The TV show “Friends” debuted in September 1994, was on the air for 10 seasons, and can still be seen every day with very little difficulty in finding it. It is about six 20-somethings in New York City and their daily exploits—and the ways that they are indeed friends. And it is introduced by 45 seconds of a really catchy song by The Rembrandts called “I’ll Be There for You” which sets the theme of their friendships. The verses describe the challenges of an individual’s day, and the chorus (appropriately sung in harmony by two voices) says: “I'll be there for you when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you like I've been there before. I'll be there for you, ‘cause you're there for me, too.”
It’s likely that you’ve said, or had said to you, “I’m there for you.” What do we mean by that?
Clearly one thing it means is showing support—when the rain starts to pour, to provide an umbrella or a towel or help moving something that shouldn’t get wet so that it can stay dry. But it also means showing support in other ways—most often emotional or spiritual support when someone is challenged, at a loss, grieving, feeling down, feeling let down. It is being “present” for someone when that someone is in need of having someone “there.” Obviously this characterizes what a friend does—but according to the passage we have from Luke 10:25-37, it is also what a neighbor does. And while we somewhat pick and choose our friends (although it seems sometimes that the cosmos, in happy serendipity, places friends in our lives beyond our own control of choosing them), our neighbor is anyone, anywhere, who needs us to “be there” for them.
This neighbor who helps out the one in need isn’t the person whom the one in need would actually choose to be the one who helps. In fact, in telling the story Jesus describes the characters to make exactly that point. As the story is told, the characters the listeners would automatically identify as the “good guys” are not the ones who actually provide any help—are not the ones who act as neighbor. The priest and the Levite, the good religious people, are not the ones who are “there” for the person in need. Instead it is the one who is the outcast in the society—the undesirable person most of those who are listening to Jesus tell the story would not associate with, the “bad person”—who is the “good person,” the neighbor. The one none of them would be “there” for is the one who is “there” for the person in need. The ones in the story anticipated to be the “good people” are absent when it comes to helping, not present.
The Letter of James reminds us in chapter 2: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” So the “good people” are those who are “there,” present, the neighbor.
In our church membership vows, we pledge to support the ministries of the church by our presence. And we need each other to do that. One person can’t pick up and carry a dining room table, but two might be able to, and four are that much more likely to be able to. We need to “be there” for each other, and for the neighbor in need, as we can do so much more together.
OLD TESTAMENT Micah 6:8
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
NEW TESTAMENT James 2:14-17
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
GOSPEL Luke 10:25-37
25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 26 He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ 27 He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’ 28 And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’
29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ 30 Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ 37 He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’