Kochi Isezaki Christ Church - Who is His Neighbour

Who is His Neighbour

Speaker; M.Noorhoff

If someone walked up to you on the street and asked, “ Excuse me, I’m looking for such and such a place. Could you give me directions?”

What would you do? How would you answer?

Of course you would gladly give directions if you knew yourself how to get there, not answering would indicate that you didn’t know or were just mean spirited.

How about this: You are at a shopping mall and you see a child standing looking around and crying because he or she is lost. Will you walk on by and leave the child to fend for themselves. Of course not, you will take a quick look around for the parents and when you don’t see them you will lead the child to a shop keeper or to the information desk so that the child can be reunited with Mom or Dad. You might even start looking yourself or you might stick around to make sure the parents come.

Finally, you are in Obiyamachi and see someone who looks a little confused, they are standing on a street corner looking this way and that. Will you walk past or will you stop and see if you can be of some assistance. “ Are you looking for somewhere in particular?” “Can I help you in anyway?”

Which of these is your neighbour?

Yes all of them.

Jesus said

Matthew 25:35-40

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Most people will stop and give directions to the first and most will help the lost child find his parents although sadly not all. On the other hand many will walk past the man at the corner and just walk on by. Perhaps they are to busy, perhaps the lost person is too embarrassed to ask someone to help them ( Men are notorious at this), perhaps the others are too embarrassed or shy to approach the man, perhaps there is so fear involved or perhaps simply the people just didn’t notice the distress of those around them.

Now let’s go back to the parable of the good Samaritan. There are times I have had a problem with Jesus’ parables. It is because I have found them difficult to understand. On the contrary I think they are remarkably clear and easy to understand and am frankly surprised when the disciples don’t seem to understand them. Jesus practically, as we say in English, hits us with a 2X4. He adds no conditions, no buts, no what ifs. He give great truths. He give great truth but the problem is that we do not always see how to apply them in our everyday lives.

Of course if you or I saw a man lying on the side of the road beaten, we would help, what kind of monsters would we be if we didn’t. It is easy for us to villianize the priest and the Levite, for clearly they should have helped no matter what excuse they may have had. Anyone can see this it is black and white. But what if the story had not been so clear, what if it hadn’t been so black and white.

A man who thought that all was going well in his life, went to work as usual, when he is called into his supervisors office. The supervisor explains that the company is doing some restructuring of that unfortunately the man’s position was no longer necessary and was being phased out. The shock hits him like a 2 tonne weight. He walks out of the office in a daze; everything he had planned was now uncertain. How could he tell his wife? How could he pay for his children’s education? How could he accept the fact that he was so easily disposed of, thrown away like yesterdays newspaper. He wanders aimlessly as people pass him, some give him awkward looks. Some look annoyed because he is walking so slowly. No body asks him if he is okay, nobody even says hello. He finally sits down on a bench near a bus stop just to catch his breath, just to try to compose himself. He just sits there looking for something to hold on to, looking for something good in his life. The woman beside him looks nervous because he seems out of sorts and he is making her feel uncomfortable. She fidgets about and when her bus pulls up she is relieved. Later on she will tell her friends of the strange man. After a few more minutes the man sees a bar across the street and decides to drown his sorrows. The bartender fills his glass once, twice, three times, four, after a few more the bartender suggest that he has had enough. He staggers out the bar and down the street. He walks directly into someone who gets angry and pushes him down, “Watch where you are going you stupid drunk” He stumbles to his feet as the couple walk on laughing at the guy who can not hold his liquor. Finally as the alcohol really hits him he stumbles and falls. As he lay on the street he gets sick and several people walk past looking disgusted or laughing at the guy lying in his own vomit. He manages to get himself to a wall to lean against and now reeking in his own sick he weeps. Still no one stops, no one even slows down except to avoid this man. They walk as far away from him as they possibly can. He finally gets up and begins to walk, and as he walks he comes upon a bridge. Standing on the side of the bridge, the cars whiz on by. He is hopeless and feels this hopelessness to his very bones. He makes a rash decision and…

Let me ask you who was this mans neighbour?

Sometimes life isn’t as clear as the parables and we have trouble bringing these great truth down to the level of our lives. Even the story I just told you clearly calls on you to help the stranger but each person that crossed his path did not. They did not know that he was crying out to each of them.

42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

But this is not the end of the story let us look at what jesus would do.

Luke 8 41:48

41 Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house

42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.

43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.

44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

45 "Who touched me?" Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you."

46 But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me."

47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.

48 Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."

Peter didn’t notice her, the other disciples did not notice her.

It was only the edge of his cloak but he noticed. How could he have know, how could he have sensed that she needed him. His eyes turned to her. You can almost see the gentle smile on His face. He is calling her, his love for her is clear. Her body was healed when she touched him but her heart was healed when he smiled at her and she went away in peace. Peace like she has never had before and she herself probably went on to heal many other peoples hearts as the joy and love of Jesus over flowed from her. She also noticed people who were in distress and she reach out and touched them to not to heal herself but to bring healing to them.

The role of faith is to take these great truths and bring them into our everyday life. Through faith we are lead be the Holy spirit into the footsteps of Jesus in to the footsteps of love and we reach out to those he would reach out to. We smile at those he would give an uplifting smile to. Faith bring the Parable down to earth.

In the parable of the prodigal son, After taking his fathers money and wasting it away. The son finds himself lower than the servants of his fathers house. He is living with swine practically and literally living as a pig eating whatever slop is left for him. That is if the pigs don’t get it first. The son remembers his father and his kindness. He decides to go back in servitude he will give up all to just live in his fathers house again.

In 2005, Carrie Underwood’s hit song “Jesus take the Wheel hit the charts.

Jesus Take The Wheel" is about a young woman who had lived a rebellious life. One evening, with her baby in the backseat, she is traveling home when she hits some black ice on the road and the car spins out of control. At that point, fearing for her life and the life of her child, she prayed that Jesus would take the wheel of her car. Thankfully, the car skidded safely to the side of the road without hitting anything.
Then, the next verse of the song is about her deciding to ask God's forgiveness and her plan to move in a new direction in her life and to allow Jesus to take the wheel of her life.

“Jesus, take the wheel, take it from my hands, ‘cause I can’t do this on my own! I’m a-letting go, so give me one more chance. Save me from this road I’m on, from this road I’m on. Jesus, take the wheel!”

With both stories both the prodigal son and the woman from Carrie Underwood’s song is that they both knew to call upon there father. We Christians know that in times of distress we can call upon Jesus, we can call upon God to take the wheel, to help us to protect us. Sometimes we are not willing to give up everything so that he can truly help us. This is what we must do we must die to ourselves and dedicate our lives to him. We have an option we have God. But what of those who do not know they can call upon the lord, what about those who do not know him. Who will be there for them. Who will help them until they do come to know God until they do come to know Christ. Who will guide them to the house, Who will be the good Samaritan by sharing the gospel and bringing them to the great physician. Who? Me? You?