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The Man in the Ditch
Amos 7:7-17/ Colossians 1: 1-14/ Luke 10: 25-37
6th Sunday of Pentecost/ Year C / July 11, 2010
I’ve heard, and told, this lectionary passage from the perspective of the Samaritan. I’ve heard, and told it, from the viewpoint of the priest and the Levite. I’ve heard, and told it, from the perspective of the crowd listening in on the conversation between Jesus and the lawyer. I’ve heard it, but never told it, from the perspective of the lawyer.
When I was 9 we heard this story during Bible School and we acted it out. Different people were chosen to play each part. I was chosen to play the part of the man left for dead on the side of the road. The robbers were played by several boys that I did not get along with very well in our group. They tended to be bullies and liked nothing better than to beat on kids who were smaller than they were. Type casting was alive and well in our church groups.
Those boys played their parts well, really beating and hitting me, one even tore my shirt and laughed about it. The teacher thought they were playing, when in reality they relished the idea of beating me up. I was left laying on the floor in the gym bruised and battered. Each character came along according to the story. When the person playing the Samaritan, the Funeral Home director’s daughter, came up to me she first looked at me with disdain, but then realized that I was really hurt. She kneeled down and helped me sit up. She then told the teacher what had happened. She went and got a wash cloth to clean the blood from the corner of my mouth where the boys had hit me and a bag of ice for the lump on my head where they had banged my head on the floor. I was almost in tears. She yelled at the boys and helped me get up and into a chair. She sat next me making sure that I was ok. The teacher then turned on the group of boys and made them apologize for hurting me.
Then she asked me how I felt being treated that way. At the age of 9 I wasn’t sure what to say other than I thought it was mean an terrible what the boys did to me. She then asked me how I thought the man in the ditch might have felt as each person came by, looked crossed to the other side of the road and went on. I said that I thought maybe he hoped at least someone would come and help and when they didn’t he probably just lay there wishing he were dead.
That experience still haunts me even to this day. This story
became real for me in how we build walls and barriers, use bullying tactics and behaviors to hurt people who are small, different, lost, alone. For me this story is a re-run of the old, disgraceful human story; all of us, even the rankest outsiders, feel better about ourselves if we can keep someone else further outside that we are. Whether it’s the last ethnic group kept out of the fire department, or police department; the it’s the woman who is harassed by the men in the office because she works hardest to prove herself, or the gay man who hides his true self in order to save his job, his home, his life. There is always someone we leave in the ditch as we make our way up the ladder the world sets before us.
But what still intrigues me is the traveler found half-dead in the ditch. Other than having the snot beat out of him, we aren’t told much about him, are we? He probably was a Jew, but he could just have easily been a Samaritan, a Roman, an Edomite, anybody. I doubt if the robbers back then were any more discriminating in choosing victims than they are today. Though he probably may have been wealthy, you can get mugged for 10 bucks as you can a thousand. Amy Jill Levine in her book The Misunderstood Jew, makes the case that this parable can only be understood by putting ourselves in the place of the man in the ditch and then ask ourselves the question: “Is there anyone, from any group, about whom we would rather die than acknowledge as someone capable of good? “She offered help.” Or he showed compassion.” Or is there any group who members might rather die than help us? If so then we know the modern day equivalent of the Samaritan. Was he good? (The title “good” is one that the church has added.) We are not told. We are only told he had compassion on the man, went to his aid, helped him to safety, provided for his care and left. Who then is the one who proved neighbor? Who is the one who loved God with heart and soul and mind and strength and so loved the neighbor as the self? The Lawyer in the story could not answer. For in answering the Samaritan, he convicted himself. (Samaritans were enemies of the Jews.) So who are our Samaritans?
Levine, a Jew, sees the Samaritan, as a member of Hamas. Someone who is an enemy, someone who is not like ourselves, someone on the outside looking in, someone with a different skin color, or ethnicity or religion, some whose sexuality is different . Who then is the Samaritan, the Samaritan is not the one who is different for our human labels have no place in the world God calls us to inhabit. God’s people are never to play “finders-keepers,” nor are they to see themselves as being more deserving or better than anyone else. When it comes to the kindness of strangers, we tend to get what we expect. If we’re kind and helpful to people we don’t know or who are in trouble, in every circumstance, then we’re more likely to see that kindness returned. Even if we don’t receive reciprocal care and help, we know that God has called us to love the stranger regardless. That’s what it means to be God’s people.
The real Samaitan is the one who puts God and humanity first, recognizing the worth and dignity of the individual as a God given gift that is to be cared for and respected. For in that is the fulfillment of the law. It by doing that, Jesus says, that one gains eternal life.
But what happened to the man in the ditch after he was all better, after he was back on his feet, after he went home and told the family and neighbors what had happened to him? Was he changed, was he transformed? Was he no longer prejudiced towards Samaritans, Romans, whoever? Did he become a better person, more generous, more holy? We don’t know, do we? Which is true with so many parables Jesus tells us, so many of the encounters he has with people. Go and do likewise, he says. Did anyone Jesus said that sort of thing really go and do?
One of my favorite illustrations from the marvelous TV show The West Wing had to do with young Josh Lyman dealing with the emotional/spiritual (?) aftereffects of being shot. His boss, Leo McGarry, wants to help him and so Leo tells Josh the following story:
A guy was walking along the street and fell into a hole. He tried climbing out but couldn’t get up the sides, the walls are so steep. A doctor walks by and the fellow yells up, “Hey, Doc. I’m down here in this hole. Can you help me out?” The doctor writes a prescription and throws it down to him. Later, a priest walks by and the fellow hollers, ‘Hey, Father, can you give me a hand?’ But the priest just writes out a prayer and tosses it down to him. Later, a friend walks by, and the guy hollers up, ‘Hey, Joe, it’s me; can you help me out?” The friend jumps in. The guy looks at him, “Are you crazy? Now, we’re both down here!” The friend says, “Yeah. But I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.”
More and more, I see this as a story, not about the generosity of the Samaritan, or how he was changed or transformed. And I don’t think it is a jab at the strict adherents to the Law. I think it is the story about the guy half-dead in the ditch. And the reason that this despised, rejected, hated Samaritan could help him is that he had been down in the ditch himself, and he knew the way out.
And because Jesus was willing to become despised and rejected for our sakes, because he was willing to be thrown into death’s ditch, only for God to provide a way out, then he is telling us that when the time comes, when we find ourselves lying in the ditch, when we are half-dead, when all the experts, the lawyers, the doctors, the priests can’t help us, then he will come along and show us the way out.
He will pick us up and carry us to the place where we can be mended and made well.
Post General Assembly pastoral letter from Moderator and Stated Clerk
To Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation
Posted at
July 10, 2010 12:33 p.m.
MINNEAPOLIS
To Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations:
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
“Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38)….
Just one week ago, the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) convened with Scripture and music and prayer. Commissioners and advisory delegates from every presbytery across the church gathered around the baptismal font with hopeful expectation of what God’s Spirit would do in and through them as they sought to discern together the mind of Christ for the PC(USA).
As the week progressed, prayer was a foundational part of each day’s deliberations and decisions, and the presence of the Spirit was palpable!
“Out of the believer’s heart…
While all assemblies are significant, this one holds particular significance in the life of the PC(USA). Among the assembly’s decisions – to be ratified by presbyteries – are the addition of the Belhar Confession to The Book of Confessions and a revised Form of Government. Both of these items give a clear signal that we are a church that is not afraid to change – an important perspective to have in these days of great change in the church and the world.
The assembly celebrated and was greatly encouraged by the commissioning of 122 young adult volunteers and 17 new mission workers for service around the globe. Commissioners voted unanimously to renew the call to “Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide” and were inspired by the stories of congregations that are growing in evangelism, discipleship, diversity, and servanthood. They celebrated the generosity of Presbyterians who have contributed more than $10.5 million to relief and redevelopment work in Haiti in the wake of January’s devastating earthquake.
The assembly also engaged in discussion about significant matters of faith and life – ordination standards, justice and peace in the Middle East, and civil union and marriage, to name just a few.
Information on the more than 300 assembly actions is available. Answers to frequently asked questions about the items that have already garnered media attention are attached to this letter. We commend these resources to you for their accurate and straightforward information.
Civil Union and Marriage FAQ
Form of Government FAQ
Middle East Peacemaking FAQ
Middle Governing Body Commission FAQ
Ordination Standards FAQ
While the content of the assembly’s decisions is important, what may be of equal or greater importance is the manner in which commissioners and advisory delegates did their work. They debated, but did not fight. They tackled tough issues while refraining from tackling each other. They placed great value on finding common ground as they displayed gracious, mutual forbearance toward one another. They sought the will of God within their actions, rather than regarding their decisions as the will of God. One commissioner called the experience of seeking – and finding – common ground truly “miraculous.”
In short, this assembly exhibited to the whole church and, indeed, to our society and the world a way to engage in difficult issues while maintaining respect for one another. To put it another way, they exhibited well what it means for the church to “a provisional demonstration of what God intends for the world” (Book of Order, G-3.0200).
…shall flow rivers of living water.”
Just a few short hours ago, the 219th General Assembly ended in the same worshipful manner with which it began, as well as with a similar same sense of hopeful expectation that the hard work done in Minneapolis will continue forward across the church.
Michael East and Caroline Sherard, elected by their peers as co-moderators of the young adult advisory delegates to this assembly, shared their thoughts in a blog entry:
If all our commissioners and advisory delegates returned to their places of community and encouraged others to continue similar stories, what great things could be next for the PC(USA)? These narratives have the ability to inspire discussions on new, creative, and innovative ways of being the Church. At the heart of being Presbyterian is the principle belief that our discernment is best done when we gather together. Being able to gather in one place, as one people, for the one Church is a powerful and transformative experience–one which dramatically shapes future generations.
The assembly has commended to the church a number of items for further study, out of which is hoped will come, as Michael and Caroline write, “new, creative, and innovative ways of being the Church.”
May the good and faithful work begun in Minneapolis truly be just the beginning of a season of respectful, earnest, and gracious engagement – both in our words and in our deeds – all for the sake of the gospel.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
Elder Cynthia Bolbach
Moderator, 219th General Assembly The Rev. Gradye Parsons
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
The Rev. Landon Whitsitt
Vice Moderator, 219th General Assembly Elder Linda Bryant Valentine
Executive Director, General Assembly Mission Council
A Double Portion
2 Kings 2: 1-2; 6-16/ Galatians/ 5: 1; 13-25/Luke 9: 51-62
5th Sunday of Pentecost/ Year C/ June 27. 2010
This is one of those Sundays when the chosen texts for the day seem to be unconnected, disjointed, and downright strange. The story of Elijah being taken up to heaven seems, to our 21st Century minds to be an episode from Star Trek or Raiders of the Lost Ark. Paul’s discourse on freedom seems to be a harangue on the behavior of those in the church in Galatia with his listing of the various vices of the flesh that ensnare us. And The Gospel text is a strange mélange of images and sayings of Jesus on being a disciple or follower of the way. They don’t, on first look, hang together with some overarching theme. They seem to be random statements or selections just thrown into the list by the creators of the Lectionary to fill the hot summer Sundays in the weeks following Pentecost. As I read and reflected on these texts over the last week, I felt frustrated and at times angry with myself that I couldn’t find or hear what the texts were saying to me or to the church. I gave up late last night and went to bed with literally nothing on paper for today. As is my custom at bedtime, I picked up the current book I’ve been reading, “The Lord and Giver of Life” edited by David J. Hansen, professor of theology at Austin Seminary in Texas. It is a series of essays on pneumatology. Pneumatology is a fancy word for words about the Spirit. As I was reading Jansen’s essay on “Discerning the Spirit,” It suddenly hit me why these texts were placed in the lectionary at this particular point in time. The key was the request of Elisha for a double portion of his mentor’s spirit. They all deal with the presence of the Spirit; the presence of God in the life of the people of God. Elijah was a great prophet called by God, filled with the Spirit to call not only the King and Queen, Ahab and Jezebel, to account for their sins against humanity and God, but also to call the people to account, to repent and return to God, to turn away from the things of the flesh, form the things that this world offers to us, and abide in the presence of God.
Holy Spirit needs bodies. The Christian faith from the very beginning has recognized that the incarnation means Word embraces flesh. Our confessions about Jesus Christ, the church, the Lord’s Supper, are all embodied claims; God’s son comes in the flesh. God’s people are the body of Christ in the world; the Eucharist remembers and celebrates Christ body broken for the world. But when we say Holy Spirit needs bodies we are confused, the phrase rings strange in our ears. How can something invisible be a body or need a body. For many of us Spirit implies distance from bodies and opposition to the flesh. God, as Spirit is wholly other than our embodied selves. Hovering over the waters of Creation, but not resting upon them, Spirit animates the life of bodies but does not become a body. To make the Spirit a body causes the Spirit to vanish in a mound of flesh. When we try to separate the Spirit from the body we loose the sense of God’s presence. We tend to focus on the two main aspects of our faith God and Jesus and give short shrift to the Spirit. But when we do that we loose a valuable asset in our understanding of God and of Jesus. The presence of the Spirit is the presence of God. It was present when God created the heavens and the earth. It was present when God blew God’s Spirit into Adam and Eve. It was present in the Burning Bush that called Moses to lead the people from captivity into freedom. It was present in David as he ruled the people of Israel and in the prophets as they called the people to account for their sins. It was this Spirit that Elisha asked Elijah for as his inheritance. And it was within Jesus when he came to proclaim release to the captive, restore sight to the blind, cause the lame to leap like a hart, and the dumb to speak. It is God’s spirit that seeks out bodies to bring the very presence of God to life in human form. The presence of the risen Lord is a presence of the Spirit, showing us that God does love us and wants to bring us finally into loving relationship with God. It is this wild and welcoming Spirit that we encounter in the closing pages of the Bible, stirring up prophecy and vindicating the righteous.
The Spirit of God is the main focus of all three texts today. It is Spirit that calls individuals to faith. It is Spirit that welcomes us with open arms. It is Spirit that gives us the gifts we need in order to live lives of true freedom. The Spirit gives us the gifts of life vision, hearing, understanding, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It is the Spirit that guided Elijah as he sought to return Israel to a right relationship with God. It is the Spirit that came upon Elisha and allowed him to bring and end to the evil reign of Ahab and Jezebel. It is the Spirit that filled the prophets with forecasts of doom and gloom and then gave them the vision of the true world that God desired for all of creation. It is the Spirit that makes possible the living and hearing of the Scriptures as pathways to righteousness. It is the Spirit that gives breath and life of all of God’s good creation. The Spirit is the very presence of God in our lives, guiding, comforting, convicting, forgiving, and empowering each and every one of us. The Spirit gives life to bodies, the life of the church, and the world. It is by the Ruach, the breath of God, that the world is renewed. The Spirit blows where it will, carrying us to new places, breathing fresh insights into the dusty corners of supposed comfort, reminding us even in the darkest moments, when all seems bleak and despair knocks at the door, that God is with us, that we are never alone in the world.
The Sound of Sheer Silence
1 Kings 19: 1-15/ Galatians 3: 23-29/ Luke 8:26-29
4th Sunday of Pentecost/ Year C/ June 23, 2010
Simon and Garfunkel The Sound Of Silence Lyrics
P. Simon, 1964
Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turn my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
“Fools,” said I, “you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence
________________________________________
I first heard this song when I was fifteen. The words and music are haunting and filled with truth that still speaks today nearly 45 yrs. Later.
There is not much truth being told in this world. There never was. We have settled for half truths, lies and fabrications as our reality. We are bombarded day in and day out with sound bites urging us to buy this product or that product, it will make us beautiful, happy, fulfill our fantasies, give us status. We hear statements lifted from their context and twisted by the media and others who would have us believe as they do or disguise the truth with innuendo, lies and disinformation. We have become so immersed in the trappings of our western culture, whether it be the flash and bang of Hollywood, the bluster of cable political commentary, or the hateful rhetoric of television and radio personalities who seek only to stir up anger and prejudice toward those who are working to correct the ills that affect our world, we can no longer hear the call of God to action. And so it is with our text from I Kings today. Elijah, the curmudgeonly prophet, has soundly defeated and destroyed the prophets of Baal. Jezebel, the queen of Israel, is so angry she has threatened Elijah with death. Believing her, he flees into the desert to escape her wrath. Tired, frightened and alone, he takes shelter under a tree. Three times an angel comes and wakens him, feeds him and urges him forward toward some dark horizon he cannot see. Elijah finally comes to Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God, and there in the darkness of a cave he is confronted with the typical sounds of God’s presence; earthquake, wind, and fire. Yet in each instance Elijah does not find the presence he seeks. God does not come to him in the expected ways, nor does God come in those moments that are created by us, those moments when we attempt to quiet our hearts and listen for God. Many times the barriers we build are the very things that keep us from hearing or seeing God’s presence even when it right in front of us.
What are those barriers? For Elijah and for many of us it may be a sense of inadequacy, the task seems too great for us to take on, we give up saying as Elijah did, “I am alone among all of Israel. I am the only one left who is faithful.” We feel separated from God, frustrated, and seemingly alone in our fight against the ways of the world. The presence of God is not always obvious. Our preconceptions of God’s truth and God’s ways of communicating with us get in our way, adding to the maze like madness of this world.
Where is God when we feel most needy? Elijah expected to find God in the earthquake, wind and fire. But God was not there. Instead God was in the sound of silence. As Simon and Garfunkle say in the song, we need to listen to those sounds of silence: the plight of the oppressed, the vacant faces of the homeless, the inarticulate cries of undernourished children, the deep cries of pain of those who are dying, the silent cries of those lost in the mazes of their own mind, the dark streets where lost souls, both children and adults seek connection in a world gone wrong. It is in these silent voices that God calls to us, calling us out of our self-centeredness and despair, to move forward with perseverance toward that vision of the world that God has set before us, as world where we live together as brother and sister, father and mother, family, all created in God’s image of divine self-giving love.
In the 2008 Will Smith movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, a child is trying to tell his distracted father an old story while his father is trying to figure out where the two of them are going to safely spend the night:
“A shipwrecked man prays to God to save him. A boat approaches, but the man tells it to go away because God will save him. The boat leaves. A second boat arrives, and the man sends it away, saying God will save me. He waits and finally dies from exposure. When he gets to heaven, he complains to God for not coming to save him when he prayed. God tells the man, “I sent two boats to save you, but you sent them away.” This story calls us to wake up, to open our eyes and our ears to the many vehicles God uses to communicate with us.
Yes, Elijah the cocksure prophet, who has just defeated and destroyed the prophets of priests of Baal, comes unhinged. In the face of Jezebel’s wrath he looses his nerve. He wants to opt out of the world altogether. He comes face to face with the cold hard facts of life; we find ourselves adrift in an indifferent, even hostile, universe, shouldered with the added burden of having to summon the strength to continue on life journey, in the face of imminent death. Elijah’s primary temptation is to think he has to go it alone, that it is all up to him.
When Elijah first responded to God’s calling he did not expect to have his life threatened or be protected by an angel. Few of us would expect that. We are a people who like to know what to expect. The problem is when we stop expecting God in the seemingly obvious places, God Exceeds our expectations and appears where we least expect to find God; in the darkness, in the narrow streets of cobblestone, the glare of the neon lights, in people taking with out speaking, People hearing without listening, People writing songs that voices never shared, No one dared Disturb the sound of silence. “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, And tenement halls, And whispered in the sound of silence.
Our illusions of the world, our reality do not often include the dynamic presence of God. We are encouraged by our world to put our trust in this political party or that political party, in this stock or that bond, in this weapon of military might or that weapon of military might, rather than the resources of divine grace which specializes in making the impossible possible. Our ears, minds, and hearts are dulled by the world and the things that it offers. The words and the presence of God are drowned out and we are filled with anxiety and fear, because we know deep inside that things are not right. “And the people bowed and prayed, To the neon god they made.”
As Elijah learns when God does finally speak, we are not alone. There are those whom God has called and continues to call to action and to service. In the midst of the sheer silence Elijah sees with new vision, is given renewed strength to continue the fight against the darkness that would drown the world. As the song says “Fools,” said I, “you do not know, Silence like a cancer grows, Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you!” We all of us have a call, and that call is to discern what God is calling us to do. The sheer sound of silence is not another way of talking about seeking peace and getting centered in the midst of life’s pressures. It is to return to the world, “Elijah Why are you here? Return to Israel!” This passage assures us that we are not alone. That God is there in the midst of the pressures of life, giving us the strength and the courage to move beyond the now into the life giving future; moving us from the idols of this world that would enslave us, to the presence of the life giving God who created us for relationship.
