And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And 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.” And He said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10: 25-37
I’m writing all of this week’s messages a few days early and in anticipation of losing power and not being able to write, so I won’t be writing in real time after Tuesday. My mind, and the minds of many people around me, are not on the challenges to our faith, but on this impending storm, and so the rest of the messages this week will focus on that, and we will return, hopefully, to regular messages next week. If there is no message on Tuesday, October 15, it will be because we have no power. If we lose power, we will get the Prayer Team up and running again as soon as we can. We haven’t missed a day in the almost ten years that the Prayer Team has existed, so I pray we will not now either. I pray you find encouragement and hope in these messages.
I’m writing this message on Tuesday morning, October 8, racing against the clock to get things done before we inevitably lose power for awhile. I plan to get through the message for Monday, October 14. I have no idea what the outcome of the storm will be to me personally or to our state, so I’m writing and trying to offer a message that will be appropriate and encouraging regardless of how this plays out.
By Friday, we will have seen the destruction of Hurricane Milton, even though the fill extent of it will probably not be known for some time. And inevitably the question we will hopefully ponder is “How can I help?” There will be three simple answers: Offer a prayer, not matter where you are. Send money if you are far away. And help a neighbor if you are close.
What is prayer going to do? First of all, it will remind people affected by this storm that they are not alone. It is a very comforting thought when someone many states away says “I got down on my knees and I mentioned your name or your situation to God.” The most intimate thing we can do with someone else is to take their name and their need to God. Every time someone tells me “I’m praying for you,” or “I have prayed for you,” I see that as the greatest gift. Prayer also changes out mindset. We all know that phrase that thoughts affect actions. A prayerful thought is more likely to lead to helpful action.
If you are close to affected areas, lend a hand. Many of us will have messes to clean up. Clean-up will go faster if we help one another out. Some people have messes that they can’t clean up alone, something heavy that can’t move by themselves. Some people are senior citizens and don’t have the strength to clean up. A parent with two or three young children to run after will probably appreciate some help.
There are many agencies that will step in to help, some obviously more trustworthy than others. Support these agencies financially. Our parish of St. John will be setting up a hurricane relief fund, to get aid to those who have been hardest hit by this disaster. You can send money to “St. John Greek Orthodox Church, Tampa, Attn: Hurricane Relief” and we’ll get it to the ones who need it most. IOCC, Red Cross and Philoptochos are other agencies that will provide help over a widespread area.
I chose to use the Parable of the Good Samaritan for today’s Scripture reading. It will come up again in a few weeks for the Sunday reading, but I thought it was important for us to give this an extra read today. There are five people mentioned in this story. First, there is the man who was beaten and robbed, who did nothing to deserve that. He happens to be Jewish. He is analogous to those who have been beaten by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, who have been “robbed” of possessions and peace of mind. One thing that the wounded man did was allow himself to be helped. He had the humility and even grace to accept help, which is hard for some people. If you are one of the people who needs help, please ask, and please accept. You will get a turn to return the favor. This is your turn to receive help.
There is a priest and a Levite, two leaders of the man’s temple, who should have been the first to run to his aid. They are too busy to stop and help. Perhaps they don’t even notice him. Or perhaps they do and purposely avoid him. This is analogous to all of us, if we are honest. We are so busy, and so distracted that we don’t always notice those around us who are in need. And we’re not just talking when a hurricane or disaster hits. People have personal disasters every day—are we cognizant of that? If this parable played out in a modern context, probably both the priest and Levite would have been looking down at their phones and missed him altogether.
There is the Samaritan, the sworn enemy of the Jewish man. When he sees the man, he is overwhelmed with compassion. His ethnicity doesn’t matter. He doesn’t see a Jewish man. He sees a man who needs some help. This is one of the things that is wrong in our world. We can’t just see human beings anymore. Everyone needs some kind of label. The Good Samaritan saw a man who needed some help, and he helped him, in the best way he could. On one day, he had time—he spent the day and the night with the man to help him. He had skill—he knew that he could use oil and wine to treat the man’s wounds. He had a donkey he could lend to the man—He put the injured man on the donkey and he walked. And when his time ran out and he could no longer physically help the wounded man, he provided the means for someone else to do it. He gave money to the innkeeper to make sure he was taken care of. This is the kind of help we need in the aftermath of this storm. People who have time or skill and live in close proximity to the affected areas, well a lot of skill will be needed. And people who don’t live close to this area, you can help provide the means by supporting the agencies that will help in the cleanup.
The last man mentioned in the story is the innkeeper. The inn represents the church, and the innkeeper is the coordinator of the people in need and the money that comes into the church. The innkeeper might be the priest, a member of the Parish Council, a member of Philoptochos, a Sunday school teacher, or anyone that is involved in helping identify those who have needs and meeting those needs.
“How can I help?” needs to be a question we are asking every week, but especially this week. Imagine how the world could change if we used these four words more often.
Lord of the Powers, be with us, for in times of distress, we have no other help but You. Lord of the Powers, have mercy on us.
Have mercy on us, O God, according to Your great mercy, we pray to You, hear us and have mercy.
Again we pray for the protection of our churches and cities, and every city and country, from wrath, famine, earthquake, flood, hurricane, fire, foreign invasion, civil strife, accidental death and acts of terrorism; that our good and loving God will be merciful, gracious and favorable to us, by keeping away all wrath and disaster that is against us.
Again we pray that the our God will hear the voice of the petitions of us sinners and have mercy on us.
Hear us, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth; and be gracious, O Master, be gracious to us and have mercy on us. For You are a merciful and loving God, and to You we send up glory, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
We are seeing the Parable of the Good Samaritan happening in front of our own eyes this week. Who are you in the story?
