A Sermon for the 13th Sunday after Trinity

“And behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? And He answering said, Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.”

Today I bring you greetings from our Lord and savior Jesus Christ who has shown us the measure of His love on the cross in His sacrifice for our sins and asks us, what is written in our hearts. Amen.

Over the many years having heard this parable of the good Samaritan, I have often focused on the message of how the Samaritan, considered to be of the lowest class in Jewish society, stops to help a poor man who was beaten and robbed. The poor victim is ignored by a priest and a Levite, only to be cared for by a stranger who takes pity on him and saves him from certain death. Helping someone in need is a clear part of our Christian beliefs. We often find ourselves in the same situation, with the opportunity to reach out to someone because we believe it is the right thing to do.

The right thing to do is sometimes a hard concept. We want to do all things right to the extent we can. We want to do the right thing at work, the right thing with our families and friends, the right thing in society. We particularly want to do the right thing in Church because we believe God is really watching us here. In worship, practice, outreach, how we interact with each other.

We know that others have expectations of us, and we have expectations of ourselves but here in church-we believe God really has expectations of us. We believe we have to be perfect and if we aren’t, well, be sure everyone will notice.

I believe that the true message of scripture in this morning’s Gospel is sometimes lost in the doing as opposed to the reason. Our Lord is asked a simple question, one that we struggle with ourselves quite often. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Our lawyer friend knows the law, and Jesus asks him in return “What does the law say?” Now being a lawyer, I am sure he spent a moment thinking about his answer. He no doubt thought about some of the more prominent laws given to the Jews by Moses. Proper sacrifices and practices, the proper way to worship, the amounts that should be given. No doubt it would have been a long and detailed answer but in a moment of clarity, he looks at Jesus and responds-“Thou shall love the Lord they God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.”

And Jesus responds-“you have answered right, do this and you shall live!” The lawyer gets it! He has figured it out! He realizes that it is not so much all that is contained in the law but instead what is behind the law that need guide us-complete and unquestionable love.

Love is perhaps the strongest motivating force a human can have. When we truly love someone, we will do anything for that person. No sacrifice is too great, no cost is too much, no effort is wasted. To truly love means to put someone first before ourselves, no matter what. To fully love is to sacrifice without question, to give all of oneself, and to give all that you have.

The finest example of that is on the cross. Here we see our Lord hanging in His sacrifice for us. Why? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that who so ever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” A distinguished colleague and priest of the church commented to me the other day that he believed the entire essence of our Christian spirituality is summed up in that one verse from scripture. For God so loved the world.

As the lawyer in scripture ponders Jesus’ response, he decides to press his inquiry further. “Who is my neighbor?” he asks. To which our Lord answers with the wonderful parable we heard this morning.

We are left however with an important question ourselves this morning. Do we fully understand what the loving God, and our neighbor as ourselves, really means?

In understanding human nature, the great leaders of the church through history have tried to provide us with guidance and paths to improve our relationship with God. In one of my favorite movies, the Bells of St. Mary’s, Bing Crosby plays a priest who befriends a wealthy man who has just built a new office building next to the aging school run by the sisters of St. Mary’s. Throughout the entire movie, the good nuns try to convince the wealthy man to give his building to the church. Finally, as all good Hollywood movies end, the wealthy man sees the light and donates his building to the church. He revels in the inspiration that has come upon him and smiles with the assurance that God will bless him for his generosity. Father Bing wraps up with a song and they all live happily ever after.

Now of course, we know better. Works do nothing to earn us salvation but as foolish as the story seems it is very indicative of how we truly see our expression of love as Christians. Worship correctly, do the right things, be generous when it is convenient and like in the Bells of St. Mary’s, we can smile with the satisfaction of receiving God’s reward. That is why I believe the message in this morning’s Gospel is sometimes lost. It’s not to do good for the sake of itself, or to earn a reward, it’s to glorify God in all we do.

Here is what Christ is saying to us-Thou shall love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy mind and with ALL thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.

It is not about doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. It’s about doing the right thing because we love God, and in loving God to love our neighbor as ourselves. It is about expressing our love through faith in the God who has given us eternal life through the sacrifice of His beloved son, by returning that love and sharing that love with others. Not just the faithful, but the unfaithful. Not just the righteous, but the unrighteous, not just the members of St. Paul’s but all of God’s children, not just those who love us, but those who hate us.

I often see the picture of Mohamed Atta coming though the airport I oversaw when I worked in the public sector, on the morning of September 11th. I think about all of the pain, suffering and loss that he caused, all in the name of his God. How could we not hate him. We think of those who blow themselves up in Iraq and kill women and children, soldiers, and civilians all in the name of Allah. How could we not hate them. We also think of the men in white robes who hung blacks and Catholics and Jews in the name of Christ and wonder how we could not hate them. I even think of how the citizens of Portland forced the wife and child of the first rector of St. Paul’s Anglican Church in 1777 to leave their home and trudge to Boston because the rector chose to side with the British. It was a journey which took their lives, all in the name of freedom and liberty and wonder how we could not hate those responsible. It is easy to hate.

All around us are the homeless, the hungry, the spiritually dead and it is easy to ignore those who we do not know. It is easy to turn our heads to those in need and fool ourselves into thinking that we are doing the right thing in God’s eyes because we worship in the right way or go to the right church or give a few dollars to the poor or help now and then in some church activity. But God sees our hearts and we must ask ourselves, is this how we should express our love for the God who hung on the cross for us?

Thou shall love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy mind and with ALL thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.

We think we know what love is. We have felt it in our hearts for those whose lives we touch. But if we really want to see what true love is, then take a moment to look at the cross, to look at our Lord, to look at the nails, to look at the crown of thorns and that will help you understand exactly the depth of true love that is present in Christ’s sacrifice for us.

What Christ did for us was out of love. True love is to be willing to lay down your life for someone else. True love is feeling the pain and suffering in someone’s life. True love is reaching out to those who are spiritually empty with the love of Christ and sharing our joy in Him. It is about reaching out to friend and foe with the example that Christ gave us, that we should love our Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. We see the homeless and poor all around us daily, and we try to help where we can by supporting those who care for them as a parish. When we trust in God however, He will bring those in true need, spiritually or physically, into our lives. At that point, let us not pass by those who need the Word of God and the love of Christ. Like the good Samaritan, let each of us “go and do likewise”.

We pray-Heavenly Father, open our hearts to all your children. May we share the love you have for us with all those we touch. May we return the hate of the world with the love of our Savior, and may our hearts and our hands be moved to do all that we can through for others in your most precious name, Amen.

Amen.
Fr. Jeff Monroe+