St Stephens, Pinelands
Today’s gospel reading, the parable of the Good Samaritan is perhaps, together with the Parable of the Prodigal Son, one of the most famous of Jesus’ parables.
While I was preparing this sermon I started thinking about authors and story-tellers. I wondered if they show any of the traits the people, the characters in their stories have. Jesus was a wonderful story teller. His parables fascinated the listeners in his day as much as they fascinate us today. He does this by making the stories start off just like normal life for his listeners, then he suddenly adds a little twist, a step into the unusual which attracts their attention even more. Because Jesus showed that he knew the ins-and-outs of his characters, I’m sure they were traits Jesus had himself.
So can I start by perhaps shocking you and saying that Jesus was DISRUPTIVE. What? How was he DISRUPTIVE? Well, just read some of the parables and you’ll see what I mean. In his parables Jesus introduces the unexpected. The parable about the owner of the vineyard who goes out and employs workers. This owner goes out every couple of hours and returns with more workers right up to five pm. Then at six o’clock he pays them all the same wage! Isn’t that disruptive of all normal practices. Or the parable of the prodigal son – the father gives the son all his inheritance and then still welcomes the son back when he returns penniless. Now that is disruptive.
If Jesus is disruptive, then we who call ourselves Christians, that is we who are called to be Christ-like must also be disruptive. We must break from the normal practices. How? Well, Jesus told us. We must learn to love our enemies; we must learn to turn the other cheek and to go the extra mile. We must learn to think of others before ourselves. These sound all very disruptive things to do in a generation such as ours where fitting-in is the most important thing in life.
In fact, it sounds down-right DANGEROUS. But to be a Christian is downright dangerous. To do what is Christ-like is dangerous. We can see this in the parable that was read as our Gospel this morning. There was this poor old chap on his way to Jericho when, basically, he gets hi-jacked. We in South Africa can relate to a highway hi-jacking. But think for a moment about the Samaritan as he comes along the road. He sees a person in the ditch calling out for help. Isn’t this one of the same ploys used by South African hi-jackers? Place an accomplice on the road, when the motorist stops to check out what is going on, leap out of the bushes and steal the car. That must have been going through the mind of the Samaritan when he saw that traveller lying in the ditch. Was he a decoy for a gang hanging about behind the boulders alongside the road? Taking his life into his hands, living dangerously, the Samaritan carried out the actions of Christ by stopping, binding up the wounds of the victim and taking him to the nearest inn for safekeeping. Being a Christian is dangerous.
Jesus also tells a parable of man who finds a treasure in a field. This man then goes and sells everything he has so that he can buy that field and get the treasure. But what happens if the man was wrong? What happens if the treasure was not as valuable as he thought? He’s now lost all his money. To be a Christian means to live dangerously. In our own day we need only ask those Christian who are being persecuted for their faith to know that. We need only ask the Bishop of Washington, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde who, earlier this year, looked President Trump in the eyes and told him that he must show more compassion towards immigrants; or Pope Leo XIV who stood up and voiced his opinion on vice president JD Vance. And here in our own parish, we just need to ask Fr Michael Lapsley, one of the many so-called ‘troublesome priests’ who faced arrest and persecution during the Apartheid era to know that to follow Christ and his way is downright dangerous. But what about you, when you say you are a Christian? Is it dangerous for you to confess your faith without being mocked or derided by your work mates? I remember once talking to a friend on the train going home from work, about going to a Church meeting that night. One of the other passengers turned and asked me, “Oh, are you a Christian?” And I thought “oh dear, I know what this means, she going to prattle on about loving Jesus and everything else.” So, I said to her “Oh no! I’m an Anglican.” I wasn’t willing to face up to the very insignificant danger of acknowledging my faith.
Why was I embarrassed about my faith? I should not have been embarrassed about my faith, should have delighted in it. Being a Christian should be a DELIGHT. Jesus lived a life that was filled with delightful things. You know, he was quite a party animal! He went to a wedding once and changed 600 litres of water into 600 litres of top-class wine. That must have been quite a wedding party. Jesus loved to go out to dinner parties, not only with his friends but with his enemies as well. Jesus said “I’ve come to bring you life with all its fullness.” His parables also reflect this delight in life.
There is the lovely parable of the woman who lost a gold coin from her chain of coins. What does she do? She lights up an oil lamp so that she can see in all the dark corners in her house. She re-cleans and re-sweeps her house, searching for that coin. What does she do when she finds it? She organises a party for all her friends and her neighbours. The cost of the oil and the cost of the party must have been far greater than the value of that single coin. But to share her joy and delight with others was something that she wanted to do and something that Jesus loved to do.
And so, to summarise, to be a Christian means to live a disruptive, dangerous and delight-filled life. I’m sure all you have already worked out my preacher’s cliché of using three catch words starting with D to help you remember. To be a Christian means living a 3D life –disruptive, dangerous and delight-filled.
Now some of you might have heard about 3D printers. They create 3D reproductions of an image. That means of course that the item reproduced has height, width and depth. To be Christian means we have height – to reach up to touch the living God. We have width to reach out and touch our neighbour. We have depth in order to live spirit-filled lives that are disruptive, dangerous and delightful.
So that is my challenge to you today. If you are a Christian, if you call yourself a Christian, if you would like to become a Christian – then I encourage you learn to live a life that is disruptive, dangerous and delightful so that you can become a 3D person, a person who has height, width and depth.