{"id":3189,"date":"2019-07-14T15:08:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-14T15:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=3189"},"modified":"2019-07-14T15:17:58","modified_gmt":"2019-07-14T15:17:58","slug":"sermon-14th-july-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-14th-july-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 14th July 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth Sunday after Trinity \u2013 morning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Sunday 14th July 2019 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trinity 4 – Proper 10 \u2013 morning
\nAmos 7.7 – end
\nLuke 10. 25-37<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Maureen<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You have to hand it to Jesus \u2013 he did not believe in giving his friends an easy ride!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nLast week, – for those of you\nwho followed the gospel reading, Jesus told the disciples that they\nwould have to accept the hospitality of anyone and everyone who was\nprepared to offer it \u2013 whether or not they were \u2018quite\nrespectable\u2019 and obeyed the food laws, \u2013 nothing was more\nimportant than spreading the message of God\u2019s love for all people!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nNow today, we see a young\nlawyer trying to get him to be a bit more specific…. \u201cBut, who is<\/em>\nmy neighbour?\u201d The person next door? In the next street? At the\nother end of the village? In the next town?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAll of that and more, comes\nback the reply…. and to demonstrate his point, Jesus tells the\nstory that we have come to know as the Good Samaritan. A very\nfamiliar parable and one that I am sure you know inside out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut let\u2019s just imagine it\nwas told in a slightly different way….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nA man was travelling late one\nnight on a train, when he was set upon by muggers who beat him up,\nstole his mobile phone and wallet and ran off, leaving him bleeding\nand unconscious on the station steps, with a serious head wound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nNow by chance a priest was due\nto catch the early train to attend an important conference in London\nthe next day. When she saw him, she said to herself, \u2018I have no\nfirst-aid skills with which to help. I can do more for that man by\npraying for him \u2013 I could call in at the Cathedral and light a\ncandle for him, and I will try to call an ambulance if I can get a\nsignal on the train \u2013 which is due any minute and I must not miss\nit or my train ticket will not be valid!\u2019 And she ran up the\nplatform steps and jumped aboard the train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSo likewise a barrister,\ntravelling to appear in an important trial, had much the same\nthoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut a homeless drug addict \u2013\nlooking for a suitable spot to beg for cash, nevertheless took pity\non the man. So he went to him, bound up his head with a filthy scarf\n\u2013 totally unsterile, shared his bottle of water with him and\ndragged him out of the station to where he could flag down a passing\nmotorist. Between them they half dragged, half carried the man to the\nnearest hospital where he was left on a trolley in A&E for the\nnext 10 hours… and died from his injuries!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIt is disturbing and\ndisorienting, isn\u2019t it? To hear a familiar parable turned upside\ndown. Now you could well argue that I am taking too many liberties\nwith the text. But I would plead that this is just the sort of\nreading that those listening to Jesus for the very first time might\nhave related to \u2013 even hoped for. Putting the addict (or the\nSamaritan) in his place and affirming the worth of the invisible\nreligious sensibilities and common sense of the priest and the\nbarrister\/Levite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nInstead, just when we imagine\nhis hearers began to relax their guard and settled down to hear a\ngood story, Jesus delivers a shock and surprise that blows their\nsettled world apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe story that Jesus told no\nlonger has any shock value for us. Reversing the familiar story line\nand making a case for the defence of those we are expecting to be the\nbaddies \u2013 demonstrates the outrageousness with which Jesus\u2019\nmessage was received. But then, parables are meant to blow apart the\nsettled, predictable worlds we have created for our own security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe young lawyer earned his\nliving by being precise with words; defining facts and limits. How\nthen could he cope with the unlimited, universal, unconditional \u2013\neven untidy \u2013 character of the law of God? How, on that basis,\ncould he ever be sure he had secured the eternal life which he so\nbadly wanted? With his supplementary question to Jesus, he is looking\nfor a watertight definition so he can know what precisely is expected\nof him and whether he can fulfil it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd we can have some sympathy\nwith this. The charity demands fall thick and fast through my postbox\nand into my email inbox… It can all get a bit overwhelming? We\ncan\u2019t possibly help them all! We may even get \u2018compassion\nfatigue\u2019 and find we are quite disabled even in the face of real\nand evident need \u2013 be it starving and sick children in war-torn\ncountries, or mistreated animals, or elephants being decimated by\npoachers. And it can all become something to be avoided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBecause he spent his life\ndefending others, maybe our lawyer wanted to defend and justify\nhimself? He hoped he could define in advance the limited claims that\nhe was expected to be set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut he might have known from\nthe radical message of the OT Prophets and of Jesus, that he could\nnever hope to justify himself before God, and no more can we! But the\ngood news is that we don\u2019t have to try, because justification \u2013\nis God\u2019s work, not ours, secured through the perfect life of Jesus.\nAll we have to do is love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd it is not the obvious acts\nof charity \u2013 our annual subs to Christian Aid or the Children\u2019s\nSociety, our weekly or monthly contribution to the church, our caring\nfor sick friends or relatives that catch us out. It is the\nunexpected, unplanned, unlikely people that cross our paths that\nchallenge and test us and put our faith on trial. \u201cWhen I needed a\nneighbour, were you there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWe can\u2019t be everywhere and\ngive to everything…! But we are invited to be a neighbour where we\nare. Kindness to the stranger in need we stumble across as we are\nracing to catch the train or bus. Or the elderly slightly muddled\nperson ahead of us in the queue at the Post Office when we are in a\nhurry. Being a neighbour is defined by where we, and those we have a\ncapacity to assist, meet. It is being near, making time, staying\nwhere we are, rather than crossing over to be somewhere else. It is\nattending, loving, giving \u2013 being Christ\u2019s eyes and ears and\nhands in a world that rushes by without a second glance at the\ncasualty lying in the gutter. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fourth Sunday after Trinity \u2013 morning Sunday 14th July 2019 Trinity 4 – Proper 10 \u2013 morning Amos 7.7 – end Luke 10. 25-37 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs You have to hand it to Jesus \u2013 he did not believe in giving his friends an easy ride! Last week, – for those of you who … <\/p>\n

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