When I was a senior in highschool I got the opportunity to go to Dublin, Ireland with the marching band to perform in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin. We had to take three planes because the band was so large. I was on a flight with most of the other seniors in the band that would go from Atlanta to London and then we would catch another flight from London to Dublin. And, if anyone here has been on a commercial flight you know what happens before take-off; the safety speech. You know, the one where the flight attendants point to the emergency exits, explain when electronics can be operated, alert you to the lights that tell you when you can and cannot stand up and walk around during the flight, and tell you that your seat doubles as a flotation device. But they also do something else; they demonstrate what to do if the cabin pressure gets to the point where the oxygen masks drop in front of you. The attendant doing the demonstration puts the mask on their face and then demonstrates putting it on someone else. They stress the importance of putting the oxygen mask on yourself first. Some demonstrations will even tell parents or people sitting near children to put their mask on then get the child’s mask adjusted. They probably say this because most parents would worry about their children before themselves and the instruction to get your mask on first seems counterintuitive to most parents. If your child is struggling to breathe, your first instinct as a parent is to help your child then yourself. So, why do flight attendants tell you to put your mask on first and then worry about those around you? Probably because if you are struggling for breath and panicking then it would be extremely difficult even impossible to fumble with a mask for someone else; including a frightened child. Now, these instructions make a lot of sense in emergency situations, but does not seem to work in everyday life because they seem to go against everything Jesus taught us, doesn’t it?

Jesus’ teachings are full of commands to care for those around us. He calls us to care for the least, last, and lost. To reach out and protect the widow, orphan,and foreigner. Even the passage read this morning calls us to love our neighbors. Jesus is teaching when a legal expert thinks of a way to test Jesus. He asks what he has to do to get eternal life. Basically asking, “what is the minimum requirement for this ‘belief in God’ thing.” Jesus asks the man to give his interpretation of the law, the Torah. The man gives an answer many have come to know by heart. The Common English Bible puts his answer this way: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”[1] Jesus tells the man that he is correct in his interpretation. The law says to love your neighbor as yourself. Not love your neighbor as you would a child, a dear friend, a family member, a significant other, or your favorite celebrity. We are called to care for others the way we are supposed to care for ourselves.

In a world that is full of stories of hate and ostracism it is easy to see that we have a loving our neighbor problem. Or,is what the world dealing with more of a loving ourselves problem? Not the narcissistic, self-obsessed thing, Go is not asking us to go to that place, but the place where we can see ourselves as children of God and recognize our worth as beloved creations who have gifts to offer the world. We must be able to see the worth within ourselves in order to see worth in others. If we go around believing that we are worth nothing and are nothing, then of course we will then begin to treat those around us as though they are nothing. Self-hate is toxic and can eat away at us from the inside out and this corrosion has a deep and lasting impact not only on ourselves but on others as well. This is highlighted in the cases we hear about bullying incidents or individuals who seem to enjoy degrading others. Bullying is highlighted in a recent Nick News special, yes for those of us who love anything from the 90s Nick News is still on the air! Anyway, Linda sat down with a group of students to talk about bullying and get a student’s point of view on the issue. On the panel of students there were those who had been bullied and those who had done the bullying. Linda asks those who admit to being bullies why they would treat people poorly. All of them said things like;”it made me feel better,” “I wanted my friends to like me,” and “it took attention off of me.” In other words, they admitted to treating other kids this way mainly because they didn’t understand their own personal worth or see past what they believed to be flaws within themselves so they couldn’t see the worth of others. There seems to be this mentality that says to highlight the flaws in others so that your flaws do not get highlighted. Maybe this is because the negative often outweighs the positive when we think of ourselves. Our flaws and failures are easier for us to see when we look in the mirror or for us to remember when we think of our performance. In fact, the Bible is full of examples of individuals who are called to do great things by God who find it difficult to look beyond what they believe to be flaws to see the truth, that God sees someone who has been gifted with talents that will lead them to success in their calling.

Stories like Moses, who doesn’t believe he speaks eloquently enough to deliver God’s message to Pharaoh. Or when Jeremiah receives the call to be a prophet that will deliver a message to the Israelite community he believes he is too young and inexperienced to speak God’s message to the Israelites. And there is the story of Sarah who believes she is too old to have the child God promises. God has to assure all of these individuals that the Creator has called them to do something and has gifted them with what they need to do what God has called them to do. These are just three examples of the many stories found in Scripture which chronicle individuals called by God who struggle with recognizing their gifts, their worth, and their belovedness.

The struggle with self-worth is something we all deal with and is something that comes into play within the story of the good Samaritan. This story comes when the legal expert then asks Christ the ultimate question: “who is my neighbor?” Or, “Who, exactly, do I have to love?” Christ tells a story that describes an incident where a man is walking along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. He is beaten and robbed then left for dead along the side of the road. As he’s lying there, a priest and then a Levite pass by him so as to not make themselves unclean. Then a Samaritan walks by and sees the man and takes care of him. Jesus then asks the man who of the three acted like a neighbor to the man, the expert replies that it was the one who showed mercy. Jesus then tells him to go and do likewise.This was a story that would have raised a few eyebrows. Samaritans were thought of as the scum of the earth. Samaritans were more influenced by other cultures who would come in and conquer the region. Often intermarrying and even adopting new festivals and even creating a Samaritan Torah which told the story of Yahweh’s people slightly differently from the Torah. To devout Jewish people living in Jesus’ time Samaritans would have been thought of as unclean, at best, and less than human, at worst. Jesus uses this story to turn a common stereotype on it’s head in order to show that everyone is our neighbor, regardless of what we believe about them. But there is something else at play in this story.

Now,even though we get no back story from Jesus about the life this Samaritan has led or his beliefs about Jews, we can assume he knows all too well the things Jewish people believe about the Samaritans. I think it’s safe to say that he knows how the Jews look upon Samaritans and he probably knows that even by touching the man’s neck and wrist to check for a pulse would provoke strong and harsh feelings directed toward him. The Samaritan knows all these things and understands that these beliefs and feelings are existent within the heart and mind of the man on the side of the road. But the Samaritan does not believe the things that are said about him and his community. He knows his own worth. How do we know? Because he helps the dying man. He gives him clothes, cleans and bandages his wounds, finds an inn for the man to recuperate, and pays the bill; leaving the tab open in case the man needs any other care. A person who truly believed that they meant nothing to the world, that they were scum and no better than the dirt under foot would not have stopped to help someone who is against them. The actions the Samaritan took toward the dying man are those of someone who believes they are worth something and can recognize the image of God within themselves and others.

Friends, I am going to ask you something and I want you to be honest with yourself. Do you know that you are loved and created by the One who Loves? Not do you think, or do you feel, but do you know this to be true? Does every inch of your being cry out, “I am created in the divine image of God. The same breath that once breathed light into darkness and spoke order to chaos breathes and speaks in me! I am worth something because the Creator says so.”? Now, we all have those moments where we look in the mirror and don’t like what we see, we don’t get the grade we wanted on an assignment or the review we expected from a boss, a dream we had just doesn’t seem to get off the ground, or we can’t see our gifts and talents because we compare ourselves to others. If we do not know that we are loved and have worth then it is easy for these moments to affect us in such a way that they have a negative impact on the way we treat others. But when we know that we are worth something and can recognize this worth within ourselves then we are able to see past these perceived shortcomings and see that we matter and the image of God resides within us. Realizing our worth within ourselves will lead to us treating those around us with love and dignity. We have the opportunity to stop the cycle of self-hate that leads to the hatred of others. We can look at ourselves as children of God that, yes, have flaws and failures, but the fact that we are loved despite of these means that we can see past them as well. The image of God is in all of us and once we see it in ourselves we can see it in others and a cycle of love, mercy, and forgiveness replaces the cycle of hate, doubt, and resentment.

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all children of God who have the breath of the Creator within us. And as the Samaritan understood this, we too are called to understand and believe this Know that you are loved and were made to love others as yourself. So follow the prompting of Christ and, “go and do likewise.” Amen.

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[1] Luke 10:27 CEB