Pastor Wesley Howell - Sermon June 3, 2007

"United Way"

Recently, our United Way campaign took as its motto, "You've Got to Care." The folks at the United Way seemed to assume that, if people care, they will automatically be motivated to act, to perform caring works, or to contribute to the United Way. But in my experience, "care" can be cheap. Action is costly. Lots of us care, and care deeply, but actually doing something, that is another issue.
When racial incidents occurred at a University, the perpetrators were accused of "racial insensitivity." "Sensitivity" seems to have become a predominant ethical concern. If we could just get people to be more "sensitive" about other people's feelings and needs. Frankly, this seems rather thin stuff. When it comes to ethics, don't we want more than mere sensitivity?
Think about today’s Gospel. In Luke’s telling Jesus has healed a number of people/ Driven out demons even. But let’s face it. This is ramping it up a bit. The man isn’t ill; he has died. The people of the town of Nain are in the process of burying him when Jesus and a large crowd of followers come upon him. Jesus is on the way from Capernaum toward Jerusalem when they pass through this town that was directly on the way.
Why did he stop?
The situation of a funeral might have been cause for Jesus and his followers to give wide berth. At this point, it would seem that there was nothing that even a prophet like Jesus could do. He had previously demonstrated his power over the forces of illness. But, whether illness or injury, this situation had progressed terminally. There would have been nothing left for Jesus to do. It would have made sense for him to stand aside and keep a respectful, but also ritually pure distance from the passing corpse.
Today, for most of us, death is kept at a distance. It usually occurs in isolated places where only specialists have to deal with it. Afterwards, when families prepare to make funeral arrangements, more specialists step in to maintain a margin of insulation around the grieving. We keep our distance in our own ways.
Death and taxes. Our practical side kicks in and says, ”well that’s just the way things are.” How much evil to we let go by those words.
But something moved Jesus… deeply. The Greek splagnizomai is a visceral verb, relating the seat of emotions to your guts. Jesus had a visceral reaction to the scene that passed by.
Why did he stop?
I am a preacher, and one of the goals of preaching is to motivate people to live better lives. But simply telling people what they ought to do, and even having people agree with you that this is what they ought to do, is not enough. Why do people act, reach out, take a stand, or risk.
So, because I'm a preacher and I'm interested in these things, I’d like to go up to Jesus and ask. "Why did you stop?"
And, as is the case with Jesus he turns the questions back in you.
"Well, Wes, Why would you stop?"
"I stopped because, well, I don't really have a reason why I stopped. I just stopped. I don't know why. I guess I ought to have a reason, but I don't. I just did it sort of out of second nature."
"Because of the way I have been brought up! My mom always said, 'If you see somebody in need, and you are able to help, I expect you to help.'"
"I stopped because I knew that man could have been me! That lady could have been my mom.
The injustice of it all. A young man! He was her only son which meant she was as good as dead too. That’s just the way things were. Often widows just made themselves a last meal and went out into the dessert to die. I stopped out of anger."
"Because it was what God would want me to do. Christianity puts a lot of stress on serving others. Every person is a beloved child of God. It's what is expected."
"Why did you stop? When I ask Jesus the answer is clear. Because I could.
Maybe we see that our motivation, our stated reason, our rationale, is not the point.
He did something.
Maybe this is what the ethical life is like. The main thing is not to find good reasons or to deliberate on a course of action. Maybe at the end of the day, the main thing is to act. In a couple weeks we’ll have the story of the Good Samaritan. And Jesus doesn’t end the story with a dissertation on “OK…this is your neighbor. This is who your neighbor is. That’s where we like to leave it but it’s NOT where Jesus does. He say, "Go, and do likewise."
Go and do. Jesus asked, "Who was a neighbor to the man in need?" The neighbor was the one who acted, who reached out to the man in the ditch, healed his wounds, risked all, and gave a great deal of money for the wounded man's restoration. He was the neighbor because he went and did likewise.
So in light of the story, Jesus doesn't simply say, "Love your neighbor." Feel for them. Jesus says to go and do. The important thing is not the reason. The important thing is the doing. It is not a question of motivation; it's one of action. Fighting Death may not be on our list of action items but death comes in a variety of forms…and in little ways. When you find yourself saying, “Well that’s just the way things are.” You’ve probably met a little death.
Jesus leaves us with a simple command and we are left with a simple decision. Sometimes Sunday morning is a time to think, a time to feel. And sometimes Sunday morning is a time to obey, a time to do. I think this is one of those Sundays.