As Christians we consider the Bible to be "sacred scripture", inspired by God. But what does that mean? The fact of the matter is that different parts of the Bible have a way of arguing with one another. How do we hear God speaking in the argument? This past week I was in a play at Ocean Grove written by my friends Laurie Zelman and Mark Miller about the first attempts of women to get ordained in the Methodist church back in 1880.
 

Those in favor of the ordination of women, and those opposed, both quoted scripture. For instance, in one place the Apostle Paul instructs women to keep silent in church. Seems clear enough. Elsewhere he says, "...there is neither male nor female, slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile, but we are all one in Christ Jesus", suggesting that in Christ all persons have been made equal. Most of us would conclude that when Paul said the latter, he was speaking God’s universal truth, whereas the former was spoken out of the limits of his cultural bias. We give more "weight" to the scripture verse that says "we are all one in Christ."
 

Whether we acknowledge it or not, every Christian who reads the Bible makes choices to lift up certain Scripture passages and give them more authority than others. We choose certain key passages by which we interpret the rest of the Bible. How do we make these choices? I’m not sure. We would like to think it is the guidance of the holy spirit; sometimes it may be simply our particular cultural bias. It makes a difference how you hear scripture depending upon whether you are rich or poor, young or old, male or female, gay or straight, etc., etc., etc. A little humility about all this is much to be desired.
 

For me, the story that we just heard about the "Good Samaritan" may be the passage that I focus on above all others in terms of holding supreme authority in the Bible. Am I right to do so? Only God knows for sure.
 

Here’s what happens. A lawyer asks Jesus, "What must I do to inherit the eternal life?" It’s one of those basic spiritual questions that can be expressed in a variety of ways: "How do I get to heaven?" or "What do I have to do to lead a life that is truly meaningful?" or "Or what do I have to do to live a life that is truly pleasing to God?" Jesus points back to the Scriptures and asks the man, "How do you read them?" The man in turn lifts out two verses from the Hebrew Scriptures which he declares to be the interpretive keys, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength," and "love your neighbor as yourself."
 

Jesus says, in essence, "good choices!" The heart of the spiritual life IS love: love of God AND love of neighbor.
 

The lawyer wants to get into the area of practical application of the scripture: "Who exactly is my neighbor?" Jesus proceeds to tell a story about a man who gets beaten up, left half dead at the side of the road. A priest and a Levite -- a couple of religious professionals -- walk by and pass by without coming to his aid. Then a Samaritan, representing a nationality his listeners would have considered despicable, comes by and shows compassion on the hurting man. He opens his heart to the man, and in doing so is moved to action to relieve the man’s suffering. The Samaritan bandages his wounds, takes him to an inn where the man can rest, and foots the bill for his recuperation. Then Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."
 

So, Jesus says, put compassion into practice with everybody you meet.  That’s what God wants of you. It is worth noting that Jesus doesn’t say anything about right belief or doctrine. He doesn’t say, "Unless you believe so and so or you won’t get into heaven." He says, simply, practice compassion. Keep your heart open.  We are continually tempted to harden our hearts rather than show compassion. With this piece of scripture as my interpretive key, I can be in dialogue with other faith traditions. This is the passage I preached on when I preached next door at the synagogue. Note, however that at the same time, it offers a radically demanding vision of life: to live out such a compassionate life is not easy for anyone. But on the other hand, it would seem quite possible that a good Jew, or Moslem, or Hindu, or even an atheist, could well be on Jesus’ "path" to the extent that their hearts aren’t close and they are living out compassion and kindness.
 

The passage also implies there’s a lot of fraudulent religion being practiced in the world. The religious professionals who pass by the wounded man presumably have all the right words, but their hearts are closed.
 

Now, having praised this passage, naming it as my "interpretive key" for the rest of scripture, I want to argue with the story. The lawyer tends to come off as the "bad guy." But he asks, I think, a legitimate question. "Who is my neighbor?" he asks. If everyone is my neighbor -- somebody who has a claim on my heart -- where are my boundaries? It isn’t hard to imagine myself becoming this withered, burn out, absolutely spent shell of a human being if I’m not allowed to ever say "no" to any body who asks for my attention.
 

One of the things about Scripture is that it makes you struggle with stuff like this.
 

A couple of thoughts:
 

Jesus did say "No" sometimes. He went off by himself, and in doing so, making himself unavailable, to rest, pray and restore his soul. He did this so that when he returned his "Yes" to people could be truly open hearted.
 

The priest and the Levite are in a hurry. In their minds they have to get to the Temple. They have an agenda pressing down on them of things that need to be met which closes them off from really seeing what is around them, all of which is quite familiar to all of us. When we hurry, people become for us "things", not "eternal souls." Another human being is the closest contact with holiness that any of us will ever have in this world. The priest and the Levite think they have to get to the Temple to see signs of God’s presence, when God is to be found right there at the side of the road.
 

Carl Jung said, "Hurry isn’t of the devil; it is IS the devil." I think he had a point. Hurrying closes down the heart.
 

Finally, one way to hear this story is to recognize ourselves in the man left half dead at the side of the road. Oftentimes the person we can be the most cruel towards and hard-hearted in relation to is none other than our very own selves. We shame ourselves and turn a deaf ear to the cries arising from our own wounded souls and bodies. So, the first step in living a compassionate life is to have compassion on our own wounded selves. In contrast to the harsh judgments that we place upon ourselves, we begin to ask Jesus to take us up in his arms to bless and heal us.
 

There will always be limits to how far we can show compassion and mercy towards others if we have set limits to showing mercy towards ourselves.
 

In the kindness of Jesus,
Pastor Jeff