"Sí Se Puede" (Luke 10: 25-37)

Last week, we heard a Bible story in which a scribe asked Jesus what the most important commandment is, and Jesus answered him. But in this week’s Bible story (which is the Bible story we’ll read on the sixth day of church camp at Loch Leven), a Pharisee asks Jesus what the most important commandment is, and this time, instead of answering, Jesus asks the Pharisee: “What do the scriptures teach?” And the Pharisee gives the answer that we heard Jesus give last week; the Pharisee says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, body and mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And Jesus says, “Good job. You have answered correctly. Do this, and live.” But this Pharisee isn’t just searching for an answer. This Pharisee wants to justify himself. He wants this question-and-answer exchange to show how righteous he, the Pharisee, truly is. So after he answers his own question, and after Jesus says, “You have answered correctly,” the Pharisee asks Jesus, “But who is my neighbor?” Again, Jesus doesn’t give the Pharisee a straight answer. Instead, Jesus tells a story. It’s a story about a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, who was attacked, beaten, stripped, and robbed by bandits, and left for dead. And a priest came by, and saw the victim laying by the side of the road - hurt, bruised, half-naked, barely breathing. And the priest kept walking. He didn’t act. And certainly, the priest justified his inaction by saying: “It’s not my responsibility “I’m not the one who attacked him “I’m just minding my own business “He’s probably dead already anyway “And what a shame - it’s really sad, this world that we live in, that this would happen. People need to live in peace, and not hurt each other in this way.” The priest walked on, and then a Levite came by, and saw the victim laying by the side of the road - hurt, bruised, half-naked, barely breathing. And the Levite kept walking. He didn’t act. And certainly, the Levite justified his inaction by saying: “It’s not my responsibility “I’m not the one who attacked him “I’m just minding my own business “He’s probably dead already anyway “And what a shame - it’s really sad, this world that we live in, that this would happen. People need to live in peace, and not hurt each other in this way.” And the Levite walked on. As the Pharisee listened to Jesus tell this story, the Pharisee probably identified with the priest and the Levite. They weren’t bad people. They didn’t hurt anyone. They weren’t the ones who attacked, beat, stripped, robbed, and left for dead that poor traveller. They didn’t act violently. They would never do so. But if they didn’t hurry along that road, and quickly reach their destination, who knows - maybe they would be the next victim. And when the priest in the story and the Levite in the story shook their heads and said, “What a shame…” the pharisee listening to the story did the same. He also shook his head and lamented the kind of world they lived in, the kind of world where these things could happen. If only everyone could be a person of peace, a person of nonviolence, like him, like the priest, like the Levite. It’s the same attitude that so many people today have. We’re not violent. We don’t act violently. We would never intentionally hurt or injure another person, much less attack an innocent traveller. That makes us good people, right? That’s certainly what the Pharisee was thinking... But Jesus wasn’t done with his story. After the priest passed by, and after the Levite passed by, a Samaritan came by, and saw the victim laying by the side of the road - hurt, bruised, half-naked, barely breathing... Well, the Pharisee was sure he knew how this story was going to end. There was a great animosity, a great hatred, between Jews like him, and Samaritans. This hatred led them to prejudice; they probably assumed that the bandits in the story were Samaritans, even though Jesus didn’t say so. And this Samaritan was probably as bad as those bandits. Heck, this Samaritan might even be friends with them. Jesus never said that those bandits were Samaritans, but he did say that this third person coming up the road was a Samaritan. And, contrary to prejudicial expectations, this Samaritan - like the priest, and like the Levite - believed in peace. He would never hurt another person, no matter who they were. But this Samaritan did more than just not hurt another person. This Samaritan saw it as his responsibility to act, to get involved. The Samaritan didn’t say: “It’s not my responsibility...I’m not the one who attacked him...I’m just minding my own business...He’s probably dead already anyway…” The Samaritan acted. The Samaritan got involved. The Samaritan went beyond being a person of peace, to being a peacemaker. Not hurting another person is not enough to be a peacemaker. To be a peacemaker, one has to act. To be a peacemaker, one has to get involved. And only the Samaritan - the one the Pharisee least expected to do so - acted to help the poor, injured victim. It was risky for the Samaritan to get involved. What if the injured man was faking it? What if he was a robber himself, and had friends hiding, just waiting for someone to let down their guard so they could attack, beat, strip, and rob whoever it was that was dumb enough to stop and offer aid? What if the injured man was dead? There were all sorts of religious laws about touching a dead person, and how doing so would make a person ritually unclean. Certainly the priest and Levite knew that, and probably the Samaritan did too. What if acting and getting involved required more of a person than it appeared at first? That is, in fact, what happened. The victim didn’t just need first aid. It turns out he also needed a place to recover - lodging - as well as food and medicine. The Samaritan, who got involved, and who made it his responsibility to care for this poor victim, ended up taking care of all that. Despite the challenges and despite the risks, the Samaritan believed that he could do what needed to be done. He could be the one who helps. He could be the one who makes peace. The sixth day of church camp will focus on this story, the story of the Good Samaritan. The “word of the day” for the sixth day of camp is actually a phrase. “Sí Se Puede.” You may know this phrase as being an important part of the farmworkers movement led by Cesar Chavez. It means “Yes, it can be done,” or, more simply, “Yes, we can.” Many people who believe in peace - like the priest, the Levite, and the Pharisee - think they can’t get involved. There are too many reasons to not get involved, to not act. It’s too risky. It’s beyond one person’s ability. The problem is too big. I can’t do it. But the Samaritan in this story says: “yes, I can. Sí Se Puede. Peace is possible…Healing is possible...Agape and Shalom and Ubuntu and Heiwa are all possible... but only if I act.” “It’ll be hard, and I can’t do everything, but I can do something. I can act. Sí Se Puede. I can see what this victim needs. I can figure out how I can help. And I can do what I am capable of.” It makes me think of the women in the documentary film Knock Down the House. This is a Netflix documentary that focuses on four women who ran for Congress in 2016. Each of them decided to challenge incumbents from their own party - incumbents who were popular, who had seniority and power, and who had access to lots and lots of cash. People told these women they were crazy. People told them that no one would vote for them. And perhaps a normal, sane person would say, “I can’t do this. It’s impossible.” But they did it anyway. They didn’t all win. But they did all make a difference. They all did something. And one of them did win - despite the tremendous odds stacked against her, she won - and politics is forever changed. Sí Se Puede. It also makes me think of Greta Thunberg, who describes herself as a 16 year-old climate activist with Aspergers. She may be just a kid, but last year she started protesting to draw attention to climate change; now over 1.5 million youth are a part of her movement. This week she spoke at a climate conference in Austria, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. She has appeared on the cover of Time magazine, and has been nominated for a Nobel Prize. Sí Se Puede. The Samaritan acted for peace; but he wasn’t the only one. What about the traveler? What did he do? Well, for one thing, he accepted the help of a Samaritan. He didn’t have to do that. Would you accept the help of a person you’d been taught to hate? What about the innkeeper? What did he do to make peace? Would you accept the word of a Samaritan, who promised to pay you when he returned for the lodging and care you provided? What else can be done? Can we ask why that road is so dangerous in the first place, and what can be done about that? The priest and the Levite just shrugged and lamented about the state of the world, but a person who says “Sí Se Puede” asks what can be done about that… what can be done to make the world a better place… What about you, and me. What can we do? We can look at our world today, shrug our shoulders, and lament. But can we also ask: what can be done? What can we do? Can we find a way to act, to make peace, to get involved in some way? To find some cause, and find a way to make a difference? Yes. Yes, we can. Sí Se Puede. We can bind wounds. We can carry the weak. We can ask them what they need, and work with them to help meet those needs. We can create space for those who are grieving. We can march. We can write letters. We can meet with elected leaders. We can listen. We can speak out on social media. We can plant trees. We can build houses. We can go on mission trips. We can give financial support. We can encourage and support those who who are working to make a difference. There is so much we can do.