First Baptist Church: Sermon

Text: Luke 10:25-37

Message for January 20, 2002

by Pastor Glenn Layne

First Baptist Church of Temple City, California

Third Message in the Series:
A TOUGH-HEARTED FAITH FOR TRYING TIMES

Is the Muslim my Neighbor?
When a world collides ...

In Jesus' time, the Jews and the Samaritans just hated each other. Samaria was the area just north of Judea and just south of Galilee. It was a clash of faiths, however, on a small scale. We are talking about a small place. Samaria in Jesus' day was an area about 30 by 30 miles in size-a very small place.

For most of history, most people's worlds have been small. I am currently reading a great biography, John Adams, by David McCullough. He describes the danger and time involved in crossing the Atlantic-usually a four-month journey. Until Abigail Adams joined her husband in Paris and then in London, where he served as a diplomat both during and after the Revolutionary War, she'd never been farther from her hometown of Braintree, Massachusetts than the town of Haverhill, 40 miles northwest.

Now, in five or six hours-not months, not weeks, not even days-you can cross from Boston to Europe. I recall it took us a mere nine hours to go from Los Angeles to Amsterdam on our way to Israel a few years ago. The idea would have been mind-boggling to John Adams-and even more so to the people of Jesus' day.

There's no question about it:

The "neighborhood" is getting smaller!

The whole issue of "who is my neighbor?"-the question which occasioned this well-known parable-is getting complicated, compressed, and very important. The term "Global Village" is maybe a little ahead of the game-but not by much!

Here in the LA area we are experiencing the "Pac-Rim" (Pacific Rim) reality on a historically unprecedented scale. Northern European-origined and African-origined peoples have come from the east; Latin Americans press up from the south. Asians arrive from across the Pacific-and remember there were Chumash Indians here before anybody!

The world has gotten smaller. There are only a few basic world forces vying for power in the 21st century. It does not take a genius to figure out that the great struggles of the 21st century will be between three forces (and probably not all at once): the ideals of western democracy, the expansive forces of the world's largest country, China, and the anti-modern ideas of radical Islam. At heart, these are all religious ideals: western democracy based at least in part in Christianity; Islam; and the anti-religious ideals of the People's Republic of China.

This is not the first era of religious pluralism-and of confusing and shifting ethnic pluralism. The era of Jesus and the apostles was such a time as well. The gods of Greece and Rome were in decline; new religions rose in Egypt and Parthia. Philosophies vied for acceptance. Stoicism sounds amazingly like the ideals of Buddhism. Hedonism, Judaism, Mithraism, Zoroastrianism-all these ideas and religions swirled around and guess what? After three and half centuries, wherever the gospel of Jesus was preached, it prevailed. I have that same confidence today. I am confident that Christ will prevail in China as well as in what we today call the Muslim world.

Now Jesus had an interesting twist on religious pluralism. By in large, He ignored it. He knew that there is inherent, transcultural power in His gospel. About the closest thing we have to a kind of commentary on the reality of many rival faiths is the familiar Good Samaritan story.

How is the Samaritan like-and unlike-today's Muslim? Last week, we looked at what you must know about Islam. We saw that Islam is a "post-Christian" faith: that is takes some of what Judaism and Christianity taught, but then revises it to the point of creating a new and distinctly different faith. Most different are the nature of salvation and the character of God. Salvation in Islam is achieved by works and the hoped for but never guaranteed mercy of Allah. And Allah's character is very different from that of the God of the Bible: He is said to have mercy and compassion, but you will look in vain for any statement in Islam about the LOVE of Allah. He is too lofty to love human beings. He may have compassion (if he pleases), but not love.

What did the Samaritans believe? The difference in beliefs of the Samaritans compared to the Jews was much less than the differences between a modern Jew or Christian and that of a Muslim. These Samaritans believed in the God of Israel, but actually were trying to "purify" the faith by rejecting everything after the five books of Moses. (In this they were similar to the Saducees.) So they rejected the Temple in Jerusalem, and built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim, above ancient Shechem. The Jews of Jerusalem reacted with outrage, and destroyed the Samaritan temple. They also believed in a messiah-figure, which they called the Taheb, the Restorer. In both the gospels and in the book of Acts, the Samaritans show a remarkable openness of the message of Jesus.

The real feud between the Jews and Samaritans was not based on theology, but on race. The Samaritans were the descendants of both Jews and non-Jews who had intermarried during the time of the exile. They were "half-breeds." It was race hatred that fueled their controversy.

It was in this context that Jesus makes a Samaritan the star of one of his most memorable parables. And from this parable I think we can gain some insights on how we are to live in a world in which faiths are clashing with one another.

Two Prime Lessons:

1. Be a Neighbor

This is striking. An "expert in the law", that is the Old Testament law, the Torah, asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus says-you should know: what does the law say. His response?

27He answered: " `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, `Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (The quotations are from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19)
28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Some scribes maintained the "neighbor" was only your fellow Jew. Some even went on to say that while you should love your neighbor-you should hate the Gentiles! Cleverly, Jesus does not answer Him directly. He turns the question from, "Who is my neighbor?" to "How do I show myself to be a good neighbor?"

Compare Luke 10:29 and 36:

Vs. 36: "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

He re-framed the question: to-how wide is your circle? (Vs. 30-32)

30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

The setting: the nastiest road in Judea. 17 miles long, about four feet wide, with a sheer drop over most of its length on it's south side, rising from 1200 feet below sea level to 2500 above sea level. We saw the ancient road, and it is scary. (Come to think of it, the bus ride was kind of scary too!) If you get whacked on this road, you're in big trouble!

A priest and a Levite see this half-dead, half-naked guy bleeding by the road and say, no way Jose am I gonna get involved. This is obviously a dangerous place to loiter, and I doubt I can do anything for this poor soul anyway, so ciao, baby, see ya later. Their circle of compassion was drawn pretty tight: "I just don't want to get involved."

Now let me give you a startling image, one that is as much a twist as in the story itself: I see the man playing the part of roadkill as current state of the Muslim world. The Muslim has been mugged by the falsehoods taught by Muhammad. He has been robbed by the devil himself of the knowledge of God that comes through the gospel of Jesus. He-and she-has been stripped of his dignity by the commands of the Quran. And the Muslim has been left half dead by the attack.

Half dead. That means there's some life here. After what I said about Islam last week, this may come as a shock, but I must say that there are some very positive aspects to Islam. Islam teaches that there is but one God; that we must give account to that God for the way we spend our lives. It teaches the duty of mercy and the compassionate treatment of the poor. In it's better impulses, it teaches sound morality and respect for the family. While it distorted the Biblical faith, it derived much good from the teachings Muhammad found among Jews and Christians.

But half-dead is only half-alive. The man by the side of the road will die if he is not attended to. And as the Samaritan reaches across lines of faith to the needs of the Jew in the story, so we who are followers of Jesus must reach across faith lines to the Muslim. This is the historic moment, the God-appointed time to so reach out in care and compassion. For there is no doubt: the Muslim is my neighbor.

2. Being a Neighbor has three dimensions

If you look carefully at verses 33-35, you will see three distinct aspects of being a neighbor:

q Compassion (vs. 33)

33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

"He took pity on him": that's COMPASSION. This is in contrast to the heartless, I-don't-want-to-get-involved attitude of the priest and the Levite.

Question: in view of the fact that our nation was attacked last year by Muslims in the name of their faith, killing over 3000 people in New York and Washington, is compassion in order?

Before you answer, recall that the Samaritans had had their most important building-their temple on Mt. Gerizim-destroyed by the people on the man now dying on the road. Many Samaritans had died at the hands of Jews. But at this moment, for this Samaritan, that did not matter. You seem the "neighbor" is defined by the reality of an encountering a person in need. Right now, more than ever, it is clear that the average Muslim is the person in need.

A second aspect:

q Immediate action (vs. 34a)

34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.

This is 1st century AD first aid. Oil for abrasions (the kind you get when you choke on a pretzel!) and wine to a disinfectant.

He could have said, "Gee, poor guy. I feel really bad for him-much worse for him than the priest and the Levite. My heart is broken. I even think I'm gonna cry. Yes, I'm really upset." (Checks watch) "Oops. Time to go."

No, he jumped in there. He did what he could. Let me encourage you not only to feel something, but also to do something. To be intentional in your relations to your Muslim neighbors. To just say, "How are you doing?"

About 10 days after the attack, I had a conversation with a Muslim family. I wanted to make it clear that we didn't blame them-and that if they needed anything-if there was anyway to bring the oil and the wine, as it were-we stood by to help.

But there's a third aspect of being the neighbor:

q Commitment to the long haul (34b-35)

Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. `Look after him,' he said, `and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

Missions to the Muslim world-often the hardest, the most dangerous and the most discouraging-must be part of the long-term commitment of Christian church. This means relief, development, and it means the sharing of the means to real life-the gospel of Jesus.

I think we have some real, vital guidance in this story for the era we live in. Some guidance on how we relate to people with very different religious ideas than ours-and even to some people who wish us harm.

Some principles for the pluralistic/terroristic times we are in:

1. You still can't divide love of God from love of people-any people (v. 27-28)

27He answered: " `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, `Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

Repeatedly, Jesus says or endorses this truth: that you cannot divide loving God from loving people. This dual love command has been called the Great Commandment.

There's an old Peanuts comic strip where Linus confesses his problem: "I love mankind. It's people I can't stand." The Jesus way goes beyond that to real people. And if you're not loving real people, don't kid yourself.

Do you think a little Iraqi boy is of less value than an American child in the sight of God is? Or that a woman living by a muddy river in Bangladesh is less esteemed by God that a man living on the Mississippi River?

These are people with hopes and dreams and families-and souls. And Jesus says, love your neighbor as you love yourself.

2. Yes, the Muslim (and anyone I encounter in this now much smaller world) is my neighbor, and as followers of Jesus, that means a response of compassion, action and commitment.

3. There are times we encounter people simply as people, created in the image of God, and thus with courtesy and compassion, and there are times we encounter them on behalf of the gospel of Jesus.

Your Muslim, or Buddhist, or Sikh, or Hindu, or Jewish or atheist neighbor is still your neighbor. Note than the Samaritan did not make conversion either a prerequisite nor even the goal of his acting as neighbor to the injured Jewish man. Yes, we hope and pray and long for the opportunity of sharing the good news of Jesus, but the Bible teaches that all persons are created in His image. Therefore, every person is worthy of being treated with due compassion and dignity and respect.

4. There is always a cost in being a neighbor (vs. 35)

The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. `Look after him,' he said, `and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

Omar Bradley was one of America's great generals of the Second World War. He told his story in his autobiography, A Soldier's Story.

Bradley, like any good leader, loves to tell other people's stories, including that of Col. Paddy Flint, an eccentric but brilliant commander during the North Africa campaign.

Flint was 185% committed to his mission and his men. On the side of jeep and on the side of his helmet, he had these letters painted: AAA-0. That stood for "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime, Bar Nothing!" AAA-0!

That's the call of Jesus-past and present. That's the kind of love of neighbor He calls us to. "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime, Bar Nothing!" That's how the Samaritan responded. Now it's our turn. And in the words of Todd Beemer, "Let's roll."