To Draw Near and To See

Luke 10: 25-37

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”  He answered, “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.”  And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’  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.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

 “To Draw Near and To See”

The question in this passage that generally gets the most attention is this one: Hey, just who is my neighbor, anyway? The theologian Eugene Peterson calls this a trick question – and that this lawyer is looking for a loophole when he poses it.

Of course, Jesus is not easily duped by this guy. And so he tells a story, and ends with a question posed right back to the lawyer – not who is MY neighbor, but – Who WAS the neighbor to the man in trouble?

And given the choice of three responses – the priest, a leader in the Jewish faith; or the Levite, who was something like a designated lay priest; or the Samaritan, who was considered not even worthy of attention by a Jew – this lawyer can not even bring himself to say “the Samaritan”. He responds instead by saying, “the one who showed him mercy.”

To which Jesus says, OK – go and do likewise. Go and show mercy.

Go and be sure that you don’t just walk on by, like the others did.

So why did the Samaritan show mercy when the others did not?

The other two saw him, but then crossed over to the other side of the road. Only the Samaritan drew near. And that is what led him to truly see this man’s awful situation – he had been beaten and left for dead – and so to be “moved with pity. Now pity can be defined as a gut level feeling of empathy for the suffering of others. And being moved means doing something about it.

How many of you have ever seen the movie “Tootsie”? This is the movie where Dustin Hoffman takes on the persona of a woman to get work, and gets into all sorts of crazy situations, and of course he learns a lot in the process. There’s a short video clip of an interview with Dustin Hoffman that was popular on the internet recently.

In it, he talks about an epiphany he had that came from drawing near, and experiencing the world through the filter of another.

Dustin Hoffman Interview Clip

What do these two stories have in common – the Samaritan’s response to the man who has been attacked by robbers, and Dustin Hoffman’s reaction to being made up to look like a woman?

Both stories include a description of what happens when we “walk on by”, and also the impact of “drawing near”, coming close.

Hoffman’s epiphany was that he realized he would, in essence, “cross the street”,when a woman didn’t meet his expectation for female beauty. He wouldn’t have bothered, in the past, to get to know her, or to learn what was interesting or unique or special about her, because, as he said, he had been brainwashed to believe she didn’t matter.

Because he brought himself near to the experience of another in this way, he was moved with compassion to do something.

If we don’t come close, we will not be moved.

If we don’t come close, we will not have the experience of knowing many, many, interesting people… because we, too, have been brainwashed.

Sometimes it’s because we are afraid. It may be a reasonable fear, or it may be a fear that has been passed on to us, one with no basis when it is held up to the light.

We live in a world that wants to eliminate all risk, and so we avoid anything that might go wrong, even though the odds are minimal.

We remember what we were told as children – “don’t talk to strangers” – and we continue to practice this as adults.

And we rely on the filters we’ve developed over time to tell us what’s safe and what’s not – who’s a stranger and who’s not.

But we have got to watch out for our filters getting clogged, because they can cause us to make snap decisions with long lasting, negative consequences. We must draw near to others to have any hope of knowing if our filters make sense anymore.

Sometimes it’s because we are just too busy.

Our work and our family demand our primary attention.

And then there’s time spent in exercise, and there’s choir practice and session meetings, and all the other things with which we fill our days and nights and lives. How can we possibly let anything slide if we stop to be a neighbor to someone in need?

But we must ask ourselves what priorities and idols we serve in the way we fill our lives, and what it would take to rearrange our priorities.  

For example: I remember the time my dad had a medical crisis.

I had young children, I had a high powered stressful job, and for the next four months just about everything else got minimal attention from me, so that I could be present for him and my mom.

Now, will I shift my schedule in a similar way to help another, to show mercy, to someone who’s not in my family or circle of close friends?

Sometimes it seems what little I can do won’t matter anyway. What good will a dollar or five dollars do if I give it to this homeless person, on this corner, this one time? The problem is so large, Lord, and I am so small. The tiny drop in the bucket that I can offer feels like a wasted effort. And I want my donations to be productive! Surely there must be a program out there that is trying to solve the bigger issue.

I’ll write a check to them instead.

But – the act of writing a check does not draw us near to one another, and we miss learning firsthand about the lives of the people we serve.

If we believe that God puts people and situations in front of us to teach us how to trust, and to love, and to serve, then we begin to respond differently to the people and situations we encounter. We may not be able to fix the whole problem, but often we can do something just because we were present at that moment.

Our gospels are filled with parables from Jesus about people bringing less than what is needed – the boy with five loaves and two fishes, the widow giving her last two pennies to the synagogue, even Jesus using ordinary stuff like water and mud – and from these came miracles.

 There’s an important message here for us not only as individuals, but as the church, the body of Christ, as well. This parable can help us see how the church can be a neighbor, and show mercy. But this means facing the ways we have been brainwashed as the church as well.  Can we suspend judgment, and trust, and truly be the body of Christ for those in need? Can we offer time and space to the stranger, to the lonely, to the troubled? – a willingness to stop and draw near and be moved by the compassion that we feel, not overcome by anxiousness that often arises when we consider what we ought to do? Can we show mercy by serving in new ways, even if we realize that we can’t do it all? Can we trust that God brings the right people and opportunities together, so that God’s will can be done?

When we are open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we see with new eyes. And the way we see our neighbor is the way God sees us. You see, God drew near to us, in Jesus Christ, the Word incarnate, and took pity on us, and acts with compassion toward us, caring for us far beyond what we deserve.

God willing, we will act with the same compassion, and not with fear, because of what we have been given, and how we have been loved; with the confidence that God is making all things new, and that God wants us to draw near to one another and to participate in God’s kingdom; knowing that whatever we can do, God will bring to completion.

Let’s pray.

God of grace and mercy,

Help us to draw near, as you draw near to us even now.

Help us to be neighbors to those in need, and to not just walk on by.

Move us with compassion, and give us new eyes to see the wonder in each and every person, every one your beloved child, so that we can be the kind of neighbor you desire, the kind that shows mercy beyond measure.

In Christ we pray – Amen.