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There was a little boy who was failing math at school... doing miserably…
His parents tried everything they could to get him to do better in this subject…
But no matter what they tried… he continued to fail...
So finally… out of desperation…
They took him down to the local Catholic parochial school… and enrolled him…
And it was amazing… after the first day… that same boy came home and went up to his room…
Closed the door… and immediately went to work on his math…
His parents could hardly get him to come down for dinner...
After dinner… he went right back up to his room… and "hit the books again."…
Well… weeks later… at the end of the quarter… report cards came out…
The boy placed his report card on the kitchen table… for his parents to find…
When his mother read it, she just about dropped over...
He had an "A" in math...
She was astounded…
So she tried to get to the bottom… of this drastic change...
She asked him what motivated him… to do so well…
Was it the teachers… no… was it the technique or classroom size… no…
Was it the kind of books they used, but he said "no."
Then what’s the deal… why the change in your math scores?...
He said… that first day at school… I looked up on the wall…
And I saw a man nailed to a plus sign…
And I knew that they were not fooling around at that school…
So I got right to work on my math…
We all need a little motivation… now and then…
I’ve been reading the story of the Good Samaritan…
And I’ve been thinking a lot lately…
About what motivates us to do our ministry…
To be engage in loving and serving each other…
I know the Good Samaritan is just a story… that Jesus told one day…
But I’m really wondering… what motivated the Priest and Levite…
To behave in the way that they did…
Why do they walk around… the man’s broken body…
Why do they avoid… the emergency situation… right in front of them…
Why do they run away… when everybody knows… you should at least stop and call for help…
What motivates them… The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost:
July 11, 2010
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once commented… on their motivation… he said…
The first question the priest and the Levite asked was…
‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’…
But ... the Good Samaritan reversed the question:
If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”
See the priest and the Levite… were worried about their own stuff…
So what motivated them?...
Maybe it was their own RIGHTEOUSNESS –
According to the Jewish law… which these guys knew inside and out…
Dead bodies make them unclean…
And they felt a powerful need to stay clean… to have a right relationship with God…
Maybe they didn’t stop because their personal righteousness at stake…
Maybe they were AFRAID – that they would be hurt…
Dangerous road… between Jerusalem and Jericho…
Was nicknamed… the Way of Blood…
Known for robbers and cut-throats...
It was a bad place… and an unwise place to stop…
Maybe they wanted to maintain their self IMAGE –
Maybe this kind of thing was below them…
Maybe the guy lying in the ditch… represented the scum of the earth…
I mean… they were in positions of power and importance…
What would it look like… if they bent over… to help this dirty bloody man…
They might actually get dirty… or bloody… themselves…
Whatever the motivation for their avoidant behavior…
It doesn’t change the fact… that Jesus was using them…
As a negative example…
Jesus picked on the priests and the Levites…
And Pharisees and Sadducees…
And Scribes and Pious People in general…
He seemed driven… to point out the hypocrisy…
Inherent in the religious system of the day…
You ever wonder why…
Why did they upset Jesus so much…
Why did he constantly give them a public flogging with his words…
Why did Jesus… who was the king of love… and mercy… and acceptance…
The Master of grace…
The One who came to die… for the entire world…
Why did he attack these people… every chance that he had…
Every wonder why…
Jesus didn’t like religious people…
Most the time… it was because of their motivation…
They were phony bolognas… so concerned with fulfilling the rules…
Doing everything the right way…
Making the right impression…
Being the goody-two shoes…
So that everyone could see… how much they loved God…
But like Dr. King said…
Their motivation was… self interest…
Jesus’ motivation was… and still is…
The interest of others…
And the sad part is…
They were so concerned with their own well-being…
That they missed the point… of the faith…
It wasn’t to make them look good…
Faith was meant to be a relationship with God…
That was centered on love… and life… and hope…
And then passed on… to anyone who wanted or needed… those same things…
Faith isn’t something you can accomplish…
We aren’t working our way to heaven… by being perfect little people…
Our righteousness is not dependent on our own behavior…
Think about all the wonderful things… Mother Teresa did…
You know… when it comes to righteousness… you and Mother Teresa… are exactly the same…
Because you both believe in Jesus…
It’s not what we do that makes us righteous…
Our righteousness is dependent on Jesus Christ… and his love for us…
Faith simply means… you are in a relationship with God… through Jesus…
And service… loving our neighbors… is an expression of that relationship…
Our desire to serve… is just a way of passing on the love…
It’s love tag… baby… you’re it…
That’s why Jesus was constantly warning us…
To be mindful of our own motivation…
Our own attitudes…
Our own faith…
Jesus was saying…
Don’t act like everything depends on you… because it doesn’t… it depends on me…
So… just a couple comments about the story of the Good Samaritan…
First… it’s absolutely clear that Jesus wants us to love other people…
Regardless of how we feel about them…
Regardless of how it affects our reputation or standing…
But please note…
According to the story… we don’t have to look very far… to find our neighbors in need…
The characters were just walking down the road… when the opportunity appeared…
Jesus wants us to do ministry… with the people… who are on our path…
Right in front of us…
I mean… these people didn’t go looking for problems to solve…
The opportunity to love and serve… was right there… in front of them…
All they had to do… was open their eyes… to see their neighbor…
And open their hearts… to love their neighbor…
Secondly… Jesus wants us to be humble in our service…
Jean Frederick Oberlin… a minister in 18th century Germany…
Was traveling by foot in winter… when he was caught in a severe snowstorm…
He soon lost his way in the blowing snow…
And was seriously afraid that he was going to freeze to death...
In despair he sat down… not knowing which way to turn…
Just then… a man came along in a wagon… and rescued Oberlin...
He took him to the next village and made sure he would be cared for…
As the man prepared to leave…
Oberlin said…
“Tell me your name so that I may at least… have you in grateful remembrance before God.”
The man, who by now had recognized Oberlin, replied…
“You are a minister. Please tell me the name of the Good Samaritan.”
Oberlin said, “I cannot do that, for it is not given in the Scriptures.”
His benefactor responded…
“Until you can tell me his name, please permit me to withhold mine.”
I think that’s what made the Samaritan so effective in ministry…
He was nobody special…
He was just a guy… who did the right thing…
He was in fact… a Samaritan… and that freed him up… in a way…
He had nothing to lose…
The Jewish people didn’t respect him…
The Jewish people didn’t like him…
The listener of the story… a Jewish man…
A Samaritan was his enemy…
Someone to be criticized…
Definitely not an example… or a hero…
I think that made him uniquely prepared to help other people…
He knew the pain… of rejection and hatred…
He knew what it meant… to be on the outside…
With no one to help…
So out of compassion… common suffering… he didn’t want his neighbor to suffer the same fate…
There’s a saying I recently heard… that I think captures this idea…
YOUR PAIN… IN MY HEART…
When we can identify with broken people…
Who need love… and need to be served…
We actually begin to take their pain… into our hearts…
And that process motivates us to serve…
The Third thing observation from the Good Samaritan story is…
Our service is a response…
Donald Trump… the famous businessman… has about 6 billion dollars…
That’s about the same as Pastor Brent… anyway…
There is a story about Trump I read this week …
It is said that Trump’s limousine broke down on the Garden State Parkway…
An unemployed car mechanic stopped to help…
Succeeded in getting the limo running…
And then refused to accept any payment for his services…
Trump was so impressed…
That the next day he sent flowers to the mechanic’s wife…
And a certified letter stating that the man’s mortgage had been paid in full...
Trump will not comment on the story…
He refuses to confirm or deny… what he did…
He simply said… I don’t do those kinds of things for publicity...
JESUS and Donald Trump agree… when it comes to motivation…
Our acts of charity… our acts of mercy… and love…
Are supposed to be private things…
Between us and God…
If we get the praise of other people…
If we get the accolades… and pats on the back…
That’s the reward we receive for doing good…
Jesus taught us… when we give alms…
When we pray…
When we serve…
Do it quietly…
Do it as an offering to God…
Our motivation is quiet...
Our motivation is to imitate the example of Jesus…
Who even though he was in the form of God…
Did not regard equality with God…
Something that should be exploited…
But EMPTIED himself…
Took the form of a slave…
Being born in human likeness…
He humbled himself…
And became obedient to the point of death…
Even death on a cross…
Our motivation… is not self-centered…
We aren’t asking what’s in it for me…
What am I going to get out of this…
Our motivation to do good in the world…
Is quite simply… to give thanks to God…
For what God has done for us…
And when we say thanks… to someone in particular…
We don’t shout it from the mountain tops…
We don’t wear it out on our sleeves for everyone else to see…
We just… go about our work… with our nose to the grindstone…
Doing what we know is good and right and holy…
We serve the God of Love…
Because God has loved us… so deeply…
And we want others to know that depth and power of God’s love…
Well… with that in mind… just last week… we had our Senior High Mission Trip…
To Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota…
There were 44 of us on the trip… half youth… half adults…
Our Senior High trips are student/parents trips…
Each youth is paired up… or sometimes tripled up…
With an adult… to help and guide on the faith journey…
All I want to say is… how proud I was… of our youth…
They worked hard… to share the love of God… with others…
They didn’t complain… when they were asked to shovel a pile of dirt…
And throw it into the tall grass…
And then later were asked to gather the same dirt… to fill holes in the yard…
They served with joy… and love… and it was good… [INVITATION]…
The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost: July 11, 2010
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