July 15, 2007 Sermon
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July 15, 2007
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost - Year C
Luke 10:25-37
Gary Sanford San Angelo
Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen
In this morning's Gospel lesson we hear the story of the "Good Samaritan", one I am sure we are all very familiar with--a parable used by Jesus to answer the lawyer's question of what he must do to inherit eternal life. Notice that the lawyer doesn’t ask what he might do, but rather what he must do. Jesus asks him what the law says and, being a student of the Mosaic Law, he knew the right answer: "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." Jesus confirms that this is indeed the correct answer, but this does not seem to be the answer the lawyer wants and he questions Jesus further, perhaps as a way of testing him, and asks who this neighbor of his is? Who is worthy of his concern, of his love?
By way of an answer Jesus tells him the story of a traveler set upon by robbers who is stripped, beaten and left for dead. Both a priest and a Levite pass by, but cross to the far side of the road and continue on their journey without stopping to render aid. Now, we don't know why they didn't stop, maybe they were frightened, knowing the road to be dangerous, or possibly they did not have time to stop. We are not going to find fault with their actions and we are certainly not going to judge them. It is not our place to do so and many of us are guilty of the same omissions. We are going to look at the actions of the Good Samaritan.
The Samaritan sees a fellow traveler in trouble. He does not avert his eyes, nor does he cross to the other side of the road instead he is moved to pity and stops to help. We know that the Jews and the Samaritans were mortal enemies. And one might think that this man would pass by without a second thought or even believe that this Jew "got what was coming to him." But he does not judge him; he recognizes him as a fellow traveler in trouble and takes pity on him. He stops to help. Pity as used in this sense in the Greek of the New Testament means "moved to the depths of his bowls with compassion." He feels for this traveler as deeply as he can possibly feel. He senses a bond with his fellow man and feels his pain and fear. He suffers with him just as the God of the Hebrew Bible, especially as described by the prophets, feels the pain and suffering of His people and suffers with them.
He then meets the immediate needs of this victim by treating his wounds with oil and wine. Next he puts him on his own animal, probably a donkey, and takes him to an inn. There he pays the innkeeper to tend to the injured man promising to pay any additional costs upon his return. He is not concerned with the cost; he simply makes what resources he has available for this injured soul.
Jesus asks the lawyer which of the three travelers was a neighbor to the man who fell victim to the robbers. The lawyer answers, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus tells him, "Go and do likewise."
This is certainly a good and valuable lesson for all us, but in a world where there are pain, suffering and needy neighbors all around how do we keep from becoming calloused and insensitive--from loosing our sense of social justice and the passion to help those who are in need? How do we continue to feel the pain and suffering of others when there is so much pain and suffering around us? Who is our neighbor and who deserves our love and compassion?
To answer this we need to look again toward the Good Samaritan using him as a template for our own actions.
First, we have to open our eyes and actually see the 'wounded stranger.' In a world where we are constantly bombarded by images of violence, pain and suffering it can be difficult to know what is real, what is not and what we need to do. We often look to others for answers and this can lead to inaction.
At 3:15 on the morning of March 13, 1964 Kitty Genovese, returning home from work, parked her car in a lot near her apartment building in the upper middle class neighborhood of Kew Gardens, Queens, New York. She began the 100 foot walk to her home. She never made it. The New York Times (March 27, 1964, Martin Gansberg) reported that 38 people witnessed three separate attacks on her person over a period of 35 minutes--without taking any type of action. It was later determined that the number of witnesses was actually fewer than originally reported and that none of those saw all three assaults, but questions still remained as to why no one did anything, not even call for the police, until after the victim was dead. When someone did finally call, the police were on the scene within two minutes. Many of you may remember the newspaper accounts of this incident. The nation was outraged. People were incensed demanding answers citing a morally corrupt society. Some called for the prosecution of those who saw and did nothing. There were suggestions of laws making it criminally unlawful to fail to aid someone in distress. In fact such laws were enacted in some states and several foreign countries; laws that are morally unjust and are generally ineffective, usually having just the opposite of the intended result. Most of the witnesses involved still can't explain why they failed to do anything.
As with the priest and Levite in the
story of the Good Samaritan, we are not going to judge or assign blame
to the witnesses. We are going to examine how this could
happen and why it is not the only time this has happened. Several
studies have been conducted about what has become known as the "Genovese
effect" most notably by John Darley and Bibb Latane, two New York-based
psychology professors, who in 1968 identified this as the result of
'pluralistic ignorance' and 'social proof.' Simply put, when in a crowd
we tend to look to someone else to take
action--"social proof". When no one does we conclude that no action is
necessary and no action is taken--"pluralistic ignorance".
This behavior produces a side effect called "diffusion of responsibility" in which people assume that since there are others present, somebody must be doing something, so no particular individual feels compelled to take any action. It’s always, always too late to say afterwards, "Gee, somebody should have done something." You were there, why didn’t you do something? Why did you cross to the other side of the road?
The second thing the Good Samaritan did was to take action. It is not enough just to recognize that there is pain and suffering. We, as Christians, believe that most people are benevolent and share in the responsibility of aiding those in distress, whether the homeless of our own city, the poor of our own country, or the starving children of Africa. We recognize this as the duty of our Christian community. Yet it is just this sense of "community responsibility" that often leads to group inaction and the only antidote for that is individualism. We must break the bonds of "social proof" and not look to others to make a decision for us. If we can't, action may not be taken and needs may not be met.
If we can overcome the obstacles set before us, open our eyes and truly see the wounded of this world, we will be moved to pity. True, we can't fix the whole world by ourselves, or help everyone who needs help, but we can help somebody. If we allow ourselves to feel the pain and suffering we will be moved to action. If that action is the result of compassion and pity rather than because of a sense of obligation, or guilt, or compulsion we will feel it deep down in our souls--"in the depths of our bowls." We will have acted because we identify with our fellow human being and feel the same pain and suffering. We will be moved to act as God is moved.
The Good Samaritan of our Gospel lesson did not look for "social proof" before acting. Had he done so he would probably not have stopped; after all, it was not the norm for a Samaritan to step forward and aid a Jew. Instead he recognized a neighbor in need of assistance and acted as an individual to come to his rescue.
Jesus asked, "Who was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" The lawyer answered, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus tells us all, "Go and do likewise."
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen
Copyright © 2003 Emmanuel Episcopal Church. All rights reserved.
Revised: 07/23/07