We have probably heard this parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) more times than we know. But there is an interesting metaphor from our modern world that I think can help us to understand it in a new and helpful way.

It's the “heart-lung machine,” that very sophisticated machine that makes it possible to have heart bypass surgery. I actually saw one of these bypass machines in action a few years ago, and it made quite an impression on me..

Part of the required training for the priesthood in our diocese is called “clinical pastoral education”, or CPE for short. I did my CPE training at Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto.

And, on one of my first days of training, my supervisor, Pam, told me that she had arranged for me to be present in a heart surgery.

“Heart Surgery?” I said, thinking to myself: “What could they possibly want me to do in an operating room? Maybe pray for the person who is having surgery? Or maybe be a support to the medical staff?” I really couldn't imagine.

But Pam quickly explained: “We want you to have the experience of what this kind of major surgery is actually like ..., because... down the road, you will be working with patients who are facing this kind of surgery and are feeling very upset and anxious about it. And if you've actually been there and observed the process yourself... from start to finish... you'll be in a much better position to help them through it. Believe me.....”

Then she said... “And you're really in luck, Rishi, because I found out that one of our best cardiac surgeons is doing a triple bypass this afternoon, and he's just told me that you're welcome to be there for the whole procedure! Right in the operating room...! not behind glass or anything...!”

So I said, “Great!”.... “Wow”..... “What luck!” .........And I was very curious and excited about it, but, at the same time, I was shaking-in-my-boots a bit... especially when Pam told me that it would be a good idea if I didn't have “too heavy a lunch...” ..... “just in case...”

I'll spare you the details of the operation itself... All I really want to tell you about is this amazing bypass machine...

It's actually a very big thing—almost half the size of the operating table. It looks kind of like a desk, and the perfusionist, who operates it, is always seated there at it, monitoring all sorts of gauges and readouts and adjusting them as necessary, throughout the surgery.

The really amazing thing about it, for me, was how very quickly and smoothly this machine, could literally take over the life support of a person.

The medical team essentially re-routed the flow of blood in this person's body, so that it bypassed the heart and was channeled into the bypass machine, instead.

And then, once the perfusionist gave the “signal” that all this re-routing was actually working properly, and that the bypass machine could now completely take over for the heart.. they literally shut down all blood-flow into the heart... so that they could begin to work on the problem areas and repair them. And it's the strangest thing: one minute you're seeing the blood flowing continuously into the heart, and the next minute, the heart is empty, just as though they turned off a faucet... there's no more blood entering. Because the heart has been successfully bypassed.

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In the parable that Jesus tells in today's gospel lesson, something very similar happens to the priest and the Levite. There's a kind of emotional bypass that they perform on themselves.

They were each on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem... Each was probably on his way to the temple, in Jerusalem, to perform his religious duties. Some interpreters suggest that they probably didn't want to stop and risk getting any of the victim's blood on them, because then they would be unqualified to participate in any religious activities at the temple. They would be considered ritually impure.

And so, they saw the person in the road, they saw the terrible state that he was in... but it seems that they didn't want to see him. They didn't want to feel what this disturbing situation was going to make them feel... and so, they turned away and passed by on the other side... where they wouldn't have to see or feel or touch or be touched by this person lying there on the ground. They “hardened their hearts” we might say, so that nothing would slow them down... and they could be on their way to Jerusalem... to participate in the religious activities there.

It's bizarre to imagine how these two might have handled it later on, being in Jerusalem, in the temple. They surely would have had to pray the great prayer:
     “Hear O Israel, The Lord Your God is One...........”
     “And Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
     with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind,

      and all thy strength. 
     “And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” 

So we have to wonder: how could they possibly pray a prayer like that... after consciously, actively turning away... and leaving a wounded victim in the road to die alone?
 

But, actually, it might not have been that difficult at all, if they had successfully performed this kind of emotional bypass on themselves... so that, at a heart level, they could remain disconnected from this suffering person who was in their way, and all of the feelings he would have stirred up in them. 

Maybe this wasn't the first time that they had had such an encounter. As the parable describes them, they seemed pretty practiced at looking away. And that would certainly make it easier. Because the more times a person performs this kind of “emotional bypass” ritual on themselves, the less they can actually feel. Until, eventually, it's as if there's no more life in them at all. Maybe lots of outer activities... even religious activities... but without any beating heart within those activities. Just a kind of hollow, outward performance............

The metaphor is modern. But the message – the risk of this kind of disconnect between our inner life and our outer life – is a major theme in the teachings of Jesus. He had no doubt witnessed this particular kind of religiosity on many occasions... which is why he is telling this particular parable.

Emotions aren't always fun... but we can't just cut them off, not experience them, and then just somehow “get spiritual.”.... at least, we can't do that without serious consequences to our health and the health of our relationships with others and the planet.

It's interesting that...

• The persons who Jesus singles out in the parable as having the greatest spiritual problems, the ones who are doing this insidious kind of emotional bypass procedure on themselves, and, as a result, displaying a false religiosity.... are those who have the highest status in society.
• And the one person who is portrayed as being really “in tune” with the Spirit of God in that situation, is the low status person who is socially marginalized in that society: the Samaritan.

Perhaps it was as true back then, as it is today, that some people who seek out positions of high status – like doctors, lawyers, politicians, priests– are often not moved as much by a humble call, as they are by the desire to be put on a pedestal, by the longing for status and fame... praise and glory... far above the messiness of real human life.  To some extent, we can all relate to this desire, can't we?  

History tells us that this has always been an issue in the church. But I think in some ways that it's actually becoming more pronounced in our time, as seminaries are becoming more and more professionalized and technically oriented, and less and less focused on the spiritual, human qualities that need to be very well developed in the lives of the students—like how to deal with their own pain and problems in living.

 Because of the ecumenical approach of Toronto School of Theology, I had the rare opportunity to study at both of the Anglican seminaries there (Trinity and Wycliffe), as well as the three Roman Catholic seminaries (Regis, St. Michaels, and St. Augustine's), the Presbyterian seminary (Knox), and the United Church seminary (Emmanuel). 

  And I can tell you that in every one of those seminaries I heard this very same concern being expressed, in one way or another – that today's seminaries are ceasing to be the kind of place where a person's inner life and outer life – their character as a whole—is being consciously, actively developed and integrated.

Especially from people who are over 50, who have been around long enough to see patterns actually emerge and shift.... I've heard that seminary used to be more of a “school of the heart” -- like prayer itself -- not just a place for the technical training of “religious professionals”... who may well come to know all the right words and all the right moves... but aren't necessarily very whole human beings, much less good shepherds.

Now, in these discussions, some of the critics are quick to add that it's not that simple. The problem is not just in the seminaries; it has a lot to do with the low level of personal, spiritual maturity of the students who are arriving at seminary. And, of course, where do those students come from? They come from parishes. So, these critics say, that the seminaries can really only do so much.... if the kind of spiritual life and care and growth that is needed to form healthy, holy human beings just isn't happening within the parishes. And, so it becomes a kind of vicious circle, where we seem to be graduating and ordaining “shepherds” who really aren't prepared internally to care for their “flocks.” And so it's no wonder that many of the students that these ill-prepared “shepherds” have helped to form... are showing up at the doors of our seminaries in need of a lot of remedial work—not academically, but in terms of their personal and spiritual development.

So it seems that the culture in both our parishes and our seminaries is becoming more like the superficial, stressed-out, consumer culture that surrounds us.... than the culture of an intentional Christian community.

It's surprisingly easy how, over time, unless there is a rich spiritual culture that is constantly being nourished and developed, we can end up in a situation where even the person sitting next to us in the pew might be wounded and suffering, without our even being aware of it.

I suspect that the quickest way to have a church close down is to get everyone doing this kind of “emotional bypass” procedure on themselves and expecting others to do the same. Not paying attention to the real needs of real people, including our own selves. Because, then, there is really no possibility of real community.... real church.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

So what can the ordinary 'person in the pew' do about such an enormous problem in the church?

A lot!   The people in the pew are actually the ones who have the real power to turn this around.

Here are 3 things that we can do right away:

1. Listen to the Word of God. Listen, from the heart, to what Jesus is teaching in the gospels. Maybe start with today's parable. And reflect on what it would mean for us to be transformed by its message, from the inside out.

2. Trust your heart, and speak up about what is on your heart. Let's actively help one another become more like the Samaritan, and less like the priest and the Levite.

3. Find trustworthy peers who will support your spiritual growth, rather than weaken it. And spend real, quality time with them, where you speak from the heart about your real life and your real faith and encourage one another's growth. Start simple: Invite them out for coffee, or a drink, or dinner, or a walk, or something, or anything. Whether they're your age, or 20 years older, or 20 years younger. And begin to let them know who you are. And begin to find out who they are. 

If we start moving together in these kinds of ways, this is going to become a very attractive place to belong. That's not marketing; it's just having really good news. And that is our greatest need I believe.  

What do you think?

    {{{{{{{{{{{{{{ end of sermon }}}}}}}}}}}}}

For those of you who are reading this sermon at home, below are some more notes for you to reflect on about this gospel text (Luke 10:25-37).

Why is Jesus telling this particular parable now? Think back to the beginning of the parable for a minute: This whole story starts with a certain lawyer, who was questioning Jesus. And that little interaction is key.
 

• The lawyer wants to cut to the bottom line. He wants to know: “What are the minimum requirements that I have to comply with to get the prize (of eternal life)?”
  • I know that for me, when I start wondering about questions like that, it's usually because I'm really not open to doing what needs to be done. On the contrary, when I start thinking like that, it's usually because there's something that I really don't want to do at all. 
  • So if this lawyer is a human being anything like me—then I can't help but wonder if there are some reservations brewing beneath his question – so that what he is really saying to Jesus, between the lines, is maybe something like:  "Please don't tell me that I have to be in a pastorally caring relationship with so-in-so,” ....... or with “such-in-such type a person... because I really don't want to go there....”
• I suspect that this lawyer who starts the story off has already performed a kind of “emotional bypass” on himself, in relation to certain persons, certain situations... that his heart is already hardened in these areas... And that Jesus realizes this
  • ...because that hardened heart is the real problem that Jesus' parable is offering a solution to. The parable gives no answer to question that the lawyer is asking on the surface – “Who is my neighbor?”. So, Jesus must have perceived that the real question being asked was something like:
    • “How can I avoid the process of having to turn over and till up all that hard, dry ground in my heart... but still get all the fringe benefits of being religious?”
    • “How can I bypass dealing with all of this messy, greedy, angry, yukky emotional stuff that gets stirred up in me when I relate to certain kinds of people and situations?”
    • “How can I share in the joy of the Divine Life, but without experiencing any real healing in my inner life... without having the hardness of my heart .... softened?”
• Well...if that's what this lawyer was looking for, he was really talking to the wrong person. Because the religion of Jesus is all about the softening of the heart. 
• And that is what Jesus really seems to be most concerned with in this parable—the difference between hearts that are hard and hearts that are soft, and how hearts of stone can be transformed into hearts of flesh.
• And the parable seems to not give a lot of options...concerning how that transformation happens.  it seems to suggest that the only way to grow emotionally, interpersonally, spiritually into a whole human being is by not turning away, not performing an emotional bypass on ourselves, when we're faced with those difficult moments in relation to others, where we really start to feel the hardness of our own hearts, our lack of love, the strength of our greed or hatred, and all of the fears and doubts that come up. It seems to suggest that we can't do it alone
• The message seems pretty simple – not easy, but simple: Don't be like the lawyer, or the priestly types. Instead, follow the example of the Samaritan, and when you encounter the messiness of real human relationships, respond by opening your heart to the ever-present love of God.... let it break through and heal and soften whatever hardness there is in you, so that, like the Samaritan, you can become an instrument of peace and healing in our world.