World Refugee Sunday

For giving me this opportunity to be with you all today.

And it's a wonderful pleasure and to say thank you for your continuous partnership and support.

!

Today what I want to share with you is something about my own story,

about what I have been through.

In my own journey as a teenager.

So that goes back to almost 30, 35 years before.

So it's my own story.

Before we open what God has placed in my heart, I would like to pray with you.

Let's quickly pray.

Dear loving God, as we gather this morning to worship and reflect your word,

help us to understand what you are teaching us.

Show us how to respond with love, without limits.

As we think about the familiar story of Samaritan, teach us this morning how to respond.

Thank you, Lord, for our church, this church.

And for the partnership you have given us here, help us to work together in unity, in love, serving others as one body.

Guide us so that we don't just listen, but be changed, be challenged, becoming your people who share your grace with everyone we meet.

In your holy name.

Amen.

Again, church, as I said earlier, thank you for this opportunity that I can stand with you today to share God's word.

My theme of message, today's message is, who is my neighbor?

When the lawyer or the expert in the law asked the question, who is my neighbor?

He wanted to know the limits of responsibility.

What is the limit?

He was asking the right question, but he was asking how far I have to go.

What is the distance I have to go?

Who must I love and who can I ignore?

Who are the people I could love, who are the people I could ignore?

But Jesus did not answer his question.

Jesus was asking a question from him.

And then he simply says to the man, go and do likewise.

So Jesus didn't answer his question directly.

It was a good question.

Before I go further, I want to share a bit of my own story, my own life.

I get asked by churches and people who meet me often what I do and why I do the work I'm involved.

And in short, my story, one of the chapters, starts in this point, 1990, June.

My journey begins in one of the darkest moments of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

If you have known Sri Lanka, the history of Sri Lankan Civil War and internal displacement has been one of the major disasters and man-made disasters of that nation.

In 1990, June, there was a major internal displacement.

Hundreds of thousands were forced from their homes to flee.

Many didn't survive.

Many of my friends didn't survive.

Bombings, shelling, that followed that particular week, starting from June 14th.

My family and I were among those who fled on that night.

I want to take a moment to share with you my own story, in a way.

In a very difficult time of my teenage years, in my journey, there were seven churches along the way of fleeing of around 300 kilometers.

Seven churches who stepped up, making an impact in my life.

I may not agree with the doctrines of these churches.

I don't agree with those certain doctrines those churches shared.

But their actions and their response was profound.

The church has the responsibility and the unique ability, even today in Australia,

to stand with those who have lost everything.

They have lost the people who have lost their hope.

People have lost everything.

The church has the ability to make a difference.

Their actions are part of why I now walk alongside with those who are forcibly displaced

or those who have become refugees.

And I've been involved in refugee ministry since I left my high school, I don't know, 30 years ago, 32 years ago.

And since I left, I've been involved in refugee work.

And when I talk about these seven churches in my journey, I want to start talking about the church one.

When we fled and we walked probably around 15 kilometers and we came to a small Pentecostal congregation in a village.

And I still remember the pastor opened their home and they fed us on that day.

We were complete strangers to them.

And they opened their home and they fed us on that day, on that night when we were praying.

And the devotional reading was from Isaiah 43, verse 2.

Isaiah 43:2

Verse 2, when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.

And those words became very real when we heard that our home was completely burned down.

My parents lost their business, our home, everything we lost on that night.

The second church was a pastor who journeyed with us who also fled.

And we came to a point where it was so dangerous for us to go further in our displacement.

And the only way we could do is to cross a particular waterway through sea, the sea waterway.

And we were around 30 of us.

We have to cross.

And many of the young people didn't have any financial means to do that.

And the pastor and his wife, that was their first wedding anniversary.

And the pastor and wife took off their wedding rings and gave it to the boatman and said,

take these young people, save the show.

And that was the second church.

The third church, when we arrived on the other side of the show, it was a Catholic parish in the local area.

And when these people coming by boat in hundreds, these Catholic church on the show,

they rallied the community around, the people around the church area.

And they cooked a meal for that day.

And they served, they didn't have plates, they didn't have any fancy equipments.

And they served us in this big teak leaves.

They served the meal on that day.

It was a very simple meal.

Even today, I sort of wonder if I could taste the same thing.

And I feel that was a life-saving meal for me on that day.

And my life became sort of as a family wandering in that district for a few months.

And I also remember one morning stepping into another congregation, an apostolic church.

That's what their name.

And the pastor and the wife invited me.

And because I was 16 and I was so frustrated at that day.

And he gave me a New Testament in my hand.

And he said, Jude, you need to start reading the scriptures.

And that New Testament spared my life.

Because that's the time the young teenagers got dragged into becoming child soldiers.

So Sri Lanka had this issue of child soldiers.

And the conversation with that pastor and he sort of giving me that New Testament in my hand

sort of saved me from that temptation of going through this hopelessness and say,

no, I also need to take my arms and fight.

And that point saved me.

And continuing to talk about the other churches.

And another church, complete strangers, they came and gave some money to my dad and say,

on your next leg of your travel to go to the capital, here you are.

And we never knew them.

We never met them.

And they're just complete strangers.

When we came to what we call the military-controlled area,

and we were housed in a school hall, a Christian school hall,

the priest of that school made arrangement for us to sleep in the school hall and made meals.

And to tell you that anyone houses any young people in a strange place like that,

they are subject to military actions.

Because it is a risk that priest took that night to house these young people,

and my family to be safe on that night.

If you have stayed on the street, or if you are outside somewhere,

our life would have been, I would not stand in front of you today to share this.

And then the final about the seventh church,

and we managed to come to the city, and we were there.

And in this particular city, I attended a service,

and then they were glorifying the military actions,

and they prayed for the military.

And I was kind of confused.

And here, one side of the military is killing the people,

and here the church is sort of praying and supporting the whole actions.

But there were individuals and leaders who journeyed with me,

supported me, protected me, where I could stand with you today.

This is my, not a short story.

I thought it would be a short story, but it has become a long story.

Right?

So this is my story.

Right?

So when I want to open the story with you,

what Jesus was sharing,

he was sharing about the lawyer's question.

Right?

And it was a good question.

The intention was good.

The parable in Luke chapter 10

Luke 10 · chapter mention

begins with the lawyer standing there to test Jesus.

It was not, it was a good question,

but the intention behind the question was not good.

He was actually trying to test Jesus.

He says, teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

On the surface, it sounds good,

and Luke's important question,

but Luke's tells us in the passage that he was trying to test.

And Jesus continues.

He responds with a question.

Instead of direct answer,

the lawyer knew the law from A to Z.

And he says,

he responds to Jesus,

love the Lord your God,

love your neighbor as yourself.

And then he asks the question from Jesus,

who is my neighbor?

This reveals the struggle even for us today.

We all, the people know the law.

Even the lawyer knew the law,

but he didn't know the application of the law.

People know the scripture well.

People struggle with the application of the scripture.

People ask good questions based on scriptures.

And one of the questions we all ask about,

today's major question is about migration,

and who comes to this country,

who are they,

and all those questions.

Those are good questions.

The problem is,

are we really looking for the truth,

or we are looking for limits?

And it's easier to look for

what is the limit we can place on things.

But what is the truth is the question.

And based on the parable,

I would like to bring three small reflections for you,

for you to continue to ponder.

The first one is,

the first character is the man on the road.

Most of the time when we read this story,

I think as from our childhood,

we would have read this story a thousand times.

A thousand times we would have read this story.

But,

I would really love you taking a turn,

not to focus on the Samaritan,

but let's start focusing on the other characters.

The man on the road,

Jesus replied,

a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,

and he fell among robbers,

who stripped him and beat him and departed,

leaving him half dead.

The stranger in need,

Jesus in his story simply said,

a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

The man has no name,

there's no name,

there is no ethnic or religious label for this man.

Jesus removes every detail that could be used as an excuse.

He removes all the details of this man.

We only know that man was injured and he was half dead.

The man is suffering and he needed help.

That's all we know from the scripture.

And the pain does not come to a person with permission.

And it doesn't come with a label.

And because I belong to this,

I am suffering.

The pain and suffering to people,

it comes when it comes.

Our focus here is to look at the structure of this parable,

especially the way Jesus removes every identify marker from the man on the road.

Jesus deliberately strips away anything that could be used as an excuse.

The people whom we see,

people whom we journey with,

that most of the time we tend to journey with them

or choose to love them

or choose to support them based on their identity.

And Jesus removes that identity here.

The second group of people we see in the scripture

is the priest and the Levite.

The scripture says,

now by chance a priest was going down that road

and when he saw him,

he passed by on the other side.

So likewise,

a Levite,

when he came to the place

and saw him

and passed on the other side.

And Jesus speaks about this Levite and the priest.

And the scripture very clearly says

they were going down.

They were not going up.

So if you really look at

Jerusalem and Jericho,

Jerusalem is in a higher ground.

It's around 750 meters high.

And Jericho is in the lowest point near the Dead Sea.

And if you read the passage

and if you try to understand the law,

the numbers, chapter 19, verse 11 says,

Numbers 19:11

whoever touches a dead body

still be unclean for seven days.

That's the scripture says.

The man who knows the law,

the Levite and the priest,

he sees this half dead man

and if he goes and touches

that particular person,

if that body is a dead body

or if that person is a dead man,

he will be defiled.

He will be defiled for seven days.

And if he was going from Jericho to Jerusalem,

the Levite and the priest

will be going over there

to do their religious duties,

to serve in the church

or serve in the temple.

And it was a classic example,

a classic excuse to say,

no, I don't want to touch this person

because if I touch,

I can't go and do my religious duties

in the church, in the temple.

I can't do this.

By law, I cannot do this.

And they were not going to serve

in the temple

because they were coming down.

They were coming from the temple.

They were coming down.

Helping that person

would not stop their service

at the temple

because they have already completed

their part of the work.

And it is, even today,

it's a similar thing.

We kind of come to a place

that we say by law,

by scripture,

by certain limitation,

by policies,

by compliance,

we cannot act,

we cannot do something.

The priest and the Levite

weren't stopped by the law.

They were stopped

by the way they interpreted the law

and used it,

used that particular law

as their excuse.

They were already among,

they were already coming

down from Jerusalem.

Their duties have finished,

their rituals are finished,

so Jesus removes

the law excuse.

It reminds us

today,

even good laws

and traditions

can block you and me

from being compassionate

to the people

who are in need.

The third person

in the story

is a character

we mostly talk about.

But in that also

we leave

some details.

Here,

Jesus talks about

the Samaritan.

The Samaritan journeyed,

came where he was,

and when he saw,

I'm reading from

chapter 10,

verses 33 to 35,

he went to him

and bound

up his wounds,

pouring on oil

and wine,

then set him

on his own animal

and brought him

to an inn

and took care of him.

And the next day,

he took out

two denarii

and gave them

to the innkeeper

saying,

take care of him

and whatever

more you spend,

I will repay you

when I come back.

Jesus introduces

the Samaritan.

This is very shocking

why he has to

introduce a Samaritan.

Why not a Roman?

Because the Romans

were living there.

Why not another

Canaanite person?

Someone else?

Why Jesus has to

use a Samaritan

in this story?

And the Samaritans

and Jews,

they were brothers

centuries ago.

They lived together.

They were under

one kingdom.

They were together.

But the rivalry

grew.

And when you,

after the

Assyrian conquest

of 722 BC,

the rivalry grew

and they

separated.

And Jews

believed

the only

proper place

to worship

was

the temple

in Jerusalem.

And Samaritans

believed

the true place

to worship

is one of the

mountains

in Samaria.

Not in Jerusalem.

The tension

between these

two

became a

theological

division,

theological

arguments.

It turned

violent at times.

They fought

with each other.

Jews

destroyed

the Samaritan

temple

on the

mount

around

150 years

before

Jesus

told this

story.

And also

Samaritans

also

disrupted

when the

Jews

traveling

to

Jerusalem

for their

pilgrimages,

their

rituals.

When

Jesus

brought

the

Samaritans

in this

story,

Jesus

brings

the story

of compassion

in action.

And the

Bible

says

the

Samaritan,

he

saw him,

he sees

him,

he had

compassion,

and he

went to

him.

I just

want to

underline

these three

things.

And what

we fail

to do

most of

the time,

even in

my life,

in my

walk

with people,

I refuse

to see

what's going

on,

because I

refuse to

see,

I cannot

feel what

they are

going through,

I cannot

move by

compassion,

and because

I can't

see and

feel,

I don't

go to

them.

I stay

out of

that place

because I

refuse to

see it,

I refuse

to move,

and so

I don't

go to

them.

He does

not,

when he

goes to

him,

he did

not ask

the question

about the

ethnicity of

the person

injured,

he did

not ask

the race

of that

person who

is injured,

and he

did not

ask the

question of

the religious

or politics.

And the

scripture says

he acts,

it was not

a triple

zero call

and then

to walk

away,

right?

Today,

if I see

somebody in

need,

and my

easiest

option is

to make

a triple

zero call.

This is

not the

narration

of the

secular

media

today

saying

a good

Samaritan's

act.

When somebody

calls a triple

zero,

today you

will hear

in a secular

media saying

that was

an act

of a good

Samaritan.

So it

was not

that easy

at that

point.

And the

Bible

says he

goes there,

he bandages

the wound,

uses oil

and wine,

puts the

man on

his own

animal,

in his

own donkey,

takes him

to the

inn,

and the

Bible says

he stayed

with him

and cared

for him.

And on

the next

day,

pays

two

denarii.

And if

you really

look at

it,

it's a lot

of money.

It is a lot

of money

in today's

terms.

It's

probably

around two

days of

wages.

And for

the

Samaritan,

that's

a lot

of money.

And he

says,

in the

last part

it says,

promises to

return and

pay if

you have

spent more,

willing to

reimburse.

This is

a costly

ongoing

commitment.

It is

not

something

that you

fix and

run away.

It is an

ongoing

commitment.

This

parable

gives

us

the

love

that we

show

without

limits.

And

faith

is

proven

when it

is

not

safe.

My

faith

is

proven

when it

is

not

safe.

The

faith

is

proven

when it

is

really

costly.

And I

leave

this

part

of

that

in my

conclusion.

When

Jesus

says,

go and

do

likewise,

I want

you to

remember

that

unless

I

see

it,

I

will

not

be

moved.

Unless

I

see

and

moved,

I

will

not

be

able

to

act.

Thank

you.

Thank

you for

giving me

this

opportunity.

Thank you.