Sunday: The 7th Sunday after Pentecost
Reading: Luke 10:25-37
Preacher: Peter C. Lane

On Wednesday afternoon, a gentleman came to this church looking for a priest. Shorter than me, quite muscular, probably in his early 40s, this fellow came looking for help. He told me that his young daughter was facing some great difficulty. I'll spare you the specifics, but it was heart wrenching. That daughter lives in Zion, IL and tears welled in this father's eyes as he asked for cash so that he could take the Metra out to Zion to be with his daughter. He was desperate.

While we talked, another story was on my mind. Let me tell it to you again like our children would hear it in Godly Play. There was once someone who did such amazing things and said such wonderful things that people followed him. As they followed him they heard him speaking of many things. Sometimes people asked him questions. One day a person asked him what the most important thing in life is. The person he asked said, "You already know." "That is true. I do. It is to love God and to love people just like they are your neighbors." The person paused a while and thought. He then asked another question, "But who is my neighbor?" The person he asked then told this parable. There was once someone who went from Jerusalem down to Jericho. As he went along his way he was attacked by robbers. They hurt him, took everything that he had, and left him by the side of the road half dead. A great priest from the temple came by but went to the other side and went along his way. Someone who worked at the temple, a Levite, walked by, but he went to the other side and went along his way. Then a man visiting from Samaria walked by. The people in Samaria did not like the people in Jerusalem, and the people in Jerusalem did not like the people from Samaria. This stranger stopped, put medicine on the places where the person was hurt. He gave him his coat to put on. He then put him on his donkey and took him to a place to spend the night. The stranger even stayed with him all the night, and in the morning he gave the innkeeper enough money for him to stay there until he was well. Go and do likewise.

With this story fresh in my mind I told the gentleman with the daughter in trouble that I could not help him in the way he wanted, that the church does not give out cash. This gentleman is undeniably my neighbor, so why did I say no? When I lived in Philadelphia, I heard a terrific talk from Sr. Mary, founder of Project Home, one of the most effective organizations fighting homelessness in our country. She told us not to give beggars money, because it so often kept them on the street and just above the deep neediness that would force them to the organizations that can provide real help. Also, I have learned the hard way at SPR. When I first got here three years ago, I did give out cash to those who came seeking it. (Part of the money you all give to support this church goes into clergy discretionary accounts, accounts we use to help the poor and those in need.) I knew about the Good Samaritan, about the clear ethical demand to act neighborly to everyone, even an enemy. But giving to everyone who asked forced me to judge the worth of each story. There was no rhyme or reason to what I was doing. I came up with a better plan. I spent about $500 buying CTA cards and gift certificates to Subway restaurant. That way I could show the generosity of the church without the iffyness of giving cash. Word got out and all of our cards were gone in days. The rush was amazing, but we don't have a $25,000 line item for Subway gift certificates. This past summer I helped a women with two children get her driver's license and find housing. After helping this woman, I started getting many calls on my cell phone from other folks asking how the church could help them. It pained me to say we couldn't. I individually, and this parish collectively, support other institutions that do that work better: Bishop Primo House with women and children, our Deacon Jack spends every week running the Cathedral Shelter, our support of SOUL gets at root causes of poverty, Open Kitchen cooks for the hungry, and Episcopal Relief and Development supports a myriad of programs. I believe saying no to the gentleman but supporting these institutions is a faithful response to the parable of the Good Samaritan. I am committed to standing with the least of these. How is difficult.

The notion of stewardship is useful in thinking about how we should "Go and do likewise." Stewardship is the idea that Christians hold money and property provisionally. God is the giver of all good gifts and all things belong to God. Like servants in charge of the household when the master is away, we must answer for our use of money to God. We must be good stewards of everything we have been given. One thing this means is that one can have wealth and manage it in a holy way. This idea of stewardship developed during the reformation and has been developed most fully in the U.S. over the last couple centuries. It is quite a change from the notion of the best Christian approach to money that preceded it, one made famous by St. Francis. St. Francis' way of dealing with money still haunts us. I have a number of children's books that tell the story well. Francis gave away all he had and told his wealthy father that he was not interested in his money. The religious order that St. Francis founded became a mendicant order, one that relies totally on charity for its support. When I went to the basilica in Assisi in January, I gave a brown robed Friar 20 Euro in exchange for him blessing and sprinkling holy water on a prayer card. (We gave it to our Godson.) This idea that the most noble thing to do with money is to flee from it still holds a strong sway on us. Barack Obama has been lauded for giving up big time jobs in law firms to work as a community organizer in Roseland after Harvard Law. While some are certainly called to a life of voluntary poverty, some are called to physically get down in the ditches, most of us are called to live lives of careful stewardship. We must help the man in the ditch, but it is o.k.-it is good-to think about the best use of our money to meet that end.

To know how to do that, we don't turn to the bible but rather turn to economists and social workers. We must use what we learn carefully. We cannot ignore economics and sociology because Jesus said, "Give to everyone who begs from you?" That utopian reading misses the lessons of the reformation about stewardship. And yet theology cannot simply step aside and allow the conversations at Booth school of Business or SSA School of Social Work take place without the input of theology. Those disciplines rightly base their work on research to see what is the most useful. But our belief in God demands particular respect for the dignity of every human being and calls for Amazing Grace. Good stewards keep all of that in tension.
There is even some evidence of that careful stewardship in our passage. The great 3rd century church father Origen interpreted this passage allegorically, reading deeper meaning into every little part of the parable. He notes that the Samaritan did not wander down the road accidentally, but was rather equipped for what lay ahead. Why else would he have had bandages, oil, and wine with him?

Go and do likewise. It is an obligation but also a gift. Sometimes we are the man in the ditch and Jesus comes to bind our wounds. But sometimes Jesus is the man in the ditch and we are given the opportunity to render him service and thanks. If the man in the ditch is Jesus, then our actions can be pure gift in response to Jesus' grace toward us. There is no superiority or patronizing. The gentleman who came into the church needing money wasn't just hoping to help his daughter. He was also the ambassador of Christ. I pray that the way I responded was the appropriate response to the grace of God in my life. I pray that as a community we strengthen one another that we might continually find ourselves better and better stewards of all that God has entrusted us.

Selected Sources:

C.E.B. Cranfield, "The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)," Theology Today, 1954.
Roukema, Riemer, "The Good Samaritan in Ancient Christianity," Vigiliae Christianae, 2004.
Stephen J. Dubner "Freakonomics Quorum: The Economics of Street Charity," New York Times, 8/9/2007 accessed at http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/freakonomics-quorum-the-economics-of-street-charity/
"Panhandling: A Little Understanding" accessed at http://www.nationalhomeless.org/want_to_help/panhandle.html