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Unity Church of Castro Valley

Sunday Message for August 20, 2006

Strange Brotherhood

Today we are talking about another drama that Jesus wove into His teaching.  We have already talked about the central theme of His teaching - the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven, which we believe is the spiritual realm that is behind, beyond, and within all creation.

We have also explored Jesus’ kingdom message from the viewpoint that the kingdom is “at hand” and “in the midst of you.”  The truth that we have seen in his words is that we are God’s spiritual image and likeness.  We have within us an indwelling kingdom of God’s spiritual potentials and possibilities.  These can be brought forth into our lives through our own minds and hearts.

But by not understanding this truth about ourselves, most of us live our lives backward.  We struggle to deal with the situations and circumstances of outward effects rather than establishing dominion in the inner domain of causes.  In other words, most of the time we try to cope – and rarely do we really live!

Jesus constantly told us to go to the realm of spiritual causation. This is where we can invoke God’s universal creative process in our own consciousness.  From within we will create outwardly into our lives and world.

So, all the formative work of a life dedicated to the way, the truth, and the life of the Christ is done within.  It is done by the discipleship of our thoughts and feelings.  It is done by awakening to our latent spiritual potentials through study, prayer, and meditation.  Jesus established both the priorities and order of the Christ life with His precept: (Matthew 6:33) “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness [right-thinking], and all these things will be given to you as well.”

The great news of Jesus’ message is that each of us carries the kingdom of God’s nature and His infinite, creative potential within at all times.  It is our indwelling legacy from our heavenly Father.  And, like the prodigal son, as soon as we turn to Him, our heritage becomes an active reality in our lives.  We are born into a new dimension of living.  We enter into a creative partnership with our Father. This brings forth a life of growth, mastery, and spiritual power. It brings forth the kind of life we were designed to live – the kind of life that was lived by our Elder brother, Jesus Christ.

The creative process is always established and initiated within.  Then you have to provide a channel for its outward expression.

THE GOOD SAMARITAN

So, let’s look at one of the great Bible dramas that can teach us how to translate spiritual Truth into action. The drama is Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan told in Luke 10:25-37.

The story starts with a conversation between Jesus and a Jewish lawyer.  A “lawyer” at that time didn’t mean a member of the legal profession but a student and expounder of the religious laws of Israel.  Like the scribes, they represented the lifeless, mechanical, legalistic attitude of obeying the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law.

In this situation the lawyer had asked Jesus a question: (Luke 10:25) "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 

This was during the last six months of Jesus’ ministry, when the religious hierarchy was becoming increasingly hostile toward Jesus.  The lawyer may have been a “plant” attempting to argue with Jesus in order to trip Him up and launch an attack. 

On the other hand, this represents a question that might be asked by any sincere religious seeker.  So, let’s give the lawyer the benefit of the doubt.  Let’s say that he had sensed that there is a much greater possibility to life than we have yet realized.  Perhaps he sensed an eternal quality that has nothing to do with the mere passage of time or what happens to us after we die.  Maybe he saw a potential that can take us beyond anything we now experience into new, richer, fuller dimensions of “life more abundant.”  The lawyer might have been saying, especially in the presence of Jesus Christ, “I can glimpse something of what you mean by this larger ‘Eternal’ life.  But how do I come into it?”  

Jesus may have replied to the lawyer’s question: “You ought to know the answer yourself, as a lawyer.  What is written in the law about this?” 

The lawyer answered: “Well, the law is ‘Love the Lord your God with all your soul and all your strength and all your mind.’”

And Jesus said something like: “That’s it! Do that and you shall live.”  But do what?  How do you love that way?

LOVE GOD

To love God, we must know God.  There are many, many good and wonderful things to know about God.  It is especially important to know that “God is love,” and to know how He loves us.

In this story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus gave us a memorable, dramatic example of an incident of God-like love in the life of a human being.  In the story, an unfortunate traveler became a victim of roadway thieves.  He was beaten and stripped of his possessions, which included his clothes, and left lying half dead in a ditch beside the road.

By coincidence, a priest came by.  He saw the body and immediately passed by on the other side of the road.  One thing that we might remember on his behalf is that a priest was never to touch a dead body or he would be unclean for his priestly duties for the next twenty-four hours.  Also, most devoted men of his day regarded all suffering as decreed by God.  Why should they concern themselves or try to interfere with an “act of God”?  Clearly, however, the priest put his ecclesiastical duties before an act of kindness or an opportunity to express the law of love.

After the priest passed by, a Levite came, perhaps thinking, “If the priest leaves him alone, why should I bother with him?”

Then, the nonreligious person came along, a Samaritan on a business journey.  When he saw the man in trouble, he crossed the road – to help!  Very compassionately, he poured oil and wine on the wounds, bound the man up (medically speaking), placed him on his own donkey, and took him to the inn.  There is then the wonderful suggestion that he watched over the hapless stranger all night, and in the morning he made generous arrangement for extended care.

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

When Jesus finished His story, He asked the lawyer, in effect, “Who then, of these three, was the neighbor?”

The Jews had such a loathing and contempt for the Samaritans that the lawyer wouldn’t even mention the word in answering the question. He replied, “Oh, well, the neighbor is the one who had mercy.” 

Jesus concluded, (Luke 10:37) “Go and do likewise."  Go and put that kind of love into action, and you will know a new dimension of life.

The answer to, “Who is my neighbor?” according to Jesus, is anyone who needs my help!  To the Jew, this was a startling departure from his religious views.  He did feel a definite responsibility to his fellow Jews, but none at all to Gentiles.

An act of love and kindness has its birth in feelings of mutual respect and caring.  One of England’s prime ministers, in need of an operation, informed the doctor, “I don’t want you to treat me as though I were one of the poor charity wretches that come to your hospital.” “Sir, you would be very fortunate if I did; for these poor, miserable charity wretches (as you call them) are all prime ministers in my eyes!”

God’s love is poured out fully on all His children.  The notion of “favorites” is a human misconception.  God’s love, transformed into our love for another, must see them as loved by God, and, therefore, our neighbors – our brother and sister.  Remember, this parable was told by Jesus who loved each of us that way!  Accepting His approach as our own is a marvelous new chance to break through a lot of barriers and experience a new quality to our lives that we have never known before.

There are many reasons why we withhold our love from others.  None of them is worth it.  They are all negatives – fear, anger, resentment, jealousy, or envy.  They not only cause us to ration our love to others but quickly inhibit our ability to experience what love can add to our lives.  Sentiment is also a weak basis for love.  It depends on emotions that are often capricious and can suddenly change or evaporate.  True compassion runs much deeper.

What we need is the overcoming strength of a more-than-human power, namely the love of God.  So often we feel we must change someone in order to love him; but love itself is the transforming power.

With the love of God in our hearts we are divinely strengthened by a dynamic power and sustaining force that can truly overcome our limits and carry us into a greater existence.

It is sometimes helpful to remember the reciprocal of a truth.  We will never truly possess anything we desire or strive to attain as long as we hoard it from anyone else.  The height of our attainment and growth is determined by how much we are willing to help others to have a chance to reach a higher level.

The great ideal was given by Jesus: (Matthew 25:40) “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

The good life is composed of the mutual benefits of giving and receiving.  The Good Samaritan had the spirit of true living – he gave.  He gave of his time, courage, physical strength, money, good will, and friendship. His giving was based on the spirit of the law.

He involved himself in a strange brotherhood.  He embraced people he ordinarily would never have known or tried to know, and he became concerned and involved with them in ways that we usually reserve only for a few close friends.  But it was infinitely worth all the trouble because the bonds that were broken released him into a much greater existence.

In each of us is a waiting reservoir of unfulfilled potential and unlived experience, which hounds our hearts with longings and dreams of larger life.  Deep down in each of us is a persistent divine urge that continually beckons and nudges us to come higher and be more. It urges us to learn and grow and express our own unique spiritual potential in all sorts of wonderful, glorious, and strange ways.

Do you want your life to flourish? Would you like a friend and companion like Jesus Christ?  Remember the Good Samaritan – and “the least of these,” and “go and do likewise.”

ANIMAL BLESSING

And sometimes the “least of these” is an animal. So we should thank God for all the beautiful creatures that enrich and enhance our lives. How many of you brought pictures of your pets today? I would like you to hold that picture in your hands and that animal in your mind.

Father, we come together today to bless all animals everywhere. We come together today, to give thanks and bless our special animal friends.

This is the day, that we fully, consciously recognize that we do indeed, share this beautiful planet with multitudes of creatures, all of which are created by God. We discover in the scripture readings that we are connected. (Ecclesiastes 3:19) “For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other.”.. It doesn't say that ONLY if we humans die, the animals dies. It works both ways. It is in our best self-interest to take care or give care to all of God's creatures.  We do give thanks for these magnificent creatures.

Many of us have been blessed with pets as children and as adults. We know intimately how much they add to our lives. They teach us so much about faith and unconditional love, but much more they give us the opportunity to love, to keep our love channels open, to exercise our faculty of love. These wonderful beings provide us an opportunity to love, especially, at times when loving humans may not be too easy. They are easy to love.

But our relationship with the animals is much deeper and much richer than the companionship we enjoy. We also know that our emotional and mental or intellectual reactions to our experiences - people, places, and animals - represent parts of our consciousness. Many of our attitudes about animals reflect attitudes we hold about ourselves and others.

In Unity we believe in divinely loving ourselves into wholeness, into holiness. When we violently, thoughtless curse and/or kill off the animals, we are cursing a part of ourselves, we are killing off a part of ourselves. We are denying our true identity as Children of God, we are denying the connectedness of all of God's Creation.

We do ourselves a favor by loving and blessing the animals. As we do that we are acknowledging the animal parts of ourselves, we are loving the animal parts of ourselves, and they are being transformed, or perhaps returned to the original ideal state. We can be transformed through love, when we express love, a sense of communion or connectedness with each other and all living creatures.

We come together, accepting the Truth of our being, that all Life is sacred. We have reverence. It is a way of being. We acknowledge and express and experience our reverence today. We express our love for animals, we lovingly accept our own animal natures. We allow Holy Spirit to work in and through us, to integrate us, as we acknowledge our animal sisters and brothers.

Thank you God for all of these beautiful creatures. We accept and love the animals within us and without us. We are grateful that we have been blessed, so we bless them. Thank you God.

REFERENCES: Great Dramas of the Bible William Earle Cameron

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 6:33; Luke 10:25-37; Matthew 25:40

Last updated August 20, 2006