For the week of July 13 – 5th Sunday after Pentecost
Morning Prayer: Almighty God, You give the holy law to Your people so that it will always be near us and our children. Through our Lord Jesus who has fulfilled the law in every way, grant that we may love You with heart, soul, strength, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. Amen. (Lectionary Prayers)
Opening Hymn: #364 Because He Lives
- God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus; He came to love, heal, and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon, an empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.
Refrain: Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives.
- How sweet to hold a newborn baby, and feel the pride and joy he gives;
But greater still the calm assurance, this child can face uncertain days because He lives.
- And then one day I’ll cross the river; I’ll fight life’s final war with pain;
And then as death gives way to victory, I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He reigns.
Psalm 25:6-10 (CEB)
6 Lord, remember Your compassion and faithful love—
they are forever!
7 But don’t remember the sins of my youth or my wrongdoing.
Remember me only according to Your faithful love
for the sake of Your goodness, Lord.
8 The Lord is good and does the right thing;
He teaches sinners which way they should go.
9 God guides the weak to justice,
teaching them His way.
10 All the Lord’s paths are loving and faithful
for those who keep His covenant and laws.
Prayers of Intercession: Thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayers for those dear to our hearts. We now pray as You have taught us: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: UMCOR’s response to loss of life and loss of homes and possessions in Texas. Bishop’s letter attached.
UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) is on the ground in Texas and New Mexico, assisting with flood recovery and relief and providing services to those who have been devastated by loss of life and loss of homes and possessions. Mission Central was stocked but now needs to replenish supplies. Today and July 20 we will collect a love offering for UMCOR and Mission Central. Cash or checks can be mailed to the church or make arrangements with Amy Dent 570- 317-7807. Please clearly mark your donation to Mission Central or UMCOR.
Offering prayer: Gracious and strengthening God, in You, we find the power to endure with patience and the grace to give thanks with joy. As we offer these gifts, may they bear fruit in Your kingdom, strengthening the church, uplifting the weary, and sharing the hope we have in Christ. Help us remember that we are not alone but surrounded by the saints of light, past and present. May our generosity reflect Your abundant love and our lives proclaim the gospel in word and deed. In Christ’s name, we give and rejoice. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of Preparation: #128 He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought
- He leadeth me: O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate'er I do, where'er I be, still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.
Refrain: He leadeth me, He leadeth me, by His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me.
- Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom, sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom,
by waters still, o'er troubled sea, still 'tis His hand that leadeth me. (Refrain) - Lord, I would place my hand in thine, nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see, since 'tis my God that leadeth me. (Refrain) - And when my task on earth is done, when by Thy grace the victory's won,
e'en death's cold wave I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me. (Refrain)
Scripture: Luke 10:25-37 (CEB)
25 A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?”
26 Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?”
27 He responded, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”[a]
28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”
29 But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied, “A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death. 31 Now it just so happened that a priest was also going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. 32 Likewise, a Levite came by that spot, saw the injured man, and crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. 33 A Samaritan, who was on a journey, came to where the man was. But when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. 34 The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, tending them with oil and wine. Then he placed the wounded man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day, he took two full days’ worth of wages and gave them to the innkeeper. He said, ‘Take care of him, and when I return, I will pay you back for any additional costs.’ 36 What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?”
37 Then the legal expert said, “The one who demonstrated mercy toward him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Affirm your faith by reciting the Apostles’ Creed: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontus Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. (UM Hymnal #881)
Message: Pastor Becky Cuddeback
This is probably the best known of all Jesus parables, the parable of the Good Samaritan. We have Jesus in conversation answering 2 questions from a legal expert. When we talk about a legal expert, he's a lawyer, but in a church sense – one who knew the Scripture, one who was able to argue the law as prescribed in Torah. He is higher than a scribe, but not a priest. The man engaging with Jesus knows what he's talking about.
We see this in the answer to the first question because Jesus does not give an answer to the legal expert’s question about eternal life. Jesus asks him, “What is written and how do you interpret it?” The legal expert quotes Deuteronomy 6, the Shema, and includes Leviticus 19:18, which is the love your neighbor as yourself part. Jesus affirms his answer and says do this and live.
Awesome! Jesus has just affirmed the formula of salvation to eternal life, for the legal expert and for us. This should be a slam dunk. We can now just go home, call it a day, and tomorrow we start in earnest on how we will navigate our lives to strive for eternal life. Not because of the works, but being orientated towards God. Using everything, not one thing about ourselves is reserved for something other than love of God and the pinnacle is action aligned with love of neighbor.
We can't love God without belief in God. That cares for the belief component that we cling to so dearly. And belief in God calls for belief in the One sent by God. It becomes a circular argument. It's also the basis of processed theology, which we won't get into this morning because we need to get to the all important second question: Who is my neighbor?
Jesus begins His answer as a lesson. A man went from Jerusalem to Jericho, gets jumped by thugs, a band of thieves. For our context, we may want to look at it and understand it as one attacked by a gang. They take everything from him; his clothes, his dignity, his safety, and nearly his life. The man is left as vulnerable as one could possibly be.
Two people encounter him in this helpless and friendless state, a priest and a Levite. They do not come to the man's aid. Now, the crowd listening to this story would have automatically assumed in their minds that one of the two would have helped. It's the law to come to the aid of another. God has a lot to say about giving aid to those in need. This would have been the expectation of those closest to God, that they would have come to the aid of this man, but they did not.
Yet the most unexpected person does – the Samaritan.
Now our response is … of course he did. Hence the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan is remembered as good. We have Good Samaritan laws on our own books. They offer legal protection to people who give responsible assistance to those who are injured, ill or in danger. For example, if you're pulling someone from a burning building and in the process you dislocate their shoulder while giving aid you are protected from litigation. We have these laws to encourage people to offer assistance to others. It reduces the fear of being sued. It reduces the fear of being prosecuted if the aid goes wrong.
But we need to go back to who Jesus' audience would have been thinking about when Jesus named a Samaritan as the rescuer.
Samaria was part of the land given to the tribe of Jacob, which was given to the two sons of Joseph. This land was captured by the Israelites from the Canaanites. After the death of King Solomon, the unified nation divides. They became the Northern Kingdom, which is the Kingdom of Israel, while the Southern Kingdom was known as the Kingdom of Judah.
Long story short, although fascinating and a better understanding of history would help anyone everywhere when it comes to diplomacy, after the split, the Kingdom of Israel was invaded multiple times, most notably by the Assyrians.
One of the war tactics of destabilizing and neutralizing conquered areas was to deport about 1/4 of the population and relocate them to another conquered area. So 1/4 of the Northern Kingdom is moved out, but in its place come folks from another place. Because the area was worth keeping, because it was great agriculturally. The controlling empire isn't going to give up resources found, so it would send in people to make up for those that had been moved out. So in essence, Joe and his family get tagged to be moved out to another region. So Bill and his family get Joe’s home and Joe’s farm. Joe is of Jewish descent and Bill could be Babylonian or he could be Egyptian, whoever Assyria is battling at the time.
Lives begin to intertwine. Religions get mixed, they get replaced, they get reinvented. Family lines get blurry. Intermarriages happen. Life just kinda happens to those in Samaria. They are just trying to survive. But what emerges is a perceived enemy to the Southern Kingdom.
The Southern Kingdom has maintained its Judaism and its Temple; those in the north no longer follow or practice in the same ways as the south. The north still finds its identity with the God of Jacob, but they have a different understanding because of their lived experience.
The Southern Kingdom, mostly because of the care of Babylon in exile, codified Judaism and got to come back and rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the temple system. The Jews of the South do not regard their kin in the north. They despise them and refuse to acknowledge them as kin.
So to have a Samaritan as the rescuer would have shook their sensibilities because while geographically they are neighboring kingdoms, neighborly would not have been a characteristic attributed to the Samaritan. Yet Jesus isn't answering the question, who is my neighbor, but is telling how to be a neighbor. You act in compassion despite of who you are thought to be. Because the Samaritans were the dog. They were the unclean. They're the half-breeds. They are believed to be excluded from God's favor. No one standing before Jesus that day would have had a positive thing to say about the Samaritans, even though they shared DNA and have a common ancestor in Jacob.
In spite of all that could or would be thought about the Samaritan, he responded in caring. He chose that day to be the neighbor of the man needed, because the Samaritan could not leave the man in the condition he was in. The Samaritan saw the worth of the life of the man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho.
After the flooding in Texas, we watched the parable of the Good Samaritan play out in front of us. Rescuers came despite how they, as Mexicans, have been characterized, demonized and dehumanized by our country's citizens, government and media. They crossed over the border to bring help that was needed. They have come as volunteers committed to their mission. While there is no way any of the flood victims' families will ever be fully restored this side of glory, the rescue teams came, despite the hatred, to be our neighbors, loving us, as Jesus affirmed.
They showed us the lesson on how to obtain eternal life.
The parables of Jesus are lived out every day around us because God's Word is a living word. We just need to know what it says and to be ready to encounter it in our lives and in the world. Because the Risen Christ still teaches, still loves, still supports and still encourages all of God's children to love their neighbor. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #156 I Love to Tell the Story
- I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and His glory,
of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story, because I know 'tis true;
it satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.
Refrain: I love to tell the story, 'twill be my theme in glory,
to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.
- I love to tell the story; more wonderful it seems than all the golden fancies
of all our golden dreams. I love to tell the story, it did so much for me;
and that is just the reason I tell it now to thee. (Refrain) - I love to tell the story; 'tis pleasant to repeat what seems, each time I tell it,
more wonderfully sweet. I love to tell the story, for some have never heard
the message of salvation from God's own holy Word. (Refrain) - I love to tell the story, for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest. And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song,
'twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long. (Refrain)
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
