“Wagons Ho!”

Dr. D. Jay Losher, Jr.

Preached 11 July at Crosspoint Presbyterian Church, Clermont, FL

Today’s Text:  Luke 10:25-37 ~ The Good Samaritan

poiler alert:  you may find your faith challenged before this sermon is over.  You may want to leave now.

[SLIDE #1 ~  “Cover”  Introduce Western Theology[1] by Wes Seeliger.  Cover meant to surprise and get you to buy the book.  A explanation of Jesus the Sheriff of Settler City and the Holy Spirit, Wild Red the Buffalo hunter, stirring things up.  Written in 1973, but the issues long pre-date.  Indeed back to the time of the infant Church.]

[SLIDE #2 ~  “Church”  ]

[SLIDE #3 ~  “Church ~ Courthouse” of Settler City.  Read aloud pp. 17-18]

[SLIDE #4 ~  “Church ~ Wagon Train” to Renewal or Bust.  Read aloud p. 21.]

ow that we have introduced the basic idea which we will be exploring over the next few weeks ~ pioneer faith and settler faith, what could that possibly have to do with the best known story from all of Scripture ~ the good Samaritan?  Consider this: 

• Which of the characters lived out a Settler City faith?  The priest?  The Levite?  The lawyer who came asking “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  The robbers?  Did the robbers have any faith at all?
• Which of the characters had a pioneer faith?  The Samaritan?  Jesus?  The victim of the robbers?  Who knows, perhaps he gained that faith by the act of compassion of the Samaritan?

The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the universally best known stories of all time.  Its message can be found over and over around the world in unexpected places.  Wherever it is found, whatever its variations, it always has one extraordinary message ~ the power of compassion to overcome ‘otherness,’ enmity, strife, even fear and hate of an enemy. 

Which of these, settled faith or pioneer faith, embodies compassion?

n a surprising twist of history, Buddhism traces its origin to just such a “Samaritan” moment.[2]   Siddhartha, the future Buddha, began his journey to enlightenment with a moment of compassion during an outing outside his protected palace wall.  He sees the human conditions of old age, sickness and death.  The sight grip him, they will not let go.  Like the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable, he cannot “pass by.” 

Kosuke Koyama, a widely read Asian Christian points out that twenty centuries after Jesus, one can see similar sights in any city.  In New York he saw a homeless black man who was not only old and sick, but who had, just as in Jesus’ words, “fallen among robbers.”  Koyama observes that not all pass by. [3]  There still are persons of pioneer spirit who are able to exchange their fear for compassion.

The catalyzing event in each of these and the unnamed Samaritan of Jesus’ parable is a leap of compassion. 

ome go even further.  The essence of all religious faith is compassion ~ according to Robin Meyer, pastor at Mayflower Congregation Church in Oklahoma City.  He rightly observes that Scripture measures the righteousness of individuals and nations by compassion, that is, by “how the strong treat the weak.”[4] 

• Make no mistake:  Wherever Jesus’ parable is repeated, even more where it is lived; it always has one extraordinary message ~ the power of compassion to overcome ‘otherness,’ enmity, strife, even fear and hate of an enemy. 
• Make no mistake:  the Samaritans were hated enemies to the Jews of the day.  Don’t underestimate Jesus’ shocking message, don’t soften its impact to the point of meaninglessness.  The power of the parable derives precisely from the shock and awe of a person dropping all hate, risking life and limb to care for an enemy. 

Spoiler alert:  this is the part where you are likely to find your faith challenged.  Jesus is talking about real enemies here, real hate here.  Don’t believe two thousand years of making the Samaritans into some kind of persons merely disliked or condescended toward.  What Jesus says here is absolutely scandalous to the Jews of his day.  That’s why the lawyer wouldn’t even answer him directly:  ^“Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.

n light of this truth about enemies, and to continue our Western theme, what if this parable was reenacted in Pioneer days.  Marney Wasserman, pastor in Dallas, tells it like this: It would be like a full-blooded Comanche rode into Dodge City with a badly wounded cowboy over his horse.  Asking for a room over the saloon for the cowboy, we know well the outcome of this scenario ~ the compassionate Indian would not have made it out of town alive.

What if it were reenacted in Israel?  It’s so obvious ~ to see that Jesus’ parable today in Israel would be the story of the Good Palestinian ~ or the obverse – the Good Jew in the Palestinian community.  And despite the desperation of that conflict, there are innumerable stories – actual, factual stories – of the Good Jew and the Good Palestinian.  Good Jews in Europe have just dispatched three ships full of aid for blockaded Gaza.  The parable is real.

What if Jesus’ parable were reenacted at our own General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA, which just finished meeting today?  As it turns out, this in fact happened at the General Assembly in Albuquerque in 1996 ~ a woman commissioner late Monday night was robbed in front of the deserted Convention Center.  She was struck in the head and fell to the ground.  Of the few persons around, a fellow Presbyterian came to her aid, driving the assailant off.  Then he rendered first aid and stayed with her until she got adequate medical attention. 

So far so good.  This fits our usual understanding of the story.  But this story has a true “Samaritan” ending:  the person who came to her aid, the only person who responded, taking considerable danger on himself, was a man the Assembly had just declared a hated enemy, at least unrepentant of a hated sin.  He had been just fired from a church office because he was gay.

A friend, Janet Ruark, pastor in Oklahoma City writes:  “We all have hidden motive and agendas.  It takes special effort to overcome them and to let the Holy Spirit work in and through us.  Author and Theologian Frederick Buechner writes:”

“The love for equals is a human thing—of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing—the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing—to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.

And then there is the love for the enemy—love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world.”[5]

ow that we have established who is who in the cast of characters in the parable of the Good Samaritan, our last question today is where we locate ourselves in the narrative.  Are we among the pioneers or the settlers? 

• Which one do you think loves enemy as Jesus commanded? 
• Do we take the leap of compassion which have led Christians throughout the ages to extraordinary acts of courageous love?  
• Are we able to live this parable of Jesus so universally praised, but seldom actually lived out?
• Are we able to make alive God’s powerful love in Jesus Christ which does overcome all ‘otherness,’ all enmity and strife, even all fear and hate of our designated enemies?

Jesus is clear, no other human is an enemy in Christ.