A sermon for reconciliation week

The following sermon was preached by Nathan Tyson, on Sunday 1 June 2025, for National Reconciliation Week. Nathan is the Co Chair of the UAICC in NSW/ACT and the Head of First Peoples Strategy and Engagement with the NSW/ACT Synod.

Yaama. Good morning everyone. 

In today’s readings we hear about the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and the words of Jesus speaking about how we will be judged by God at the end of our days on Earth. 

These two passages are central to our Christian faith. 

As Christians, we must each reflect deeply on these passages, on the words of Jesus, and discern what they mean for us in our current lives. What do these teachings of Christ tell us about how to live today? 

Let’s look first at the Parable of the Good Samaritan. 

On the surface, it is a simple story about a man who is beaten, nearly to death, who is then ignored by a Priest and a Levite, but is finally helped by a Samaritan. 

I wonder how the man felt – watching the Priest and Levite ignore his obvious need as they moved to the other side of the road to avoid him? Would he have felt anger? Frustration? Betrayal? Perhaps disbelief? How could these supposedly good people ignore his plight? Maybe he was only semi-conscious and unaware of the choices made by the Priest and the Levite? The Gospels don’t tell us about how the injured man felt, but as human beings, we can imagine how we would feel if we were in that situation. 

[pause] 

The simple message of the Parable of the Good Samaritan is that a good neighbour is the person who cares for those in need. A good neighbour is one who stops and takes the time to show mercy and compassion to those in need. 

A good neighbour is one who acts in love for those on the margins. 

However, as with all of the Parables in the Gospels, there are layers to this story. 

For example, the Priest and the Levite are two people who would have been considered to be upstanding members of the community in Jesus’ time. 

Yet these are the people that Jesus says, through their actions, were not good neighbours. 

They may have had the title and status, but nevertheless the way they treated the injured man can be seen as a commentary on power and privilege… we see that power and social privilege do not necessarily make somebody a good neighbour. 

I think there is consistency here with Matthew 19:24, where Jesus says: “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God”. 

[pause] 

Then we think about the person who helped the injured man in Jesus’s story. A Samaritan. 

In Jesus’ time, Samaritans were considered to be quite low on the social hierarchy, often marginalised and treated as outcasts. Jews would not usually associate with Samaritans, and Samaritans could get themselves into trouble if they overstepped their place. The Samaritans were, in many ways, an example of “the least”, living on the margins of society. 

Yet Jesus makes the Samaritan the hero of this story! 

The Samaritan is the good neighbour, showing mercy and compassion to the injured man. Not only tending to his wounds, but conveying him to an inn and paying for his accommodation and care. 

We need to think about why Jesus makes the Samaritan, a representative of the least, the hero of the story, rather than the Priest or the Levite. 

Was Jesus reminding us that the Kingdom of God is open to all, including, and especially, those who are marginalised and oppressed? 

If we read the Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-24), we see Jesus telling us that being wealthy and high on the social order doesn’t matter if you fail to accept the generous invitation of God. At the same time, the 

parable reveals that the invitation to the Kingdom of God extends to all in the community, including those of little means living within the walls of the town, and even those who are poor, the blind and the marginalised who live outside the city walls… theologians speak of this parable as Jesus telling us that the invitation to salvation is open not only to Jews, but also to gentiles and to anyone who accepts the invitation to follow Christ. 

The Kingdom of God is open to all…. Everyone… And especially to the least and those on the margins. 

I think the Parable of the Good Samaritan has a similar subtext as well. 

The Priest and the Levite may have had social status in that society, but that alone isn’t enough to make them a good neighbour. 

Jesus is making the point that it is our actions that count. 

Then we consider the passage about the Sheep and the Goats. 

Again, on the surface, this is a fairly straightforward passage. We should treat the least in our community as we would treat Jesus. And we will be judged at the end of our days on how we have treated the least. 

Despite the protests that some had never seen Jesus in prison, or naked, or sick, etc, Jesus tells them that however they have treated the least in the community is, by analogy, the way they have treated Him. 

Jesus tells us that those who have neglected to treat the least with love and care will not be invited into the Kingdom, but will instead go somewhere else. 

I think there is a subtext here also, that trying to make excuses after all is said and done, is really too little, too late. 

As Christians, as followers of Christ, we need to act on earth as we would if Jesus was standing in front of us. We must treat the poor, the marginalised, the sick, and the broken, as though they are Jesus. 

In the Parable of the Great Banquet, we see that the rich and powerful, who made up poor excuses not to attend the Banquet, are ultimately passed 

over, while those on the margins who gratefully accept the invitation are welcomed to the banquet. 

The banquet parable tells us that all who respond to the invitation to follow Christ are included. But those who reject the invitation will not find eternal salvation. 

So if we think about these Parables, and about what Jesus was saying to the people of his time, we see a distinct rejection of assumptions of entitlement based on social status. 

We see a rejection of the social norms and structures that usually exclude the least and those on the margins. 

We see Jesus placing Himself in the stead of the least, as a way of absolutely reinforcing the importance of loving our neighbour and caring for the least in our community. 

Jesus doesn’t say “Love the neighbour that looks like you” or “Love the neighbour that is of the same social standing as you”. 

Jesus deliberately makes the Samaritan the hero of the story. Jesus deliberately confronts social norms by turning the assumptions of social privilege upside down. 

It is not enough to be a Priest or a Levite. It is not enough to be a wealthy socialite. These are not the benchmarks Jesus cares about. 

Jesus cares about God’s creation, and about how the least are treated. He commands us to love our neighbours as ourselves, and to warns us that if we fail to heed the commandment then we will also fail to enter God’s Kingdom. 

For me, these teachings of Jesus are the most important. In fact, Jesus says of the two greatest commandments – Love your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbour as yourself – “that all of the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”. 

So how we interpret and understand all of the scriptures should be done through a lens that prioritises loving God, loving our neighbours, and caring for the least. 

[Pause] 

Considering all of this, it should be no surprise that racism and bigotry, for example, are not Christian behaviours. 

Similarly, oppressing minorities, persecuting those on the margins, or denying people their basic human rights, are also not Christian behaviours. 

How do we treat the homeless? How do we treat refugees? How do we treat the Stateless? 

How do we treat those on the margins that seem different to us, or have different beliefs? Do we see God’s image in humanity, or only our own prejudice? 

How do we treat Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, who have been dispossessed, oppressed, massacred and marginalised in this country? 

Are we emulating the Good Samaritan? Are we caring for the least by showing mercy and compassion? Are we loving our neighbour? 

Or are we walking by those in need, crossing the road, pretending not to see? Or perhaps making excuses like those who rejected the invitation to the great banquet. 

We see in the Gospels that that Jesus tells his disciples that following Him will not be easy. It will take sacrifice. 

Jesus knows that putting aside our prejudices, and acting contrary to social expectations, particularly those that marginalise and exclude, will be difficult. 

Doing what is right, for example seeking justice for the least in our community, and perhaps needing to stand against a majority in order to do so, is not always easy. Sometimes it is really difficult. Sometimes there is personal cost. 

But caring for the least, and speaking truth to power, especially in the name of the least, are what defines us as Christians. 

They will know us by our love. Our love for all humanity, and for all creation. 

Jesus could perhaps have made His standards lower, and said “just worship God every Sunday and don’t worry about the least”… But He didn’t. 

The passage about the Sheep and the Goats is very clear. The benchmark is very clear. At the end of our days we will be judged on how we treat the least in our society. 

On the bright side, I love that the benchmark for eternal salvation is how we treat the least… because even those with little can still treat the least well. 

It could be simply taking time to say hello and offer a friendly ear. It could be to offer a cup of water, or a sandwich, or a jumper. We do not need to be rich or privileged to be able to treat the least well… and in fact I think Jesus makes the Samaritan the hero to make exactly that point. 

So my brothers and sisters, I encourage you to reflect on your own lives and actions. 

How are we treating our neighbours? 

Are we caring for the least like the Good Samaritan, or walking past like the Priest and the Levite? 

How do we treat the least in our community? 

Can we do better? 

At the end of our days, I truly hope we will each find the door of the Kingdom open, and the invitation to enter extended. 

For ours is the privilege, and the challenge, of being followers of Christ. 

Amen.