Proper 10C’25
13 July 2025
Luke 10.25-37
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone <+>
Gracious and upright is the Lord; He guides the humble in doing right and teaches his way to the lowly. Amen. – from Psalm 25
Several years ago, I had the privilege of attending a conference of the Henri Nouwen Society at the University of Toronto. It was held on the 20th anniversary of the great spiritual writer’s death, and the conference was packed with A-listers of the spiritual life with writers and speakers who were all internationally renowned for their insightful writings and their exemplary lives as followers of Christ. It was a powerful week that to this day I still periodically reflect on.
I was telling a friend about the conference the other day, and all the powerful writers and speakers that were there, from Shaine Claiborne, to Ronald Rolheiser, from Esther DeWaal, to Henri Nouwen’s brother, Laurent. When they asked which one I had been the most impressed with, I quickly blurted out the name – “Sue Mosteller!” My friend asked, who is that, I’ve never heard of her? I was only too happy to tell them about her.
Sue Mosteller is an 89-year-old writer, educator, and Catholic nun who lived at the L’Arche Community in Toronto, which is a home for the developmentally disabled and their caregivers. When she walked on to the stage to give her first talk, I thought who is this, how did they let her onto the program with these others? She had on a pair of inexpensive blue polyester pants with a short-sleeved blouse, that had been out of style for years. Her hair was notably thinning and white as snow. Let’s just say no popular magazine would ever consider her for their covers. What on earth could she have to say to us?
What did she start off with but how unlikely a candidate she was to speak and be used of God. She said, “I get up in the morning, I put my glasses on, throw on some clothes and look in the mirror and say “What a mess you are, with extra pounds, thinning hair and going blind – what could God do with me?” From that place of humility, she began telling story after story about the way working with the rejects of society had been transformative. She was one of the main people responsible for getting Henri Nouwen to come to Toronto and join the L’Arche community as their live-in chaplain for the developmentally disabled. She had to spiritually counsel Henri on several occasions to help him grow up and fulfill his role there as spiritual father and pastor.
She talked about how God was everyone’s true home, and how we were all looking for the very same thing – to know and experience the unconditional love as God’s beloved sons and daughters. I went up to her after and thanked her for the hope and inspiration she had given me. I later discovered that she is mentioned by name numerous times in Henri Nouwen’s writings (particularly in one of his most widely read books, “The Return of the Prodigal Son.”)
As the conference ended and I had everything packed, I suddenly realized that I had not told Sue goodbye. I went looking for her and after looking several places on campus, I finally found her. I walked up to her and told her that out of all the folks who had spoken and had touched me, she had the most of all, and that I could not leave without telling her once again how much she had encouraged me, and to get a final hug before heading to the airport. We hugged and all I can tell you is I was able to feel God flowing through her. When she started to let go of me, I re-squeezed her tighter and she did the same to me. If you feel like God is giving you a hug, you don’t want to let go! God shows up in the most unlikely places, and people all around us.
In today’s gospel from Luke, Jesus encounters self-righteous religious leaders who had the title of “lawyer, “but was not an attorney like we think of today, this was someone who was an expert on the biblical law, the Torah, and the other religious writings. Jesus goes and does a ‘no-no’ by picking someone the highly religious would look down upon and makes them the protagonist – the hero – the heroine of the story. For us moderns the shock value of this story gets lost in translation. We hear the title of “Good Samaritan” and it gives us a warm feeling inside. But what if the story was about the “Good Terrorist,” or the “Exemplary Criminal,” or the “Joyous Jewelry Thief?” We would be feeling something quite different.
Jesus was master of telling a good story but, where all the wrong people, who are in all the wrong places, at all the wrong times, end up being affirmed in the story, while those who are used to getting the pats on the back for their good religious activity are now the villains?! “Woah Jesus, I was with you until you made the good guys into the bad guys and the bad guys into the good guys. ‘Them’s fightin’ words – Jesus!’
In the Gospel stories that Jesus tells we encounter a world that has been flipped upside down; where the first are last, the least are promoted, the lost find God’s favor and forgiveness, while the respectably righteous wind up losing their monopoly in the end. The things they thought were God’s priorities turned out only to be their own egos dressed in religious clothes.
God is near to the humble poor, and to the poor in spirit, to those who know their need, and unless God shows up and comes through, their gooses are cooked!
Through an 89-year-old woman who never married or had children, who had no career out in the world, someone who had a poor fashion sense and thinning hair, who didn’t feel like she was anything special, through her, I was able to see the face and feel the hug of Jesus the most.
Jesus told stories like the one about the “Good Samaritan” to remind us that the heroes and heroines of God may not necessarily be beautiful, rich, or powerful in the eyes of the world but in the eyes of God they are precious, chosen to confound the smart, the powerful, and the prestigious, and reveal his glory. God give us the eyes to see them – God give us the grace, and the humility to be them – by offering up to you, all that we are and all that we’ve been given and letting you bring your love and light through us!
Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
Everything has a crack in it, that’s how the light gets in!
(Leonard Cohen)
Amen!