able to tell if what we are given is a gift or not. That is not the point. God has made us who we are so that we can bring glory to him through our unique perspective and encourage others to do the same.
Last week we spoke about the parable of the Good Samaritan. I mentioned that Jesus purposefully gave this parable to shock the people listening to him. He told this story to especially cause the established religious leaders to look deeper into what they are teaching, to draw them into the deeper conversation within the word of God. What was that deeper conversation?
We do not and cannot control God. We in all our pious zeal can be blind to the truth. And God can do extraordinary things with the unexpected, so we should generally be open to the exceptions. Many may not realize but this interaction with Mary and Martha is a continuation to the story we looked at last week. Last week we saw that even the enemy of Israel, could be a neighbor to someone in need, and that in the eyes of Jesus this was good. It is good because love, the love that God has for his creation, does not recognize boarders, political systems, races, or anything else that we use to divide and label those around us. To God there is only humanity.
“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.” I want us to stop and consider this for a moment. I have mentioned often that Jesus not only taught us how to live a life with God, but he showed us, he lived that life and lifestyle before our eyes. At least before the eyes of his disciples. When Jesus sent the disciples out in groups to proclaim the good news, he told them something. He said to them not to take extra food, not to pack their bags, or take spending money. He told them to stay with those that welcomed them and if they were rejected to knock the dust off their sandals and keep moving. Jesus is showing them this lifestyle in this passage.
He entered a village, and Martha the matron of the house welcomed them into her home. We know Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus. We know that they are friends of Jesus, such dear friends that when Lazarus died, Jesus wept. We are not told how this friendship began. Church traditions have noticed this lack of information and they have tried to fill that gap, but the truth of the matter is that we just do not know. What we do know is that Martha welcomed them into her home, and Jesus stayed with them and accepted whatever was provided to him.
“And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.” When rabbis taught, those that listened would gather around and sit with their teacher. The closer to the rabbi showed how devoted you were to them. To sit at the feet of a rabbi meant that you were one of his disciples. The disciples were those individuals who were called to live life with the teacher. They walked where he walked, they ate what he ate, they lived where he lived. They took on their rabbi’s lifestyle, and eventually they would continue their rabbi’s teaching. We know the twelve disciples; we know that they followed him wherever he walked but there are instances within scripture where there is someone else in this position that causes our eyebrows to raise just a bit.
A few weeks ago, we met one such person, the demon possessed man that lived among the swine. We were told that when the people from within the town came out to see what was going on, they saw the demoniac clothed and sitting at Jesus’s feet. Jesus was then asked to leave their land because they were afraid. We are often told that they were mad because of the loss of pigs, but it was much deeper than that. They were afraid because they were not Jewish, and this man possessed by demons they believed was being controlled by one of their gods. Jesus overturned their world view and the sign of this was the man in his right mind sitting at Jesus’s feet, and just incase people did not believe it they had a secondary witness from everyone that lost swine that day.
That man sat at Jesus’s feet, and he expressed a willingness to follow Jesus wherever he went. Jesus had a different plan for that man. He commissioned that man to go to his community, to tell them everything that God had done for him. That man became an apostle, and he proclaimed throughout the land, all that Jesus did for him.
That man was siting at Jesus’s feet, and he was sent on a mission. To sit at a rabbi’s feet is special, and rabbis would not allow just anyone to take that position. Just like today a student would have to prove that they were a worthy student. Today we fill out applications, we must have references and they need to provide information to the institution to let them know that this person is a worthy student. And if everything checks out you can attend. Rabbis had a similar process, different yes, but similar. Disciples had to live the rabbi’s lifestyle, so many could not afford it. And you had to have a recommendation from another rabbi, meaning you would have had to prove your knowledge and wisdom before hand within your local synagogue. This is where Jesus rocks the boat a bit. I just mentioned that a gentile was sitting at Jesus’s feet. Later in Luke we will see that Jesus allowed Samaritans to in that position, and today we see Mary. A woman sitting at the feet of a rabbi, sitting in the position of a disciple. Women were not allowed into the area of the synagogues where the rabbis taught. It was very uncommon for a woman to be in this place being taught by a rabbi. It is generally not accepted. But there are exceptions to that generally accepted rule, because God will use those that are willing to participate in his kingdom to accomplish his kingdom’s work. Some of my favorite stories in the Hebrew Scriptures are just such women. Women like Deborah, Ruth, Esther, and Judith.
We have Martha here welcoming Jesus and his entourage into her home, and we have Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha was distracted with much serving. Martha often gets a bad reputation because of this story. Throughout church history teachers have used Martha’s busyness to speak out against salvation through works. Even today you could pull up YouTube sermons across the world that will speak poorly about Martha criticizing her for being distracted with much serving, saying that she was attempting to find favor through works instead of grace. I want us to give Martha a break. Jesus loves her, she welcomed Jesus into her home, and she was serving her Lord.
I am not saying that there was nothing wrong with the situation though. Martha was distracted with much serving. Martha was distracted. She was busy doing the very thing she was called to do, the very thing she wanted to do for her lord. A thing that was honoring not only Jesus but was something that honored God. Israel was commanded to supply hospitality by Torah, and Martha is obedient. But Jesus rebuked her because she came to him saying, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
Jesus replies, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” I want us to contemplate this scene today. I want you to put yourself in Martha’s shoes and listen to that rebuke. It is heart wrenching. Jesus looks at her and speaks to her both gently and with firmness. He gently speaks her name not once but twice. He can see the stress boiling within her mind and body. He knows that she is nearing her end. And he speaks her name twice, to get her attention.
We are all stressed. Many of us are stretched to our breaking point and we continue to add more to our schedules and stretch ourselves thinner. And there are times where we just want to cry, even the men. But that is not the sin, that is not what caused Jesus to rebuke Martha. It is not exactly wise, and Jesus does address this. He tells Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Scholars debate over what Jesus means here. Is he telling her that it is ok to just set out a box of cereal and some bowls? Or is it something more? Yes. Mom’s, I encourage you to give great nutritious meals to your children. I pray that you will be blessed with the house of your dreams, but I want you to know that it is ok to let the laundry sit in a basket at times, and your kids will not be traumatized if you serve mac and cheese with hotdogs occasionally. Fathers, I hope you have a great job that will provide everything you want for your family. But it is ok to allow yourself time to just sit and watch a tv show with your kids. And I am fully aware of the generalization within those statements. I know moms work and dads can stay at home. I know that most families today have both parents working one if not two jobs. The point I am trying to make is to take a day to relax. Take time to catch your breath. And take things one at a time.
The schedule is not what Jesus was rebuking in Martha. The stress Jesus addressed, but it is not main point of Jesus’s rebuke. Martha sinned not because she was busy, but because she wanted Jesus to make her sister do something that she wanted her to do. She wanted Jesus to require her sister to take part in the activities that Martha deemed most important. Martha sinned not because she was busy, but because she desired to control those around her, and was not allowing them to serve according to their own giftedness.
My sister, brother, and I are similar in many ways. We all are very opinionated. We are all passionate. We are all brilliant and talented in our own ways. And that is the key. In our own ways. We are similar, but we are also very different. My brother is more technically minded than I am. I can do quite a bit with technology, and I even know how to use a variety of tools. It might even surprise some of you to know that I can even use a welder. That is not who I am. I can do it, but it is not my passion. My sister loves making things beautiful. When Kristy and I moved into our first apartment together, my sister came in and decorated. My idea of decoration is furniture, a Star Wars calendar turned to a month within this year, and bookshelves. My sister owns an antique store, she restores furniture, so it is safe to sell, and her store looks like you walked into a Rockwell painting. My brother has a job in networking and gets excited about installing smart locks and firewalls. And I like to read and talk about what I read. Although we are similar, we are completely different. We know this about our siblings, our children, our friends, and coworkers. We know this and yet we get upset with them because they do not do what we want, and how we would do it.
Martha’s sin was not the busyness within her life. That was her ministry, her gift, and her calling. She pursued that with everything she had, and she did get overwhelmed. That is not sin, but lack of wisdom that can lead to sin. Martha’s sin entered when she began blaming her own shortcomings on her sister, Mary. She sinned when she began demanding that God command her to take part in the culturally accepted generality. She sinned because she forgot one thing. We are all unique and called to different things.
We look at this passage and we often encourage everyone to be like Mary and not Martha. I do not want us to look at these women in that way. I instead encourage you to be you. But be aware of your own limitations. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed it is fine to ask for help, but it is also ok for those you ask to say no. It is fine. It is not the end of the world.
Jesus closes out his rebuke by saying, “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Is Jesus telling Martha that Mary is better than her? Is he telling Martha that she should be more like her sister Mary? No. He is simply telling Martha that Mary is different, she has chosen to pursue what is good for her, and Jesus is not going to take that away. Mary and Martha have different personalities. They have different passions. Martha finds her fulfillment in hospitality and Jesus honors her in that. Mary has a different desire. She desires knowledge, her desire is to sit at the feet of Jesus and to learn. Jesus honors Mary in that.
We as religious leaders of various traditions have failed many. We encourage those around us with the generalities instead of speaking to the exceptions that make each of us unique. Is it wrong to say that in general women are more often the care givers? No, it is a generally the truth. But it is wrong to say that women are only allowed to be care givers. I would not be standing here today if the women in my life lived according to the generalities. My mother was a business owner. She passionately pursued her degree and to serve within her own giftedness. Those that encouraged me the most during the formative years of my faith were women, living their lives through their own giftedness. They were the exceptions to the rules society often taught.
Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” What is Jesus saying? Is he telling us to read the bible more? Is he telling us to serve the community more? Is he telling us to sit in silence, do penitence, go to church? No. He is telling us to find that one thing that God has created us to pursue and pursue it with everything we have. He is telling us this because when we find that one thing that sets our spirit on fire it is in that one thing, we will be most able to Love God with everything we have and our neighbor as ourselves. He is also telling us that we as a community should make every effort to encourage and support those around us in this. If we know someone that is passionate about computers, we should go to them before we go to best buy. If someone is passionate about art, we should buy their artwork if we are able and encourage them to use their art to bring glory to God. If someone you know wrote a book, buy it even if it is not your favorite type of book. Why, because that is what a community is for. We are here in this place at this time to encourage people to love God, embrace the Holy Spirit, and to live the love of Christ with others. We can only do this if Martha is living into her gift of hospitality, and if Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus. We can only do this if pastors preach, and teachers teach. We can only do this if mechanics are fixing our vehicles and people that love to drive are giving us a ride. We can only live life loving God and our neighbor if we are willing to let those around us be exceptional.
As we enter this period of open worship and communion in the manner of Friends, I want us to consider Mary and Martha. I want us to consider our friends and the members of our family. And I want us to repent. I want us to repent because we have been instruments discouragement and we need to change. We have told people they cannot do. Not because they are not gifted but because we are afraid of what people might think. God called Mary to be a disciple of Jesus, a woman, and Jesus would not take that away from her. Would we?
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Love Even Them
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
July 7, 2022
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Luke 10:25–37 (ESV)
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And 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 neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
There are a few passages from scripture that almost everyone knows. Today we have read one of those stories. Most of us could tell this story to anyone at a moments notice. Most of us could explain the meaning within this story to anyone we meet. We know this story but most of us would say that we cannot share our faith because we do not know enough scripture.
I want us to think about this for a moment. I want us to think about the purpose of scripture, and why God inspired it. I want us to consider why after thousands of years we still read this book, why we translate it into nearly every language across the planet, and why we think it is important.
I have said on multiple occasions that I love studying scripture. I remember one summer afternoon while sitting at McDonald’s in Odessa Ukraine talking with some students and other friends of mine while we ate a chocolate ice cream sundae. One of our students asked us what our dream job would be. This was twenty-two years ago, and I remember it as if it were yesterday. This was twenty-two years ago, and I thought I had my entire life figured out. I was going to go into genetic research, I was going to work for a seed company and was going to make more nutritious crops that could be grown in arid places of the world. I thought this because I lived and worked on a dryland farm. There were not many options for our farmers. We grew wheat and grain sorghum, and when I was coming out of Highschool and going into college genetic engineering of crops was just beginning. This new scientific discovery was opening the dryland farms of Kansas to corn and soybean production. These discoveries were making rice that had greater nutritional content that could be grown in areas that previously could not. It was an exciting time for those that produce food. I know that some of you might think this is crazy and you may not want to eat those products, but for a farmer this is great. Farmers want to produce products that will feed people. Their livelihood and their lifestyle are to raise food so others can eat with the hope that they will also be able to feed their own family. That was my hope and my dream as I left high school and entered college. I thought that God had given me a gift of knowledge and curiosity so that I could use that knowledge to feed the world.
But on that summer afternoon while eating ice cream someone asked me a question, what is your dream job. And in that moment my mind and my mouth seemed to be disconnected. I spent the entire summer talking with students about science and faith. I had conversations with young adults that had just started their career in the Ministry of Agriculture in Ukraine, I had visited the home of a student and spoke to their grandfather who was an agricultural researcher in the Soviet Union, and he took me around Ukraine, and we looked at the fields. Acres and acres of wheat and sunflowers. I even had an interview for a job in Odessa. They wanted me to stay in their country and help them make their agricultural economy more like that of Kansas. But when that student asked that question, I did not say what I expected to say. Instead, I said, “I would like to sit around eating ice cream and talking about scripture.”
As soon as those words came out of my mouth, I was terrified. What had I just said? Had I just lost my mind? I quickly recovered and played it off as I really liked ice cream, which I do, and everyone laughed. They knew I loved ice cream and all of us that went to Ukraine to teach English did, because we would eat all the ice cream out of their coolers within two days. Ukraine had some of the best ice cream in the world. But the second part of the statement stuck with me. It scared me, because if this was true, I had been pursuing the wrong life and lifestyle. Everything I thought I knew was turning upside down. I had one semester left before my degree was finished and was, I seriously going to pursue a different path.
That summer in Ukraine taught me something. I did not have an education in biblical studies. Yet I would sit down with students, and we would talk, we would open scripture and read a passage and discuss it, and I found that the quiet farm kid that would rarely speak began to talk. And when we had these discussions those around me would talk, and soon we were telling each other how we should change aspects of our lives and began encouraging each other. So often I regarded the scripture as a book of law, as the source of answers for moral problems. But in that summer, I realized that scripture is a conversation. It is God speaking with us and as we listen, consider, and respond we leave the conversation changed.
I tell this story, because this is what Jesus taught. We often wonder why Jesus spoke in parables, and the reason is because scripture, even the books we often refer to as the books of the law, are stories and conversations. They are case studies to prompt us to think and reconsider how we live with each other and with God.
“And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’” I want us to consider this scene, imagine it in your mind. In ancient times, when a rabbi or a teacher was speaking to their students or disciples, they would gather around and sit together. When someone wanted to ask a question, they would stand up. Today we raise our hands to get permission to speak, back then they stood up. This lawyer was sitting with the disciples of Jesus, he was listening to Jesus teach, and was interested in what Jesus had to say. He was eager to learn. How often do we imagine the various scenarios of Jesus’s confrontations with religious leaders like this? Do we realize that they were eager to learn just as much as the everyone else?
This lawyer stands and he asks his question. But there is something here that we might miss. When we see the word lawyer, we assume things. The word that Luke uses for Lawyer is important. He uses a different term here than the other gospel writers; it is a word that means an expert of the law. This is a man that most would regard as an equal to if not greater than Jesus in knowledge. Meaning that he is not only one that can bring clarity to the law but is authorized to teach it. He is a master professor, a doctor in his field. I bring this up because it brings clarity to Jesus’s response. “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” This second question Jesus asks this man could be rendered not only as read, but how would you teach and explain it.
Jesus does not simply give information; he invites the man into a conversation. The man is given permission to explain his own understanding of what scripture says, before Jesus speaks. And 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 neighbor as yourself.” This is the Shema, a prayer or confession that was encouraged to be spoken twice a day to remind the people of Israel of who they are. We often think that Jesus gave a new teaching but everything that he taught is rooted in the teachings that had been around since Moses. This teaching of which the lawyer speaks is from Deuteronomy and Leviticus. This is from the very core of the teaching of Israel that is accepted across all branches of their faith. And Jesus responds to the lawyer, “you have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
This is the core of our faith even to this day. The law that we are to live by is to love God with everything we are and all that we have, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The word for love in this sense is the same, there is no hierarchy to it. Love of God is to be equal to love of neighbor, and it should be equal to the love that we have for ourselves. It is telling us that everything should be in balance. We cannot love God more than we love our neighbor, because this would lead to neglect, and we cannot love our neighbor without loving God, because this would also throw things out of balance because we would then be worshiping our community more than God. And the hardest part is loving our neighbor as ourselves. We so often get this wrong because we want to be humble. So, we neglect ourselves and give to others, or we justify doing special things for ourselves because we are to love ourselves, and if we regard ourselves too highly, we become self-centered and selfish. There needs to be a balance between all three aspects.
We struggle with this balance. If you do not struggle with this, please talk with me after service because I would love to know your secret to success. We must constantly examine ourselves and at times we need to listen to others because we might be blind to our own actions, because we have justified them in our own minds. And this is exactly where we find this man. “But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor.’”
This man is calculating, he is looking into his life and his actions, he is making his list within his mind and trying to determine just how much he must invest and where he can draw lines of exemption. He wants to have eternal life, and he realizes that his understanding of this differs from what Jesus teaches. For so long he believed that simply because he was born an Israelite he was safely and secure in the kingdom of God. And the manner in which Jesus responded to him, brings things into question. Is there something more? Could his calculations be in error? All I must do is love that is it? What about all the other laws? And he quickly notices that there is this big hole in his thinking, who is included in this love?
Now we get into the story that we all know. “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.” To get a better picture of this scene it is important to understand the geography a bit. Jerusalem is up in the mountains, and Jericho is in a valley. The two cities are about eighteen miles apart but there is around a three-thousand-foot change in elevation between the two, because of this the road twists and turns. It snakes through the hills giving the most level and easiest path avoiding the shear ledges. This makes the terrain pretty perilous, and to make everything worse there were zealots that hid in the hills. We are told that they are robbers, but what scholars believe is that surrounding the holy city were freedom fighters or religiously minded zealots. These men were those that sought to liberate Israel from the rule of Rome, and they justified their violence with self-righteous thought. They were purifying the land, they were making the nation fit for the Messiah, they were acting out of righteous devotion, but in reality, they were filling their pockets with ill gotten gains and were simply terrorists and gangsters. They preyed upon travelers to fund their campaigns. They extorted money and justified the killing of those that opposed them. They hung out on this road for a reason, Jericho was an important city of commerce. The taxes or tolls were collected in Jericho and basically everything that entered the holy city had to be processed in Jericho before it entered Jerusalem. There was money on this road. And the man that was traveling in this story must not have been keen on supporting their righteous cause, so they took their tribute by force.
“Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.” Again, imagine a mountain road, with steep walls on each side. On one side a person would have to climb up a cliff, and the other the ground dropped off into a void. To pass by on the other side is not something one would do with ease. We are often told that the priest might have avoided the man because it would have caused him to become ritually unclean. This would be important because priest that served in the temple only served two times a year for a week and many of them lived in Jericho. If we were to look up the law surrounding touching the dead, they would be unclean for a week, so we can see the justification of this priest avoiding the man. But there is more to the law. If one came across a dead man and no one else was around it was their responsibility to bury the dead. If anyone found out that this priest avoided the duty it would be just as taboo if not worse than being ritually unclean.
We are to honor humanity, because they were created in the image of God. The priest dishonored the man, and dishonored God. And so did the Levite. Both men took extra effort to avoid the man. They went out of their way to avoid. They exerted extra energy to get out of doing the right thing, and they justified their actions just as the robbers did.
Then a third man came upon the body. If we were hearing this live, we would have noticed that Jesus used a Priest and then a Levite, those were the clerical or the religious class within Israel, so our mind would assume that the third person that came would have been one of the people of Israel. Jesus knew that this would be the anticipated conclusion to the story, but he does not go in that direction. The third man was a Samaritan. If we were there live, we would hear the crowd gasp. Samaritans were unclean. They were worse than Gentiles. They claimed to be of Israel, and yet they did not worship at the temple, and they did not have pure blood lines. They were the enemies of God; they were the ones that turned away and worshiped false gods.
This Samaritan saw the man lying there, and he rushed up to him. He bound up his wounds and poured oil and wine on the bandages to provide a healing compress. He then lifted the man onto his own animal. Some say it was a donkey, but it could have been any beast of burden, a donkey, camel, maybe even an ox. And he took the man to an inn. He gave the inn keeper two denarii to care for the man. As I was studying, I wondered why Luke felt it was important to mention just how much money he spent. And I found that an inn would often cost one twelfth of a denarius, so he basically paid in advance for twenty-four days lodging. Samaria is around seventy-four miles from Jericho, and if a person would walk ten miles a day, he could be back to Jericho in about fourteen days, but he would have to spend some time gathering goods, so the Samaritan covered the lodging for the man, up to the point that he would be back in town. This Samaritan man was taking responsibility for him. He was making sure he not only had his wounds bound, but they he would have food, and a place to rest until he was able to come back to him. He went above and beyond what was necessary, or even wise.
Jesus ends this story by asking one final question, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” The crowd is in shock. They are staring at Jesus in horror. In this story the righteous failed to respect the humanity of the individual, and the one regarded as unrighteous became the hero. The lawyer hesitates to even speak. He cannot even bring himself to say the word “Samaritan.” And he replies, “the one who showed him mercy.”
Why did he hesitate? We have no problem saying the word Samaritan. We even make laws called Good Samaritan Laws that require us to help those who have been in accidents and protect them from lawsuits if something happens. Why could this man not even bring himself to speak the word? Because the Samaritans were the enemy. They were always regarded as less human than the people of Judah. They were not counted among God’s people. And he knew what Jesus was implying.
Love has no borders, it has no race, or nationality. We cannot in any way have prejudice in justice and regard ourselves as righteous. If we are to say that we love God, but fail to love the individual from Mexico, Russia, or Iraq we are not honoring the image of God. If we close a door of opportunity based on anything that is not of and individual’s control, we are not treating them as an individual loved by God and a fellow image bearer of his image. The man acknowledges that the man that showed mercy was the neighbor. And Jesus says to him. “You go and do likewise.”
We are not told if the lawyer responded to this story in a positive or negative way. Luke often writes in this manner. He leaves the resolution of the story open, and this causes whoever reads it to wrestle with the implications. I say that Luke did this, but I actually think that Jesus wanted this to happen. He does not give a straight answer but causes us to think and stew. He wants us to place ourselves within the story and see where we might fall. We have each heard this story countless times, but have we thought deeply about it? Have we made justifications within our minds that would dishonor the humanity of others because they were not us? Have we rationalized in our minds acts of callousness?
When Friends first emerged the major driving force behind their movement was that their words and actions resembled each other. They would not use sacraments or means of grace because they felt that all of life was a holy to God and that every moment we lived and every word that we spoke should give glory to God and encouragement to those around us. This is one of the reasons I love our religious society. I feel our name is not only important, but a reality. We are Friends, and we will encourage and treat everyone as such. But do we really believe this? Do we really take the word that God inspired and live them out, or do we, like the lawyer, make justifications for our lack of action? To be a neighbor is action, it is our ministry and our mission. It is something that we each are required to participate in, not just the priests, or the clergy, but each one of us in our own way. How will we respond? The resolution of the story is left open so that each of us can participate in the conversation, and the response Jesus gives apples to everyone, “You go, and do likewise.”
If you would like to help support the continued Ministry of Willow Creek Friends Church please consider donating online:
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The Rebuke of Ideology
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
June 26, 2022
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Luke 9:51–62 (ESV)
51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village. 57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
I have been a pastor for nineteen years, for some of you that might seem like a long time since you are not that old. For others, nineteen years is nothing, its just the beginning. For me, sometimes I simply do not know. There are weeks where I feel as if I am an amateur. I will look at a passage and will realize that there is so much involved in the words that I cannot begin to scratch the surface of understanding. And then there are weeks where I will look at a passage and just know that it will cause controversy and I am just too old to want to deal with it. Lately, the second response has been coming up quite frequently. This is mainly because I am tired, its harvest season, and I just want to go home. Luckily, next Sunday Pastor Mwenitanda will be bringing a message so I can do just that.
I begin in this manner because being a Christian is not easy. No matter what you say there is someone somewhere that will take offense. Some of those people could be regarded as long-time friends, and others are just strangers that happened to hear something out of context. It is difficult to be a follower of Jesus, because we are constantly bombarded with influences from our culture, both inside and outside the church, and our own opinions and thoughts. There are moments within my week where I must check myself and consider where my thoughts and emotions are coming from. I ask myself if I am upset because of my own political leanings, my own opinions, my traditions, or because of my understanding of scripture. Then there are times where I cannot figure out where things are coming from at all, and that is when I realize that I have neglected time in prayer. And I should return back to the rhythm of life that Jesus shows us of worship, prayer, and ministry.
This week has been one of those weeks that I have struggled. I struggle because there is so much going on in the world. I care about the people of Ukraine, and I feel as if we as individuals within the western nations have gotten tired of their story, so we stop listening. And this causes me concern because I feel as if Ukraine will fall into complete occupation because we got bored. I watch the news and I hear about the investigation concerning the last presidential election and I am shocked by what has been said. Then we get rulings from the Supreme Court, and I should be excited, but I want to be honest, I am not. I am concerned. I am concerned because now we live in a world that is unknown to me. Unknown because what will our actual response be? And will we live up to tasks we claim to support?
“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” This is an interesting phrase. It both tells of destiny and of destination. Taken up, is something that scholars argue about because it can mean different things: death, divine prophetic vision, or ascension. I want us to just stop and think about that for a moment. Scholars argue about this, and yet it does not take a rocket scientist to know that that does not matter, because they all mean the same thing. “He set his face to go to Jerusalem,” is also a phase that can be interpreted in different ways. It could mean that he decided, or that he was divinely inspired. What this is saying is there is a shift in direction.
Prior to this, Jesus’s focus had been in Galilee, not in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the center of religious thought. It was the seat of religious power. The things that happened in Galilee could be disregarded by religious leaders as just some fringe fanaticism. They could separate from it to some degree. But when Jesus turns his attention toward Jerusalem, this means that the challenges are going deeper. Jesus is about to take on the very core of their cultural understanding of life. Once this course is set, the end will soon follow. Jerusalem was the seat of both sacred and secular power. When you begin to speak truth to those in power they do not often like to listen.
We see this beginning just one verse later. Jesus was traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem. This trip required them to cross through Samaria. There had been a great deal of animosity between the people known as the Jews and the Samaritans. They both claimed to be Israelites, they both claimed to be followers of the Most High God. They both could trace their linage back to the patriarchs, but there was a difference, a difference that stretched back to the golden era of Israel. Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom. It was the center of power for the ten tribes that rebelled against the line of David. And ever since that moment there had been tension between the people of Judah and Samaria (or Israel).
Both nations claim to follow God in the traditions of their fathers, but they do it differently. The history of the Samaritans is not as widely known, and we often regard them as the godless ones because they rejected God’s anointed king within the line of David. We see that they followed the gods that were not their God and flirted with idolatry. We see this because the histories we read in scripture come from the southern kingdom. I am not saying the bible is wrong, I am stating that there is a historical skew on the scripture that we read in comparison to the history that those among the Samaria may have heard taught in their land.
It is important to recognize our bias because it can bring your interpretation into context. The Samaritans rejected the temple in Jerusalem. They rejected the supremacy of Judah over the other tribes. They rejected a great deal, and Judah looked upon their rejection and took it to heart. Their rejection was not only of political nature but of faith as well. And they did reject the faith of their fathers. We see this in the pages of scripture, often we fail to acknowledge that Judah did the same. We judge Samaria for following false gods, yet Solomon the son of David is the one that brought these things into the land, not just in Samaria but also into Judah. The failings of one side are not worse than the other, simply different.
These differences continued to drive a wedge between the groups as time went on. Each side justifying their own positions until the core central, but beliefs became secondary. The divide became so great that people were not only willing to die for their understanding of faith, but willing to kill.
Jesus sent people before him to prepare the way. This is a logical thing to do. We do not know for certain the size of Jesus’s entourage, but it is at minimum thirteen people. Likely, it would be even larger than that because right at the beginning of the next chapter Jesus appointed seventy-two and sent them out two by two. Jesus would have appointed this group from those among his disciples, not just random people walking around in a city. The group coming into this city could have been over a hundred. To secure lodging and food for a crowd that size requires logistical work.
Last Thursday, June 16th, the International Soccer Federation FIFA announced that Kansas City would be one of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup. This is a fantastic opportunity for our community, but it also comes with a significant risk. Thousands of people will be making their way to our city, and we must accommodate the influx. This will require investment in hotels, restaurants, greater soccer facilities for practice and games. Companies will need to make sure our cellular towers are updated, and the broadband internet is expanded to accommodate an entire world’s desire to obtain news about the games instantly. And we have four years to make that happen. Billions of dollars will be invested in our community, jobs will expand, and it is exciting. But there is a problem, most of us do not care about soccer. Some of us do not even know what FIFA is. There might even be a few that may not even know that soccer is a popular sport, let alone know that it is the most popular sport in the world.
Kansas City must prepare for the World Cup games, and Samaria has just been visited by forerunners of Jesus announcing the arrival of Jesus’s disciples. Imagine your response to the World Cup and liken it to this. The people of Samaria have faith and follow God in their understanding of the God, but they could care less about Jerusalem. We live in in the Chief’s kingdom here in Kansas City, we are worried about the next Super Bowl. Why should we care about a silly soccer game in four years? Why should Samaritans care about Jerusalem’s teachers?
We see this story through the lens of Judah, we identify with Judah, we are grafted into the faith traditions of Judah because our Lord came from the line of David, who was and is the king of Judah. We can understand the focus on this southern nation, and its offspring. But we need to remember that the Messiah was not just for the Jews. The teaching was that all of Israel would return from exile, this includes Samaria. And when all of Israel returned from exile then all the nations would return to the Most High God.
Samaria rejected Jesus and his disciples. We look at this as being a terrible thing but remember it would be like an American and a German debating about football. What exactly would they be talking about? Every German would be speaking about soccer and most American would be talking about American Football. It is two vastly different games. Samaria rejects Jesus because they are not concerned with promoting the religion of their enemy. Why would they want to entertain people that would just reject the legitimacy of their faith and deny their own value as children of God?
I want us to look at this from a different perspective. What did they reject when we look at this passage? Did they reject Jesus, or did they reject Jerusalem? What does this say to us?
“When his disciples James and John saw it, they said ‘Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’” This statement links us back the early history between the divided nations. It speaks of the prophets and the judgement of God for rejecting his leadership. James and John look at this history and the present moment as similar. They know that God had chosen Judah and that Israel turned away from God. And they are liking this situation to that early rejection. God allowed Elijah to call fire down from heaven, so in their mind they should do the same. But their mind is not on God but their own nationalist pride.
They forget that the Messiah was to unite the tribes and the kingdoms once again. They forget that the reason Jesus has his face set for Jerusalem is because they are also rejecting the good news. They are blinded by their own opinions and ideologies, and they are failing to see the humanity before them. Does God hate Samaria? Does God hate the Greeks and the Romans? Does God hate? No. Those distinctions are constructs of the human mind. It is true that God chose to reveal himself through Israel, Judah, and the line of David, but this does not give them any greater status, just a different purpose.
Jesus looks at James and John, and he rebuked them. This is not a mere chastisement, but more serious. I might get after my children when I discipline them, but I do not rebuke. This word refers to divine judgement, or wrath. James and John wanted this for the Samaritan city, and Jesus turns that passion to them. He does this for a reason. They were in sin.
“The Zebedees are wrong about discipleship: disciples are not commissioned to commandeer God’s role as judge, but to serve the Son of Man, whose face is set to Jerusalem.”[1] They did not understand what God was wanting to accomplish. Jesus would not accomplish God’s will through force and violence, but through weakness, even suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection.[2] James and John had their mind in the things of this world and not the things of the kingdom of God. And because of this they were responding in kind. They wanted to use the tools and means of this world to accomplish what they thought God wanted. They bookended their desires and statements with scripture and made great references, but they missed the entire point. God does not want to condemn the world but to save it. God does not want to burn the world to the ground, but he wants all to have an opportunity to turn toward him. And yes, I know that Revelation says that God will judge the world, but that is not for us, but him. God’s judgement is not our task, judgement is not our purpose. We are commissioned for one thing and one thing only to encourage the world around us to come into the kingdom.
I want us to think about that for a moment. We are not commissioned for God’s judgement, but to encourage the world to embrace the kingdom of God. We work for admissions, not security. Now I want us to dwell on that. I want us to check our responses to the news considering this. For too long we have been working in the wrong department. We have been attempting to call fire from heaven and when God has not responded in the ways we pray we build the devices of hellfire and launch them ourselves. But as we work within our world, as we vote, pray, support, and encourage have we been admitting or judging?
James and John were two of Jesus’s closest friends. If tradition is correct John was and is the disciple that Jesus loved the most. He was the one disciple that was given the privilege of seeing the whole story to the very end. And John was rebuked, he was treated as if he was the offspring of Satan, because he made a simple statement in religious and nationalist pride. He defended Jerusalem against Samaria, he denied the image of God in them because of a reaction made in ignorance.
This should cause us all to pause. How often have we made a judgement of someone, or some organization based on incomplete information? How often have we made a judgement based on our understanding instead of listening to their explanation? How often have we…no the real question is how often I. James and John’s statements are tame compared to the thoughts that have come to my own mind, and Jesus spoke to them as if they were demons from hell. What would Jesus say about my self-righteousness? Would He be glad about my celebrations of political victories or military defeats? Would He back the ideology that I support?
The truth is that Jesus is not concerned with the things of the world. He told Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world and if it were then the people would rise. We want to make it of this world, but God is concerned with other things. That is what the next section is about. Jesus condemned his closest friends and then as they walk to the next village, he explains to his disciples what it means to be a disciple. Two come to Jesus requesting a place, and one Jesus asks. They all look at the cost and weigh the options and we are not told what their decisions are, but it infers that they turned away. The first looks at the possible rejection and poverty of living a life of serve to others instead of personal gain and he falls silent. The next is bound by his culture and is unwilling to be seen in dissent. And the third needs to have approval before moving forward.
None of these things in themselves are wrong. It is good to have material possessions and to have security. It is good to honor our parents and to live in peace within our culture. It is good to have the support and approval of our friends and family. But do these things come before our God? We might see these two sections of verses as being two different thoughts or teachings, but they are the same. Where is our allegiance and where is our faith? Is our allegiance to our nation more important than honoring our God? Is our race or heritage greater than the creator of all things and through whom all blessing flow? Is our culture more important, or our security, our finances, or our reputation?
Jesus is calling us, to move forward in faith. Looking forward to the prize set before us. What is that prize? What is it that we are to set our face to? Our glory is in Jesus. The one unique son of God, who came down from heaven to be born of a virgin. Who was reared within a family, in a community and among friends. Who labored along side his kin and his community for twenty years before he did anything resembling ministry. And then when the time had come, he was anointed by John by the waters of the Jordan to proclaim the true Gospel. That God so love the world that he gave his one unique son so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life in his name. And he proved that by setting his face to go to Jerusalem when he suffered the injustice of the kingdoms of men, was crucified, and was buried. He lay in that grave for three days and rose again with the keys of death and hades in his hand. And he stands before the judge this very day, advocating for each of us.
Where is our allegiance? Where is our faith? Is it in empires and kingdoms that rise and fall, or is it in the one who conquers death? We have a job, each one of us that are called by name by the creator of all things, to go into all the world and bring it under God’s dominion or kingdom. We are not sent as judges, but as ambassadors offering the world a different peace. Will we look back to the powers of the world, or toward Christ?
[1] James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, ed. D. A. Carson, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2015), 299.
[2] James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, ed. D. A. Carson, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2015), 298–299.
If you would like to help support the continued Ministry of Willow Creek Friends Church please consider donating online:
https://ccskc.com/church/donation.htm
To help support the personal ministry of JWQuaker (Jared Warner) online and in the community click to donate.