Lutheran Church of the Incarnation

07/25/2022

07/24/2022

This is the Official Announcement of the Holy Closure of the Lutheran Church of the Incarnation on Jul. 24, 2022.

07/24/2022

The Last Preaching at LCI from Pr. Jin:

"The Living God"

Scripture: Hosea 1:2-10
1:2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD."
1:3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
1:4 And the LORD said to him, "Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
1:5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."
1:6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the LORD said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them.
1:7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen."
1:8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
1:9 Then the LORD said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God."
1:10 Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."
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In ancient Israel, there were people who played very strange social roles. They were the prophets.
Prophets were the one who were called by God to deliver the Word of God to the people of Israel.
In today's terms, you might say that they are pastors or priests.
In Lutheran Church, though we believe “the Priesthood of All Believers,” we still separate the roles of pastor-ship for the ordained leaders.

In the OT, the prophets begin their spiritual journey by explaining how they were called by God and what were their specific oracles.
Comparing to the other prophets, Hosea is very unique.
He was told to get married first, instead of proclaiming the word of God.
Wow, marriage! It sounds good, right?

But here in this case, it was not just an ordinary marriage.
God commanded him to take a pr******te as wife and have children of adultery.
Let’s listen to Hosea 1:2:
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD."

At the end of the verse above, we can read that “the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD,” which means that Israel worships idols.

Of course, it was the prophets’ job to bring the people who worship idols back to the faith of God.
However, Hosea begins with the story that seems a bit far from it.
To be honest, this command of God to choose a woman of prostitution and have her children sounds like a whisper from the devil, not from God.
I couldn’t imagine how people would react if they find out that the past of their pastor’s wife is not that great.
We actually have very high standards for the pastors’ family.

In any way, according to the Scripture, Hosea is said to have obeyed this command.
He took a woman named Gomer as his wife, and they had three children.
The first son was named Jezreel, the second daughter was named Lo-ruhamah, and the third son was named Lo-ammi.
The meanings of these names are quite interesting.
Each name is historically and semantically associated with an unfortunate fate.
Jezreel was the scene of a bloody slaughter, Lo-ruhamah means “No mercy,” and Lo-ammi means, “Not my people.”
Does this make sense?
No matter how much God has commanded you, can you marry a pr******te and give your children cursed names as such?

When I named my children, I named my son Jaden, which means “God’s Given” and my daughter Jana, “God is gracious.”
Yes, we parents really want the best of best for our children.

So, we might never understand how Hosea may accept God’s command for his wife and children. He might be crazy or really a man of faith.
There are several scholarly opinions on this issue.
There is an opinion that the story of Hosea's marriage is not a fact, but rather a metaphor or an allegory for instruction.
I think this is a rather reasonable interpretation, because the content in Hosea is too shocking to accept as a fact, considering the Jewish culture at that time.
However, if the story has no ground in the actual fact, there would be no reason for such an allegory to exist, and it would not be persuasive.

A more accurate interpretation would be like this:
Gomer, chosen by Hosea as his wife, appears in the text as a pr******te.
It means she was a temple pr******te or a sacred pr******te.
The term, ‘temple pr******te’ or ‘sacred pr******te’ may sound strange to us, but according to the Ugarit documents dealing with the ancient Canaanite religion, there were not only priests but also temple pr******tes, both male and female, in the ancient Baal temple.
This sacred prostitution was also found in ancient Greece.
They practiced prostitution not purely to acquire money or bodily pleasure, but as a sacred religious ritual to accomplish the religious goals of fertility and good harvest.

Of course, Israeli prophets severely criticized such religious practices of Baal worship, traditionally performed in Canaan.
We don't know why, but Hosea married Gomer, a temple pr******te.
If you use your imagination, the two might be best friends when they were young, but when Gomer's family went bankrupt, she was forced to become a temple pr******te, and later Hosea found her and got married.
Unfortunately, their marriage was unhappy, like most of the marriages in the America today.

Hosea, who thought that his unhappy marriage was directly related to Israel's unhappy history, seems to have accepted even the unhappy marriage as God's call to use him as a prophet.
Clearly, Hosea's concern was not with his own unfortunate life itself, but with the fate of the nation of Israel.

The period of Hosea's prophetic activity was 750-725 BCE.
At the time he was active, the fate of Israel was in a very dangerous situation.
During the reign of Jeroboam II, in 787-746 BCE, Israel enjoyed prosperity briefly, but then the country's strength began to decline as the country suffered from foreign invasion.
A decisive factor here was the expansionary policy of the Assyrian Empire.
Assyria, the first empire in human history, captured Damascus, the capital of the Syrian kingdom adjacent to Israel, in 733 BC.
Israel survived this crisis by paying tribute to Assyria at the beginning, but later lost its land due to its anti-Assyrian foreign policy in 722 BC.

Hosea attributed the decline of Israel to the worship of Baal.
The Baal faith was widely spread in the Near East, including Israel.
The core of this belief is, in today's language, ‘Prosperity Gospel.’
In ancient times, agriculture was the main occupation.
Canaan was especially an agrarian and pastoral society.
Baal was the god who helps cattle produce many young and secure a good harvest in the ancient Canaanite region.
In short, he was the god of wealth and prosperity.
At that time, women and children also belonged to men’s property.
In order to produce more, people needed more wives and children.
Baal was the god of fertility.
At that time, abundance and fertility were the two pillars of human survival, so Baal's faith did not disappear in that region, no matter how much the prophets of Israel criticized it.

It is very similar to the situation in which Evangelical Christianity today cannot get out of the Prosperity Gospel.
Though they believe in God, but they still serve money or prosperity like a god.
We can’t criticize them unconditionally.
Because people in every country and in every time have lived this way.
Unfortunately, we are not an exception.

The reason the prophets of Israel extremely rejected the faith of Baal was that they believed that life would be ruined if a good harvest and fertility were the goals of life.
Of course, the prophets of Israel did not unconditionally reject good harvest and fertility. They know that without it, human survival is impossible.
Abraham received a vast land and many descendants from God as a promise.
God sends the rains for him and makes his descendants as numerous as the stars in the night sky.
In the form of such statements, there is no difference between the faith of Baal and the faith of Yahweh, but there is a crucial difference in the content.
In Baal's faith, good harvest and fertility were the goals of the faith,
but in God's faith, God was the goal itself.
Baal believers experienced the divine only in good years and fertility, but the Israelites could experience God regardless of it.
Israel could still trust God even if the nation was completely destroyed by the Babylonian Empire and became slaves.

The prophets of Israel continued to proclaim the fact that only God was the giver of life, not Baal, whom the people of Canaan served.
It is not that good harvest and fertility are the foundation of life, but our faith in God is the foundation of life, Amen?

To emphasize this, prophets often refer to the 40 year of wilderness experience in Exodus.
They were clearly able to confirm the fact that God is the foundation of life in that experience.
All the people of Israel ate quail and manna in the wilderness.
It was the most shabby food.
It is a story far from a bountiful harvest or fertility.
Even in those days of poverty in the wilderness, God protected Israel.
Ironically enough, those days were rather spiritually rich for the Israelites.

If the people remembered this history of wilderness, the Israelites would not have turned their attention to the faith of Baal.
As time goes by, the teachings of history are far from the reality at hand.
So the Israelites living in the Canaanite civilization repeatedly fell into the worship of Baal.
However, the prophets of Israel proclaimed this worship of Baal as adultery.
Today Hosea described it as whoredom.
It means that abundance is so alluring to us.

Hosea did not unconditionally criticize his people for falling into Baal worship.
He proclaimed a very surprising message.
The children of Israel will be called "Children of the living God."
This is v. 10. Let’s read it together:
Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."

This expression “Children of the living God” contrasts with the “children of whoredom” in v. 2.
As the name suggests, “children of whoredom” do not receive God's mercy and are not recognized as God's people.
However, the “Children of the living God” is the complete opposite.
They receive God's mercy and full of God’s grace.

Here, the modifier 'living' attached to God is very important.
The prophets did not in any case attach this modifier to Baal.
Because Baal is a dead god.
This is very ironic, because the god Baal is the god who promises a good harvest and fertility, which are the most important things in human life.

Unfortunately, we who are living in the 21st century also live in a way that worships Baal, which guarantees abundance and fertility or in a modern term, prosperity in life.
This is the reason I often mentioned that even though we go to church, but we serve Baal as a god in life.
Realistically, getting out of this is almost impossible except for a few spiritually prepared people.

However, Hosea's message that the people of Israel will be called “Children of the living God” actually prompts us to live as sons or daughters of the living God now and here.
Please don’t ask me what we can do specifically right now.
The answer has already been given to each here.
We have to live a life that does not fall into the ideology of abundance and fertility, but opens our heart to the depth of God's creation and life that is much deeper and richer.
In life itself, not prosperity, there is the satisfaction of our soul.
There are so many people who think that they don’t have any interest in words like soul-satisfaction or fullness of life. They just want to have fun while living a short life.
What is the language?
YOLO (you only live once!)

Is it really enough if you are healthy and your family is safe until you die?
They say this is the normal life, but the truth is that they have a lot of greed.
In fact, it's rare to live a life like that.

The reason we do not feel any problem in our life is that we are already accustomed to the Baal faith and cannot get hold of another dimension of life.
It’s just sad that even as Christians, we don’t know a newer dimension of life as Jesus ever proclaims, that is, the Kingdom of God.
To borrow Paul's words, their lives belong to “the elementary principles of the world” (Gal. 4:3).
Yes, we all live according to the rule of the world.
In fact, it looks plausible, but it's actually empty.
Paul exclaimed in Galatians 4:7 that through Jesus Christ we have received the status of God’s children, not slaves.
Yes!
We are not the lewd children of Baal who lured people with good harvest and fertility as a bait.
Baal is actually dead and does not exist at all.

As Christians, we do believe the living God.
And this God declares that we are the chosen ones to live as children of the living God.
Please live like a Christian!

07/17/2022

Pr. Jin's Preaching on Jul. 17, 2022

"One Thing"

Scripture: Luke 10:38-42
10:38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
10:39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying.
10:40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me."
10:41 But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
10:42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."
--------------------------------

According to today's sermon text, when Jesus and his companions entered a village, a woman named Martha welcomed them to her house.
It looks like that Martha had known Jesus for a while, or maybe she was just moved by Jesus' teachings in the village synagogue.

At this point, Martha's family relationship was not articulated.
Most of us know that she had siblings, including her sister Mary also appeared in the text and her older brother named Lazarus in the Gospel of John.
Once Jesus and his companions entered Martha's house, she was very busy treating her guests properly.
For the guests, it wasn't just Jesus, but a huge group of people, so the preparation was not that easy.
My family sometimes invites people for dinner.
Every time when we have guests, Sina is so busy cleaning the house and all.
Before the guests are arrived, everything has to be perfect.
I’m ok just having any guest as it is but it looks like girls are totally different.

Here the scripture tells us a funny situation:
Her sister Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet, just listening to him.
Please imagine this situation on your minds for a sec.
Martha is not happy with this attitude of her sister Mary, so she asks Jesus:
"Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?
Tell her then to help me."

Here I clearly hear my children’s voice: “Mom, Jana is not doing it.”
“Dad, Jaden is doing it again.”

Actually, Martha's request sounds very reasonable.
Everyone would think that Mary is acting strange.

A similar situation is found in Luke 15:11 and following.
This is the famous Parable of the Lost Sheep.
A second son from a man receives his inheritance in advance and goes abroad to use it up, and while he is living on pig food on a pig farm, he changes his mind and eventually returns home.
For this prodigal son, his father threw a feast for him.
After returning from work in the field, the eldest son witnesses this scene and complains to his father.
He said he was dissatisfied with the fact that his father, who had served his father faithfully, but the father had never killed even a goat to have fun with his friends.
But now the father killed a fat calf for his younger brother, who spent all his inheritance for pr******tes.
His brother's argument is also very reasonable.
Even if his younger brother returns home, the older brother thinks it's a bad thing to throw a party.
Even if the father accepts him without kicking him out of the door, the first thing to do is actually to make sure whether his younger brother is really changed.

As a parent, at least we all know this:
When your kids make a mistake, if you just accept it like this and even give a feast, you are making a big mistake in terms of education.
We can’t reward the bad behaviors, right?

In our daily life, Martha's problem with Mary, who doesn't help her older sister during busy times, is very much justified.
In times like these, if you have authority, you always have to tell Mary to help her sister.
A world where some work frantically and others just play and eat is an unjust society.
A just world can only be achieved when the balance of labor is achieved.
That’s a common sense, right?
Today, we are all working for a just world where we fairly work together and fairly rest together.

In today’s text, however, Jesus said something unexpected to Martha in verses 41 and 42:
Let's read Jesus' words together:
"Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
there is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."
Just looking at the text, it sounds like Jesus is now rebuking Martha and siding with Mary.

Is that right?
Not necessarily.
In fact, Mary is not very important in the flow of the story.
It is just like the prodigal son is not the main character in the so-called “Parable of the Prodigal Son” explained earlier.

Martha, who quarrels with her sister, is a real human, down to earth.
Martha is the epitome of a modern people who are worried about many things.
I won't go into detail about how much we are busy every day.
Living in 21st century America, there are truly so many things to be concerned about.

The concerns of young people who cannot afford their lifestyle cannot be taken lightly.
Now we all begin to worry about economy.
General price goes up and Stagflation is upcoming.
Of course, you should be concerned all of these.
However, the problem isn't that you're worried about a specific issue in life, but it's that you're worried about 'too many things.'
It is no exaggeration to say that modern people live worrying about everything that is not happening present and future.
The psychologists say that “85 Percent of what we worry about never happens.”

Take a look at ourselves:
Even good things are a concern for us.
These concerns and worries do not end there, but develop into complaints towards others.
Complaining like this can make a big difference in your life and the lives of others!
Of course, in this case, not for the positive side but for the negative.

In Martha's view, Mary was totally immature.
Now is not the time for her to sit at Jesus' feet, but it is the time to prepare the meals diligently to keep her guests from starving or to refresh.
In fact, Martha was really busy.
Her worries of the work filled her head.
With that in mind, she didn’t like the attitude of her sister, Mary.
If Mary wasn’t there in the house “as a girl,” she wouldn't have complained at all.
Back then and still today, all the house choirs are for the girls.

Somewhat a similar situation often occurs in the church.
You may feel uncomfortable because the other members of the church have different thoughts and behaviors from your own.
OK, I get it.
I wouldn’t go there today.
I don’t want to open up the hell gate for you.

After pointing out that Martha was worried and distracted by her many tasks, Jesus said to her, “There is need of only one thing.” (vv. 41-42)
Here Jesus points out that Martha is worried and worried about many things, but there are not many things that a person really needs in life, that is, there is only one thing to worry about.
This actually may not make sense to us who are living a busy life.
This society requires someone who can do the multi-tasking, right?

We know empirically that we need a lot of things in our lives.
In actual life, you have to have a lot of shoes, or a lot of tools.
You actually have to worry about what to eat, drink, and wear, when we are awake.
Considering all of these, how can anyone say that there is really only one thing that is needed in life.
Does it sound reasonable?

To understand this word of Jesus that our lives are enough for one thing, we must change our life style, or we have to change the way we think about it.
The most general concept of this is the transition from an ownership-oriented life to an existence-oriented life.
I borrowed this concept from the famous psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, “To Have or To Be?”
We are too much accustomed to living in a way of confirming our own lives through the various possessions: Big House, Nice car, the size of TV etc.
Recently I was invited to a house which is more than 9000 square feet.
A 9000 square feet house in Buckhead? That’s just wow!
Surely, these are the things we consider to be the standard of a happy American life.
In an ownership-oriented life, there is no choice but to worry and worry about many things. Of course, to have more and more or to climb up the ladders of the society.

On the other hand, if you are truly able to focus only on the fact that you exist, you only care about one thing as Jesus mentioned, that is, your life itself.
Yes, focus on your life itself:
Feel your breathing and enjoy your heart-pounding.

Measure yourself not with what you have but with who you are.
That’s what Jesus really wanted to awake from Martha.

In Luke 12:16 and following, we can find a person who came to ask for a settlement of an inheritance dispute.
To this person, Jesus told a parable, saying that a person's life does not depend on possessions.
In this “Parable of the Rich Fool,” there was a rich man. A bountiful harvest came.
The rich man planned to build a larger barn and store grain there.
So he said to himself: “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry” (Luke 12:19).
For this plan, God's answer: “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20)
Here Jesus does not want to threaten people with their death.
This is a teaching on how poorly an ownership-oriented life can be.
It is the most futile only to live for possessions, which will disappear completely with death.
Unfortunately, you can’t take anything with you, when you finally go.

The being that can be encountered at the deepest level of our existence (life) is God.
The experience of God is ultimate and transcending even death itself.
If you transcend even death, there is no reason to be swayed by anything from this world, that is, power, honor or wealth.

In this sense, the experience of God is the very salvation that we are seeking for.
I think that this very experience of God truly corresponds to Jesus' words in today’s text that “you only need one thing in life.”
God's experience is still 'alive’ to most of us.
The value of life to God is the same, whether you are entrepreneurs earning $ 1 billion a year, or average workers earning $ 50,000 a year.
As long as you’re alive, with joy, a living person can accept the world that appears momentarily before him or her.
The mysterious experience of the 'moment’ leaves no room for anything else to interfere.
That is the true meaning of the Latin phrase, “Carpe Diem.”
Yes, in English, “Cease the time,” or “Cease the moment.”

Finally, Jesus said to Martha: “Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42).
Mary's choice was to listen to Jesus at his' feet.
It is an event of spiritual intimacy with Jesus.
Of course, this is a rare event.
In order to make a living, technically, it is almost impossible for her just to sit at Jesus' feet.
She has to earn money, eat, clean, and meet friends.
Mary might have done something like that in the normal time.
But now is the special moment when Jesus entered her house.
This moment she had to put other things aside.
This choice was wise in the eyes of God.

We Christians come to church once a week for worship.
Believers with a little more zeal often participate in Bible studies, read the Bible personally, or read good Christian books.
Some consider this Christian behavior totally futile.

Is that true?
Instead, you can watch TV shows, plant a garden, or do other hobbies.
It’s totally your life and it's your own choice.

I just pray that our choice today, like Mary's, is a choice for Life, not for possessions.
In the deepest level of existence(life), like Jesus said once,
“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

07/16/2022

The Third Newsletter on Jul., 2022!
If you want to get this weekly newsletter through your email, please request it by sending email to [email protected].
Great job, Gloria!

07/10/2022

Pr. Jin's Preaching on Jul. 10, 2022

"Go and Do Likewise"

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37
10:25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
10:26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?"
10:27 He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
10:28 And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."
10:29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
10:30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
10:31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
10:32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
10:33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.
10:34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
10:35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.'
10:36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"
10:37 He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
-----------------------

Today's sermon text, Luke 10:25-37, is a bit challenging!
Although it is Jesus’ teaching that gives us new enlightenment, it makes us very uncomfortable.
The reason it's uncomfortable is that Jesus demands something we can't follow.
Here's the story:

A certain teacher of the Law asked Jesus this question: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
In response to this question, Jesus asked back what the Law says about this.
The lawyer answered by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18:
He said that "You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbor as yourself."
Perfect!

After hearing this answer, Jesus added this:
"You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."
Knowing that he can’t win Jesus in this way, the teacher of the Law now changed the topic, saying, “"Then who is my neighbor?"

Yes, he is right!
We have to know who our neighbor is, so that we can truly love our neighbor.
Don’t forget that he is a lawyer!
Like today's theologian, this man who majored in Law was very much interested in discerning who was a neighbor and who was an enemy.
Naturally, in his time, people believed that the neighbor was a Jew who believed in God, and the enemy was a Gentile who did not believe in God.
The lawyer expected Jesus to accurately acknowledge his theological position once more.

We just celebrated the Independence Day last week.
I believe that we have something similar, which divides between a neighbor and an enemy.
If the people are born in America, they are neighbors.
If the people are living in the same neighborhood with the same race and culture, they are definitely neighbors to help.
Otherwise, they are just enemies to eliminate.
Where is the spirit which says, “One Nation under God”?

Is the refugee my neighbor?
Is the Muslim my neighbor?
Is the Latina my neighbor?
This makes for increasingly smaller neighborhoods.

Surprisingly enough, Jesus does not answer theologically about who 'my neighbor' is, but tells the fallowing parable, which is known as the “Parable of Good Samaritan.”
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he met robbers.
The robbers took everything from this man, stripped him of his clothes, beat him to the point of death, and then threw him on the road and went away.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a deserted place with few people passing.
It was a perfect environment tailored for bandits to appear.
If this person is left like this, he would eventually die sooner or later.

First, a priest who was going down to Jericho after finishing his work in the temple in Jerusalem saw this man.
It must have been terrible.
He must have been covered in blood.
There might be some vultures prowling high up in search of a chance to peck at the carcass.
The priest must have thought a lot.
Anyone who sees someone in a difficult situation would feel pity for them.
He might be willing to help.
If a priest touches a dead body, however, he is breaking the Law.
In this case, following the Law of Purity, he was out of his job for at least 7 days.
Plus, robbers could still be around here, so it's best to avoid them quickly, right?

The text has nothing to say about what he actually thought.
But the text just said, "when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.”
No matter what the reason was, the priest turned away from those who needed his help right away.
Then a Levite passed by and acted just like a priest.
Even though the Levites were inferior to the priests, they were religiously high-ranking people in Jewish society.
Both the priests and the Levites completely neglected their duty to help those who are in need.

The third person to pass by was a Samaritan.
We call the Samaritan “good” but that word is not found in Scripture.
The teacher of the Law or other Jewish people who were listening to Jesus' parable could not have expected this sudden appearance of a Samaritan in this story.
After the priests and Levites have passed, of course, the next should be an ordinary Jew.
To the most Jews in Jesus’ time, the Samaritans were like Gentiles.
They were mixed blood, so they were not pure Jews.
For Jews, the Samaritans were ceremonially unclean, socially outcast and heretical.
Therefore, they would not have come up automatically in the neighbor category.

But look!
When Jesus spoke about the priest and the Levite, he ended them in one very short sentence: They “saw him, but passed by on the other side,” which simply means “they saw the misery but ran away from him.”

But when Jesus speaks of the Samaritan, he is very specific.
When the Samaritan saw the man struck by the robbers, he felt pity for him.
He treated and cared for him in the best way he could.
Let's read v. 34 together: “He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”
Not only that.
He spent the night there with him and gave the innkeeper two denarii, asking him to take good care of the injured one.
He said that if it cost more, he would pay it later when he returns from work.
This Samaritan showed the love that only the family might do.
This is not the love we expect from a total stranger, right?

How is it?
Have you been moved by this merciful Samaritan?
So, do you promise to yourself to live just like this person do?
Surprisingly enough, there are many people who actually live like that around us.
There are many such people, not only among Christians, but also among people of other religions.
There are many people who live on the basis of this extreme humanism.
Sometimes we hear a story of a person, who goes into remote areas of Africa or jungles in South America and sacrifices everything for the indigenous peoples.
'Doctors Without Borders' take turns visiting people in areas without medical facilities for a certain period of time to provide medical services.
I have a doctor friend from Macon who is just retired but he is now ready to be a volunteer for Mercy Ship, stationed in Africa.

Like the Good Samaritan, we know so many names like Schweitzer or Mother Teresa who showed mercy to those who were in need.
Once we start counting these people, there is no end to it.
Not only the famous ones, but there are also many who have shown love in secret.
For my family, for an example, Sina goes to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity twice a year. Jaden goes to Food Pantry once in a while. My family supports a little girl in East Asia for over 14 years.

No matter how harsh the world is, there are still many people who practice humanism.
Such people deserve praise and respect.
Sometimes it feels like evil truly infests the world but if you look at the other way, the world is truly worth living, thanks to all these people.
We can say that they are the Good Samaritans mentioned in today's text.

In today's parable, the Samaritan truly deserves praise, but that doesn't mean that the priest and Levite are unconditionally criticized.
Had we been in their position, do you think that we would have behaved differently?
Jesus is not trying to tell who is good and who is bad in this parable.
Nor did he expect us to imitate the life of a Samaritan.

In the Gospels, there are also stories that differ from this.
Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet.
Judas Iscariot said that this perfume should have been sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor.
It is a statement full of humanism, no matter who hears it.
However, Jesus replies: “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me” (John 12:8).

Look at this: it means that our faith goes beyond humanism.
If so, what is the Good Samaritan story really trying to say?

After telling this parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus asked a question to the teacher of the Law. I think this question is the most important in this story.
Look at v. 36:
10:36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"

Of course, the answer is already set. It’s the Samaritan!!!
It seems that the teacher of the Law could not accept the fact that it’s the Samaritan.
So he replied: "The one who showed him mercy."
Then Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."

The lawyer's interest was in determining “who is a neighbor.”
However, Jesus' interest was totally in “being a neighbor.”
The point of view is completely different.
The former is a self-centered viewpoint, while the latter is a viewpoint centered on the person being robbed.

We think of our relationships with our neighbors from a perspective similar to that of a lawyer.
I want to see the other person totally from my own point of view.
We judge the world very much subjectively.
We divide the world with only my side and not my side.
It's similar to how the gangsters see the world.
So everything fit together in this way.
This has become our destiny.
We reject, ignore, or persecute those who are not on our side.
This attitude of life is deeply rooted not only in international politics and society, but also in our everyday life.

No matter how it sounds noble, such a way of life denies other people.
This is why Jesus introduces the Samaritan in this parable.
It is obvious that even Jews who sincerely follow God's command to love their neighbors as themselves could not love Samaritans.
Because the Samaritans couldn’t be their neighbors.
There were so many reasons for that, historically, culturally and politically.
A distinction is made between the object to be loved and the object to be hated.
However, Jesus is telling the lawyer to radically change his mind.
Jesus tells you not to pick who your neighbor is, but you to be a true neighbor.

Did the lawyer change his mind after hearing this?
Unfortunately, the text doesn't say it.
But it's much more likely that he couldn't have changed his mind.
Luke 18:18-30 tells the story of a rich ruler who came to Jesus.
That person asks the same question as the teacher of the law in today's text:
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
According to the Scripture, he was a law-abiding citizen from an early age.
But Jesus commanded to sell his possessions and give it to the poor to follow him. When he heard of this from Jesus, he was very much troubled.
That is the general attitude of ordinary people especially with wealth and health.

Why does Jesus make unreasonable demands that the faithful in their own way cannot handle?
Does Jesus want to place an ethical and moral burden on people?
It's not like that.

Jesus is the one who called “all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens” and promised for true freedom and rest.
So he cannot want to put them with another religious burden.

In my view, today's text conveys something more ultimate.
It is the fact that Jesus is the very Samaritan who appears in the text.
Just like the good Samaritan, only Jesus can give us true life, eternal life, and salvation.
Even the priest cannot save us.
The same goes for the Levites.
No one we thought our neighbors, not even our family, nor ourselves, can save us.
Only Jesus of the cross and of resurrection can save us.

Another important fact in the text is that we are the one who met by robbers.
We are the people who are in a situation where there is no possibility of salvation.
Everything we doesn’t mean anything in terms of our salvation.
If you look at your insides, we have full of all kinds of wounds and rejections.
Stylish and smiling on the outside, we are pretty much just like being robbed.

My friends in Christ!
Have you experienced Jesus as your only neighbor?
So, are you following this light of salvation in your life?

Of course, we all should be.
We are sharing that experience with each other, and that makes us one church.
Such a community is the church.
If anyone has known and experienced this amazing fact that Jesus is our true neighbor, like the good Samaritan who saved a man from robbers, how can they live their precious lives?
Just as a person who has been loved knows how to love others, a person who has experienced a true neighbor can be a good neighbor in the world.
That's right!

Let’s not wait for the good neighbor any more.
We can be a good neighbor for this broken world!