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January 17, 2010
“The Royal Law”
Luke 10: 25 - 37/ James 2: 1 - 13
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the greatest parables of Jesus and one of the best known. In our day when only a few people know who the Samaritans were and what they believed, many know what a Good Samaritan is. He or she is one who helps a stranger who is in trouble. Some state legislatures have passed laws that are referred to as Good Samaritan laws. These laws protect those who have helped others from being sued if their assistance did not give satisfactory results. Which probably reveals far more about our culture and society than about Jesus Parable.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan was given by Jesus to answer a question. Jesus had been having a public conversation with an expert in the Jewish Law. The initial result of the conversation was that they agreed that under the requirements of the Jewish Laws, Salvation would be given to those who loved God with all of ones heart, soul, strength, and mind and who loved his neighbor as much as himself.
But then the Jewish Law Expert asked another question. It seems that he wanted to place a limit on who might qualify as his neighbor, so he would not have to love everyone, so he asked who was his neighbor. The Parable of the Good Samaritan was given by Jesus as the answer.
This parable is a master work among parables because it combines normal and familiar occurrences with something quite unusual. It begins with the normal occurrence of robbery and attempted murder on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho runs through rugged territory and almost every foot of it goes down a steep grade. All along the twisty descent are caves and boulders that provided excellent hiding places for strong-arm robbers. The Roman Governors had constructed garrisons along the road and stationed soldiers in them to keep the road safe, but brutal robberies still persisted.
The parable presents a fictional account of such a robbery. A man whom it has always been assumed was a Jew, got ambushed on the road, was beaten, robbed, and left for dead. A Priest and later a Levite came by and refused to touch him. If Priests or Levites touched a dead body they could not work until they took some time to be ritually purified in a process that involved them spending money to purchase sacrificial offerings. They did not want to take the chance that the man was dead or might die while they were tending to him, so they passed him by.
Then the parable takes an unexpected turn and goes sideways. The next man to come down that dangerous road is a Samaritan. We read the passage without any special reaction to the term Samaritan, but when Jesus said it at this point in the parable there may have been gasps coming from the crowd. The Jews hated the Samaritans for many reasons but the important reason was that they practiced a corrupted form of Judaism. In other words, the Samaritans were heretics. And the Samaritans returned hatred to the Jews.
Nonetheless Jesus presented this particular Samaritan as the true neighbor the to man needing assistance. The irony is that when Jesus asked his questioner who proved to be the neighbor to the man in need, the Jewish legal expert did not use the word “Samaritan” he said “the one who showed him mercy.”
Now the fact that a Samaritan is presented as a neighbor does not make the Samaritans less heretical. They were still wrong in their beliefs. On another occasion, Jesus met a real Samaritan woman at a well in Samaria and treated her as a neighbor, but in his conversation with her he made it clear that on certain issues regarding religion, the Jews were right and the Samaritans were wrong.
This is an important point to remember as we live in a place where we are in daily contact with people who are of different nationalities and ethnic groups and who practice different religions or no religion at all. We Christians are to accept them as neighbors. We are to treat them lovingly and kindly and with dignity as being equal to ourselves. We do not have to and should not believe that their religion is as true as ours or that it will lead them to the one true God. We must accept them and treat them well. We must not embrace their beliefs when they conflict with essentials of the Christian Faith.
In this parable Jesus made it clear that we are to love anyone who is in our proximity, especially those who need our assistance and care, regardless of their ethnic origins or beliefs or appearances. And yet a few years later, James the half brother of Jesus discovered that Christians were violating this command even during Worship. He warned them not to judge on appearances and chastised them for doing so.
In James’ day the rule to love ones neighbor as oneself had become known as “The Royal Law” The term Royal Law probably also referred to the command to love God with all of ones heart, soul, strength and mind. These two commands are Royal because they have their origins in the 10 commandments given by God as Israel’s king when they came out of Egypt. They are also royal because Jesus, the King-Messiah issued them to his followers.
In the second chapter of his epistle, James chastised some Christians because they were treating some visitors at Worship better than others. They gave prominent seats to wealthy and well dressed and accessorized guests and allowed the poor and dirty and maybe smelly guests to sit on the floor. That is the way the unsaved people of the world behave, that is not acceptable behavior for Christians.
The irony James finds in this behavior is that the oppression that was coming upon Christians was mostly from wealthy influential people who considered the Christians to be heretics. Poor people don’t persecute any one, they have no power.
Now, in case you haven’t caught on yet, the reason I am addressing this subject this morning is because tomorrow is the holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. He is, of course considered to have been a great leader in the civil rights movement, seeking to bring equality between Blacks and Whites. But he was much more than that. He was a Christian minister calling those who considered themselves to be Christians to apply the Royal Law of neighbor-love to all people.
He ironically used the nonviolent passive-resistance methodology of Mohatmas Ghandi to deal with the power structures of hate and separation that were run by white people. But his message was one of love and acceptance. He was concerned even for those who hated him and his people because he was convinced that their hatred was harming them as much as it was harming the people of his race.
Moving back 2000 years, this passage written by James has some phrases that could have been used by Martin King.
James asked a question of those who were honoring the wealthy and dishonoring the poor. He asked “Do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” In other words, can a Christian logically and truly claim to follow Jesus while entertaining and acting on the prejudices we have all been raised with? It is a rhetorical question and the implied question is no. When we treat people without dignity and respect we deny that we follow the one who gave the Royal Law.
At the end of this passage there are two phrases that are reminiscent of the Lord’s prayer. Every Sunday we pray, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” When we pray that we are stating that mercy and forgiveness are principles we believe in and as we receive them from God we extend them to others.
James put it this way: “Judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” Remember that as you deal with all the odd and sometimes unpleasant neighbors God brings your way. Extend to them Gods love and mercy, treat them with dignity and respect. They are, after all, creatures of our God and King.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at January 17, 2010 05:53 PM