132 February 12 Blessed Among Us Sr. Dorothy Stang Martyr of the Amazon (1931–2005)

On the morning of February 12, 2005, Sr. Dorothy Stang, an American-born nun who had spent forty years in , set off for a meeting of landless farmers. Along the muddy trail her way was blocked by two hired gunmen who asked whether she carried any weapon. In reply she produced her and began to read the : “Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . Blessed are the peacemakers.” And then they shot her. Sr. Dorothy, born in Dayton, Ohio, joined the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur out of high school and volunteered in 1966 to work in Brazil. Eventually she was drawn to the remote regions of the Amazon and the cause of poor farmers who were exploited and robbed by rich loggers and cattle barons. She had come to see the connections between defend- ing the rights of the poor and protecting the ecological balance of the rain forest itself. Well into her seventies, she trudged through mud and thick forests to attend prayer services and labor meetings. Her efforts on behalf of the farmers and the imperiled rain forest marked her as an enemy by those who hired her assassins. Her death aroused the government of Brazil and the whole world to the cause of ecology and justice for which she offered her life.

“I light a candle and look at Jesus on the cross and ask for the strength to carry the suffering of the people. Don’t worry about my safety. The safety of the people is what’s important.” —Sr. Dorothy Stang 3/19/2019

Luke’s Gospel Chapters 10-24 Opening Prayer Five Sessions Left in this Luke Bible Study a. March 20 – the Travel Narrative in Luke b. March 27 – the Travel Narrative in Luke c. April 3 – Entry into Jerusalem, Last Supper & the Passion of Jesus d. April 10 – The Resurrection of Jesus e. April 17 – A Film: either “Invictus” or “Hidden Figures” Who has seen the first? Second? Bible Project video Luke 10-24 https://youtu.be/26z_KhwNdD8 a. Comments b. Questions

Luke 10:25-37 Parable of the Good Samaritan • Let’s read it. What strikes you? a. Does the lawyer know the law or not? Is this a test? b. Could this be about the misuse of theology to put off obedience to the law because of the cost of loving my neighbor? c. Why does Jesus choose a priest and a levite to walk by? d. Are they concerned about self-sacrificing love or self- preservation? e. If worship, like going to Mass, prevents me from helping someone in need, do I know God? f. The only way to love God is to love my neighbor & enemy. Jesus is saying that I cannot love God and ignore someone in need. • History between Jews and Samaritans a. Why does Jesus choose a Samaritan?

1 3/19/2019

Luke 10:25-37 Parable of the Good Samaritan • This parable is about what? a. Love of neighbor? b. Love of enemy? c. What is cross here? Perhaps, it is the cost of obedience in loving my neighbor, especially if they are my enemy. d. To Jesus, to be neighbor is less about caring for those next door whom I usually am on good terms with or call my neighbor because I like them. e. Rather, Jesus is teaching that, even if someone who is an enemy to me – Jews and Samaritans were sworn enemies – and this person is in harm’s way, it is my to make myself neighbor to them. f. Further, the grave need of another makes them a neighbor to me, for without my help, they will probably die. g. This is what “Go and do likewise” means, which is another way of describing the cross, that is, living in self-sacrificing love. h. Sr. Dorothy Stang – see the handout on the other side of the History.

• Like most of Jesus’ parables, we have domesticated this parable, that is, we have made it warm and fuzzy, like a teddy bear. Jesus never intended this. a. Let’s retell it in our culture today.

Luke 10:38-42 Dinner at Martha’s House • Let’s read the passage. What strikes you? • Who is the home owner? Is this important? • What is Luke drawing attention to in this meal? • Jesus rebukes Martha for doing what is expected of her. • Jesus commends Mary for listening to him, eschewing Mary’s embrace of the traditional role of domestic service. • Jesus is calling for radical obedience to the new, upside-down kingdom that he proclaims. Like the Parable of the Good Samaritan, where it is quite upside- down, a detested Samaritan is the hero of the story. • Likewise with Martha and Mary, Jesus offers a shocking take on traditional hospitality: Jesus is the guest and he rebukes Martha for being hospitable, for it leads her to anxiety and anger with her sister, while she demands that Jesus tell Mary, her sister, to embrace the traditional (patriarchal) role for a woman. • In a patriarchal society, the younger sister of the homeowner would be expected to serve with her sister. • Mary rejects this role and acts like a man who sits at the feet of Jesus, hearing his teachings so that she can follow him as a . • Like so much else in Luke, the Martha and Mary experience is about the reversal of expectations in God’s upside-down kingdom. • Jesus never apologizes for this.

2 3/19/2019

Luke 11:29-32 The Sign of

• Let’s read it.

• Do we live by cause and effect in our lives?

• Most people in Jesus’ time lived this way and so they wanted proof that he was the Messiah by some sign.

• Jesus repudiates this saying that they will only get the sign of Jonah: the death and resurrection of God’s Son which is a total commitment by God to creation.

Luke 12:13-21 The Rich Fool • Let’s read it. • What strikes you? • What is this parable about? • I would suggest that it has everything to do with stewardship: how do I understand the blessings of the gifts, resources, and time that God has given me? • Thus, if I fail to steward the gifts with which God has blessed me for others and their well being, it will be very costly for me. • The Dead Sea. Why is the Dead Sea dead? • It has no outlet. It only receives and does not give.

3 3/19/2019

Luke 14:1-24 Jesus, A Disturbing Guest

• Let’s read it 14:1-15. What strikes you? • Let’s read 14:16-24. What strikes you? What is Jesus communicating about the Reign of God in this parable? • What is Jesus telling us to do when we have a dinner party, party, or a banquet? • Is he serious? • What does he mean by we will be blessed? Why and how?

Luke 15:1‐32 The Lost, Found, Never Lost, & Really Lost

• Let’s read all three of these parables separately?

• What strikes you about each one?

• What strikes you about all three of them? Do we note that all three end on a note of joy?

• Who is really lost in the Parable of the Lost Sons? Why?

4 3/19/2019

Luke 15:1‐32 The Lost, Found, Never Lost, & Really Lost “Yet, was it wise to leave the ninety-nine and wander away searching for the one? …Does the lost individual matter or are the people alone more important? Indeed, it is the shepherd’s willingness to go after the one that gives the ninety-nine their real security. If the one is sacrificed in the name of the larger group, then each individual in the group is insecure, knowing that she or he is of little value. If lost, he or she will be left to die. When the shepherd pays a high price to find the one, s/he thereby offers the profoundest security to the many.” Kenneth E. Bailey

“Ordinarily in Christian proclamation, the woman is just the filling in the “sandwich” between the all-too-familiar story of the lost sheep and the long, interesting parable of the lost (“prodigal”) son. Between the man and his sheep and the man and his son, the woman and her coin are metaphorically “swept under the rug.” Linda Maloney

Closing Prayer

• Let us stand and pray:

(Please bow) Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

(Take a breath and rise) As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.

5 History Between Jews & Samaritans

• Assyria conquers Samaria (northern Israel) in 722 BC.

• They remove many Israelites to Assyria and import many Assyrians who bring their religion and intermarry with many Israelites.

• The Samaritan faith remains a Mosaic, not a Davidic (centered in the Jerusalem Temple), religion with some Assyrian mixtures that include worshipping national gods and child sacrifice.

• Samaritans accept the Pentateuch (1st 5 books of the O.T.) but nothing else of the Torah, no prophets, history, or wisdom writings, and soundly reject the emphasis of the Jerusalem temple. Their temple is on Mount Gerazim – at ’s well (see John 4 with Jesus & Woman at the Well).

• This causes great hostility b/t Israelites in Judea and those in Samaria. The Samaritans are seen as traitors, because they worship false gods and unclean.

• Babylon invades and conquers Judea in 597 BC and burns the temple to the ground in 587 BC and carts off most of the Jews to Babylon.

• King Cyrus of Persia liberates them in 515 BC and they return hoping to rebuild the temple.

• The Samaritans ask to help rebuild the temple and the Jews say no to the idolaters.

• Samaritans petition the Persian King Cyrus to help rebuild the temple while the Jews ask for permission and this builds a huge wall of hatred b/t the two quite similar to Israel and Palestine today or the hate b/t Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland for so many years.

• To add fuel to the fire, the Jewish high priest 100 years before Christ leads the destruction of the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerazim.

• To journey from Judea to Galilee was much faster through Samaria (3 days) but you risked attack, even though it was safer under Roman occupation. The alternative was a much longer journey going East of the Jordan River around Samaria (5-6 days).

• Imagine the shock when Jesus tells the Good Samaritan parable to the scribe asking about eternal life for “Who is my neighbor?” How might we retell it today? Who are you expecting to come along that road next?