Saint Luke 10:25-37
Shortly after our sign was changed to read: “Hate has no home here...only love” I received an email from a very supportive member wondering what it meant.
I got the idea from signs that I had seen but I thought the message derived its meaning from urban slang: “Don’t you be hating on me.” It meant don’t hate somebody because you are jealous of them. “Don’t you be hating on me ... because of my flashy car, or nice clothes, or spiffy outfit.”
When I did a little research I discovered that the signs and slogan originated in a neighborhood in Chicago close to mine.
The neighborhood around North Park College is known for its diversity.
The neighborhood around North Park College is known for its diversity.
One of the mainstays of the neighborhood is Peterson Elementary School whose student body also matches the assortment of races, nationalities and family make-ups in the area.
Now comes the really neat part! The phrase used in this poster and on our sign was imagined by a third grader and kindergartner at Peterson Elementary! A third grader and a kindergartner! A North Park neighbor and designer, created the graphics; and other neighbors secured the translations, organized and launched the campaign.
Let me repeat that again because I can hardly believe it myself. A third grader and a kindergartner were responsible for the slogan “Hate Has No Home Here.”
Now comes the really neat part! The phrase used in this poster and on our sign was imagined by a third grader and kindergartner at Peterson Elementary! A third grader and a kindergartner! A North Park neighbor and designer, created the graphics; and other neighbors secured the translations, organized and launched the campaign.
Let me repeat that again because I can hardly believe it myself. A third grader and a kindergartner were responsible for the slogan “Hate Has No Home Here.”
The signs not only can be seen in the Peterson Park, North Park, Portage Park neighborhoods of Chicago but all over the city and even United States. You don’t even have to buy them but can download them at the group’s website: www.hatehasnohomehere.org.
You might be more inclined to do so after listening once again to this beloved parable of Jesus that, when he told it, must have gone over like a dirty joke at a party of prudes.
You might be more inclined to do so after listening once again to this beloved parable of Jesus that, when he told it, must have gone over like a dirty joke at a party of prudes.
You know the story as well as I do. There is no surprise in this masterpiece for us because we know it by heart.
I could see you settling back in your seats as I began to read. It was like we were curling up and I was about to read you “The Night Before Christmas.” For us this as comfortable as an old bedtime story but for Jesus’ original listeners this must have been like having a bomb dropped on them.
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You see “by time Jesus and the lawyer were doing their little intellectual sparring, Jews and Samaritans had hated each other for over a thousand years.
I could see you settling back in your seats as I began to read. It was like we were curling up and I was about to read you “The Night Before Christmas.” For us this as comfortable as an old bedtime story but for Jesus’ original listeners this must have been like having a bomb dropped on them.
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You see “by time Jesus and the lawyer were doing their little intellectual sparring, Jews and Samaritans had hated each other for over a thousand years.
When King Solomon died the monarchy broke into two factions: the ten tribes of the North rebelled and founded a capital in the city of Samaria. The two southern tribes made their capital in Jerusalem. There was long-held ethnic hostility and political and religious rivalry between Jews and Samaritans. So when Jesus said ‘Samaritan’”1 all of Jesus’ listeners had to be surprised and some of them were probably mortified.
They may have understood why those who were considered the highest and mightiest of society past by the wounded man. They were important people with important things to do. Their agendas were jammed packed. As we would say in our day, they had a full plate.
The priest and the Levite are not symbols of what is wrong with the law or Judaism, as so many have claimed, but simply a failure to do what needs to be done. They are highly religious people who fail to act in compassion, or even obligation, toward one who is in desperate need.2
They may have understood why those who were considered the highest and mightiest of society past by the wounded man. They were important people with important things to do. Their agendas were jammed packed. As we would say in our day, they had a full plate.
The priest and the Levite are not symbols of what is wrong with the law or Judaism, as so many have claimed, but simply a failure to do what needs to be done. They are highly religious people who fail to act in compassion, or even obligation, toward one who is in desperate need.2
Now if you are like everybody else who has every heard or read this parable you are probably feeling a tinge of guilt. Or, maybe a lot of guilt. I know it runs around like a crazy puppy in my mind every time I pass a beggar on the street but, as Amy Butler, the former Senior Minister of the Riverside Church in New York City reminded us:
In answer to the lawyer’s question Jesus didn’t take out a paper and pencil and make a list: the homeless guy on the street corner, the person with the flat tire, the checker at WalMart, the college student with nowhere to stay for Thanksgiving, so the lawyer could check them off one by one and meet the legal requirements for heaven.3Jesus isn’t talking about the legal requirements, or even the moral requirements, but only the requirement that we see our neighbor.
Not asking if these people are worthy to receive mercy. Not stopping to enquire about church membership or belief structure. Not querying their theological background or being sure that they subscribe to our particular way of being in the world, but offering a hand of assistance and help in times of desperation and trouble.4
` Jesus only asks the questioning lawyer to see and do.
So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”5What might that going and doing look like? It may not be quite as extensive as offering a wounded man emergency care and more than a few nights of lodging. It may be seeing a symbol of divisions and deciding to do something about it.
Only last April did Henry Buxton, a white 85-year-old maintenance volunteer, dismantle the chain-link fence that divided the Linney Cemetery from the Acie Cemetery in Dayton, Texas. Residents said they were so used to the fence that they didn’t think anything of it.
Buxton and his new boss, Mike George, did. It was understood and accepted in the community that the Linney Cemetery was for white folks and the Acie Cemetery was for blacks. That fence was the border line - blacks to one side and whites to the other.
The residents accepted that fact but Henry Buxton and Mike George didn’t. “It should have been done years ago,” George said. 6 But it wasn’t until the two men saw the fence, realized what it meant, and decided to do something about it.
What must I do?” was the lawyer’s question. And Jesus’ answer is simply “be a neighbor”.
If we see that people around you are becoming afraid of the violence that seems to be breaking out everywhere - in churches, synagogues, mosques, even Sikh temples where people are killed because of their faith. In workplaces where people get angry and lash out. And even in nightclubs and the Las Vegas strip.
We may want to take a lesson from a third grader and kindergartner who know their limitations and know they can’t change the world but they can create a sign that creates a movement which proclaims: “Hate Has No Home Here.”
We may take a lesson from the two guys who saw a chainlink fence that stood for longer than anybody could remember as a subtle reminder of a communities division and decided to take it down. It was not much really. It certainly won’t heal all of societies differences but it was a start and a strong statement that “hate has no home here.”
While that fence stood for who knows how long the divisions between Jesus’ people and the Samaritans stood for a thousand years. One story was not going to change that. History tells us that, much as we love the story, it hasn’t.
Maybe the main point of the story is to act. Do something like those kids at Peterson Park Elementary. Be like those guys in Dayton, Texas and remove a needless boundary.
Maybe at the end of the day the main thing is to act. In fact, that is all Jesus tells the lawyer and us to do. Nowhere in this story does Jesus say, “Love your neighbor.” Jesus tells us to look at all those examples of people doing right by their neighbors and then “Go and do likewise.”
And maybe, one by one, little by little, if we keep doing that hate will not only have no home here but anywhere.
Don’t you think?
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1. Amy Butler. “Power Play.” A Sermon for Every Sunday, 9 July 2019, www.asermonforeverysunday.com. Accessed 12 July 2019.
2, Stanley P. Sanders, "Luke 10:25-37. Connecting the Reading with Scripture," in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship, vol. 3, Year C (Westminister John Knox Press, 2019). p. 156-158.
3. Butler, loc. cit.
4. Jerrod McCormick, ""Bearing Witness Even in Dust," ModernMetanoia, June 24, 2019, , accessed July 13, 2019, http://modernmetanoia.org/2019/06/24/proper-9c-bearing-witness-even-in-the-dust/
5. St. Luke 10:36-37. (NKJV) [NKJV= The New King James Version]
6. Johann Calhoun, "Texas Cemetery Fence That Marked Racial Divide Comes down," The Philadelphia Tribune, July 9, 2019, July 9, 2019, accessed July 13, 2019, https://www.phillytrib.com/news/across_america/texas-cemetery-fence-that-marked-racial-divide-comes-down/article_d3da9fe5-adf2-5054-9b2e-6cde35753864.html?fbclid=IwAR1izcRB1k9SdeZDLOa6Sd34tqMNJ3hMZBsbjuiHPi96JyfMz2dr-68uPEs.
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