Just about 2:30 on this warm, sunny Wednesday afternoon. Here in the United States, we honor our servicemen who have passed on the last Monday of May. President Lincoln instituted this after the Civil War upon request of a woman who thought it would be a nice tradition to begin. Lincoln originally chose May 30th because the most flowers are in bloom at that time. Since that time, people have expanded Memorial Day as a time to honor all family and friends who have passed. I guess it's just convenient since they have the day off anyway. (for those who do)

Since I grew up in Henniker, about 20 minutes west from here, it's been standard practice to go watch the parade, listen to the speech, and then get some lunch before (or during) the cemetery tours. This year, the first two of those were missed due to Carissa's alarm going off an hour late. Not that big a deal, at least for everyone but my mother. The parade literally takes about 2 minutes to pass by, and then the speech is pretty similar, just by a different veteran from the area. The other reason we didn't mind missing it was that it was raining most of the morning. By the time we arrived in town, it was clearing up, but the people had mostly dispersed. It turned out to be a nice afternoon, however. Especially when we stopped for lunch around 2 p.m. at a place I had lived near for about 2 yrs but never ate there. Tooky Pub is on the Square in Hillsborough, overlooking the Contoocook River at the back. We ate inside, however, and enjoyed historic photos of the neighborhood.

In other news, Mike's neck and shoulder are still in significant amounts of pain. Prayers appreciated for that; and that he can get some real answers at his Neurology appointment next month.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get an appointment with my Podiatrist. The joints in the middle of my large toes have been causing pain more and more in recent weeks. Not every second, but if I step wrong, it hurts. Also, I could be completely at rest and have a brief pain shoot through, especially on the left. Pray I can be seen soon, as I'm going to be on my feet much of the time June 6-7th, as far as I know right now, anyway.

As always, there's general family "stuff". Prayers appreciated for all.

Another good title for this message could be, "Who is My Neighbor??", but that doesn't match the theme of this series. The story itself, however, was the last one of the year that I taught the 3-5 yr. old Sunday School class at Hillsborough Methodist Church on June 8th, 1990. I left for Job Corps that Tuesday.*

In planning my lesson that previous week, I thought about how to relate the concept of neighbors to that age group. When the time came, I read the story, and then explained that our neighbor is not just the person who lives beside us, but beside that person. It's the people on the next street, in the next neighborhood, the next town, etc... Ultimately, I told them, the entire world is our neighbor. I also gave them the example of taking a piece of paper and a box of crayons. I talked about how you need a lot of different colors to make a really beautiful picture.* They seemed to understand that.

In today's message, we will explore how Jesus taught about neighbors and the compassion we should show for everyone; no matter who they are or where we come from.

Before starting in the Scripture the other day, Pastor Matt took a few minutes to talk about how our freedom in this country is a gift from God, and how, like any of His Gifts, we are meant to share it with others.

He then went on about how God is shaping a people, both individually and collectivelly. In the process of this for us, there are many voices in the world, each vying for our attention as to how we are meant to react to all the chaos. Some suggest anger, others fear, and then there are those who believe that power, domination, and division are the only solutions.

As we've seen before, Jesus is above all of that nonsense. Let's look at a well known story that illustrates this.

Turn with me, if you will, to Luke 10:25-37 --

Luke 10:25-37

New International Version

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b]”

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

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As Pastor Matt said, don't let your familiarity with this passage distract you from the deeper contexts here.

In exploring this Scripture, the first thing Pastor Matt pointed out was the fact that Jesus spoke of this immediately after having sent out the 72 Apostles.

The second was to ask for feedback after reading it. The observations were as follow -- "go, do likewise" - expert in the Law of Torah - the tone of that expert in response to Jesus' story and follow up question - what it must have been like for the man who received care - how the innkeeper also played a part.

Pastor Matt then gave us the takeaway thought for the day -- "God unleashes His compassion and mercy into the world through those who faithfully reflect His compassion and mercy into theirs.". (In other words, He gives as we do.)*

Next, we looked at the word "pity" in verse 33. Pastor Matt suggested that "compassion" would really have been a better choice here as it denotes action rather than a simple feeling of sadness for the situation. (See image below) The Greek word for "compassion" is "splanchnizomai". It means "inward parts or bowels, deeply moved toward helpful action". The gut was considered the seat of emotions in that time and place.*

In verse 37, Jesus asks the crucial question, "Who is my neighbor??". Pastor Matt brought out both the Greek and Hebrew here. First of all, the Greek word for "mercy", as used here, is "eleos". It means an act of steadfast kindness. It is compassion in action. Now, for those of you who may have been reading for a while, you may recognize the connection of "steadfastness" as we've seen it in the Hebrew word "hesed". This is the love of God exemplified by reaching out for the good of another without condition.

As Pastor Matt pointed out, the presence of the Samaritan in helping the wounded man showed the mercy of God on him. At the same time, he emphasized the fact that would have stood out most to the aforementioned Expert of the Law. The only one to offer help was a member of a people who were half Jew/half Arab. They lived in Israel, but no pure-blooded Hebrew actually wanted them there. (He didn't mention this himself, but I couldn't help thinking about the term "mudblood", from Harry Potter, in this scenario.) But here's the rub for the Priest and the Levite before we go getting all kinds of judgemental against them, okay?? According to Old Testament Law, these were the ones who were specifically trained and "ordained", if you will, to avoid dead bodies and blood. Thus, in hearing that they both passed on the other side of the road, the Expert would have thought this made perfect sense!! At this point, Pastor Matt made it a point to go back to the woman who had mentioned about the tone of response the Expert may have had when Jesus spoke of the Samaritan and the question of neighbors. Did he seem shocked?? Did he realize the mistake of the Law demanding the avoidance of dead bodies and blood?? Did he begrudge the idea that it was a mistake?? We are not told; we only have our own reactions to gauge. (And honestly, I feel like that's part of the point.)

Pastor Matt also shared the fact here that the road they were on was a major one. Therefore, it was known for being dangerous. Theives and muggers frequented this route, lying in wait for people to attack. This brings out the significance of the Samaritan not only having tended to the man; but also of moving him out of harm's way. In this, we see him not only taking full responsibility for the man; but inviting the Innkeeper to join in his mission. The Expert then had to sit with the fact that the Samaritan, an enemy, was the only one who initially helped.

We then flipped over to Matt 25 where Jesus is talking about the Final Judgement and how the sheep will be separated from the goats. This will be based, in part, on our compassion showed to others.* As Pastor Matt read this passage, he brought out the fact that compassion was not periferal to Jesus' teachings. Rather, we see Him literally equating Himself with the poor, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. This illustrates the character of God; and, as His image-bearers, how we are to act toward others.

Another passage in which we find this is Exodus 34:5-7, where Moses is on the mountain with God. Here, He describes Himself as, "compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness."

Finally, in relation to how we can practice these concepts in our daily lives, Pastor Matt called our attention to John 3:16. He shared the fact that the words "eternal life" don't only speak of time. Rather, they also indicate a life of abundance here and now.

In order to integrate the love of God into our lives, he mentioned that we must first receive it. Before we can rescue others, we need to be rescued by God. Pastor Matt brought out here that people's reactions can vary in this. Some may be arrogant, hoarding their Salvation as opposed to truly understanding that it is meant to be shared. This shows their "temperature", or motives. If someone feels self-righteous, they may become resentful of God's Salvation, and judgemental of others. Conversely, there are those who know how much they have been forgiven for. These people tend to be more forgiving of others. The second thing is to become an "Ambassador of Compassion", as Pastor Matt phrased it. In light of this, he listed a couple of ways in which CenterPoint Church, as a body, follows this mandate of Jesus. We participate in the Stephen Ministry, for one. If you're not familiar with this, volunteers are trained in showing compassion to those in emotional distress, even if it just means sitting in silence or praying with them. Another thing you've seen me mention here is City Hope. They collaborate with other agencies to provide finances for specific needs to those who could not otherwise pay for them. They also sponsor the Food Pantry that is available every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. Another one he neglected to mention is that we participate with other churches around Concord, NH in the Family Promise program. Each church takes a week every month to provide shelter to a family in need of housing.

These are just things churches can do corporately. Obviously, as individuals, there are others things that may provide us an opportunity to help our neighbors; whether locally or globally.*

-- God Bless!!

Footnotes:

1. Job Corps is a federally funded program that focuses on the trades and office work, primarily. Mike showed up July 9th, just 2 days before my 21st birthday. Now, I'm not sure what to think about "soulmates"; but if it's true that you meet them by your 21st birthday, then Mike skimmed it!! LOL

2. When I discovered the crayons and paper analogy being used on Nickelodeon several years later, I was like, "Wait a dang minute, that was MY idea!!". Who knew it would be so popular!!??

3. As always, parentheticals are mine.

4. In reference to the whole "seat of emotions" bit, I have two things to offer. One, as Pastor Matt has mentioned before, his wife, Heidi, is a nurse. Thus, she was able to confirm that the Greek word, "splanchnizomai" is where they get some of the medical terms relating to the abdominal cavity. Secondly, I was doing more of my Daily Bible reading yesterday. I just started into Leviticus where it talks about how the liver and kidneys were supposed to be set out as part of the Burnt Offerings. In questioning the significance of this, I discovered that it connects to the point of the guts being the seat of emotions. In offering this to God, it represents our emotional dependence on Him rather than on ourselves.

5. I'm saying that our compassion toward others will only be a part of how God will judge us because one need not be Saved in order to practice compassion. The two are not mutually exclusive; they simply bring potentially different motives and eternal results. Being a "good person" is not enough to enter Heaven. You also need a personal relationship with God.

6. The last bit is all mine.

Music -- No rights, I promise!!