Sermon by Stuart Pike

Photo Credit: Lawrence OP on Flickr.com

Sermon Text:

Today’s Gospel lesson is so familiar it has practically become a colloquialism. Because of this, we are in danger of truly being open to the story, and actually learning something new.

Our brains say, “Ok, Good Samaritan, we’re supposed to be kind to strangers. Well, duh, of course we are.” And then our brains shut down.

The only problem is, even though we know the moral of this story, it doesn’t really mean that we will practice it. Especially when we get busy.

In an article entitled, “Too busy to be a Good Samaritan”, Jason Johston, a pastor in Texas writes about the 1973 Princeton University Study by two students of Psychology there by the names of John Darley and Daniel Batson.

“Darley and Batson met with a group of Princeton Theological Seminary students and asked half of them to prepare a short talk on employment opportunities for divinity students after graduation, and the other half to prepare a talk on the parable of The Good Samaritan. The subjects were then told they would need to walk across campus to another building in order to present their talk to a group of divinity students. A significant variable was introduced into the experiment - some presenters were told they were running late and needed to hurry across campus, and some were told they had a few minutes to spare and did not need to rush.

Strategically placed on campus was a man who appeared to have

been mugged, and as each theological student made their way across campus they would encounter him slumped in an alley, head down, coughing and groaning, in desperate need of assistance. The purpose of the experiment was to find out who would stop to help, who would not stop, and why.

One would assume given the fact that these test subjects were seminary students, and should therefore hold to a high theological standard of compassion and mercy, that all of them would stop to help a man who seems to be in need. The results, however, are stunning, and are largely governed by one mitigating factor - whether they were in a hurry to get across campus or not.

All of the students were well versed in The Good Samaritan, and many of them were preparing to give a talk on the subject, yet of the ones who were told they were running late, only 10% stopped to help the man in need on campus. Of the group who knew they had a few minutes to spare, 63% stopped to offer aid.

What this study suggests is that at times, when hurried or rushed, the beliefs we hold to are not necessarily translated into the actions of our behavior. It exposes a group of people who theologically align with the concepts of compassion and mercy, yet when set in a context of hurry, rush and busyness, become indifferent to the sufferings of those around them. It shows that pace of life can play a large role in whether or not we authentically demonstrate what we declare to be true.

This simple study reveals a profound truth about the current rhythm of many of our lives - we're too busy, we're too hurried and we're too rushed. We're so overloaded with schedules that we lose focus of what's really important. For many of us, our current pace of life leaves little room for us to be ambassadors of reconciliation, agents of hope and redemption, and accurate representatives of the Savior who came to meet the needs of a world slumped in an alley, head down, coughing and groaning, in desperate need of assistance.”

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the focus of St. Luke’s Gospel has changed. Jesus now has his face “set to go to Jerusalem” meaning that he has accepted his journey of self-sacrifice to the cross and beyond, but he and his disciples