Go and Do Likewise
I learned a new song this week. It’s called “The Hippo Song”. Here are the words:
In the beginning God made the seas and the forests filled with trees.
God made the mountains up so high and at the top God placed the skies.
God’s fingerprints are everywhere just to show how much God cares.
And in the middle God had lots of fun! God made a hippo that weights a ton.
Hip, hip, hip, hippopotamus. Hip, hip hooray God made all of us.
Hip, hip, hip, hippopotamus. Hip, hip hooray God made all of us.
That’s a fun song, don’t you think? It’s fun to sing; it’s fun to dance to it; it’s kind of silly; and sometimes its good to be silly and have fun.
What I really like about this song is that it reminds me that God made everything in the world – the seas and the trees (and plants and flowers) and the mountains and skies and the animals (and the birds and the bugs!) and God made all of us! God made each one of us exactly as God wants us to be. We are similar to each other in so many ways and yet we each have own unique personalities and abilities and quirkiness and self-expression.
As similar as we are and as different as we are, what unites us together as human beings is that God created every person in God’s own image (Gen 1:27).
Psalm 139:13-14 tells us that God formed our inward parts and God knit us together in our mother’s womb. So we praise God because we are each fearfully and wonderfully made.
Hip, hip, hip, hippopotamus. Hip, hip hooray God made all of us.
I learned this new song this past week when I was serving as Family Camp Chaplain at Calumet (Lutheran Camp on Ossipee Lake in Freedom, NH). A group of folks who were staying at Calumet taught it to me.
Collectively this group of people is called “Faithful Friends”. It’s a group of adults who come to Calumet together every year. Some of them have been coming for decades (a few went to Resident Camp when they were kids). Like many of us, these friends love Calumet!
And they love Jesus. We had a good time together during the week, talking about God and Jesus; singing and dancing; praying and worshiping; getting to know each other as the unique human beings God created us each to be.
Hip, hip, hip, hippopotamus. Hip, hip hooray God made all of us.
The Faithful Friends are unique. They are adults who all have some kind of disability. They all have been given some kind of label – some diagnosis – that other people use to describe who they are. Then the label becomes the only thing that people see when they look at these folks; they don’t see the unique whole human being behind the label – behind the diagnosis. And they certainly don’t see the gifts that these folks with disabilities have to offer the world – gifts of joy and friendliness and caring and faith.
Today I’m giving these Faithful Friends a new label – I’m going to call them Good Samaritans. They are the neighbor who show mercy; going out of their way to show compassion and kindness to everyone they meet, even to those who treat them poorly. These friends do the right thing, because that’s who they are as people of faith.
Does that surprise you?
The gospel story we heard today is often called The Parable of the Good Samaritan. It’s a story with a surprising ending.
A lawyer comes to Jesus and asks him – What must I do to inherit eternal life? That’s an interesting question since, in most cases, one cannot do anything to inherit anything; inheritances are a gift one person receives from another.
There is nothing we can do to inherit eternal life. That work has already been done for us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s the gift of grace that we receive through faith.
The question for us, then, is this – Now that we know we have been made right with God through the saving grace of Jesus, how are we to live?
What is written in the law? What do you read there? – Jesus asks us.
We know the answer – Love God. Love our neighbor.
This is the work we are given to do – to continue in relationship with God and with our neighbor; seeking to know the will of God and working to do God’s will in the world for the wellbeing of all God’s people and creation.
Like the lawyer who comes before Jesus, we might ask And who is my neighbor?, hoping perhaps that Jesus will tell us who we must love and serve and who we can ignore. Who is our neighbor and who is not our neighbor? What are the limits of our love for others?
Turns out there are no limits. Does that surprise you?
As we listen to Jesus tell the story of the man who was beaten and robbed and left half dead, we come to understand that the neighbor in the story is the Samaritan – the outsider, the enemy of the Jewish people. The neighbor is not the priest or the Levite, as we might expect.
It is the Samaritan who notices the wounded person on the side of the road and stops to help, going out of their way to provide generous care for this person he does not even know.
It is the Samaritan who shows mercy – kindness and compassion – to the human being in great need.
It is the Samaritan who lives out their faith in the world, acting out of love for God and for their neighbor; not seeking recognition or reward or trying to make themselves feel good; doing what is right; because that’s who they are as people of faith.
Does that surprise you?
Go and do likewise, Jesus says to us today.
Go and be a neighbor to all the people who are suffering as a result of the cruel budget reconciliation bill that was signed into law on July 4th. Go and love and show mercy – kindness and compassion – to…
…the immigrant who fears being snatched off the streets by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and detained in a cage or deported without due process
….the people with disabilities (like the Faithful Friends I met at Calumet) who fear their Medicaid will be cut, denying them access to the supports and services they need to live and thrive in the community of their choice
…the elderly person living on a fixed income who fear their Social Security will be reduced and they will fall further into poverty
….the poor person who fears they will loose access to SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) and they will not be able to feed their family
Go and do likewise, Jesus says to us today.
Why?
Because we are all unique human beings, created in the image of God.
Because we are all fearfully and wonderfully made.
Because Jesus lived and died for all people so that all people might have life in abundance.
Because it is the right thing to do.
Because that’s who we are as people of faith.
Go and do likewise, Jesus tells us.
The the good news for today is that God made all of us!
Hip, hip, hip, hippopotamus. Hip, hip hooray God made all of us.