The Lord said to Amos, âSee, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people.â (Amos 7:7-17)
God speaks these words to Amos while standing next to a wall built with a plumb line. A plumb line, as you know, is a tool used by builders to insure that a structure, a wall for example, is properly aligned, true, and straight. That alignment is what helps give the wall strength and stability. Some plumb lines are used to build a structure while others are used to build a life.
We all have multiple plumb lines in our lives. They are the values, qualities, beliefs, and priorities that guide our lives. They help us focus on what really matters. They offer us strength and stability. A plumb line provides a standard by which we can tell when our lives are plumb and true and when our lives are out of whack and off kilter.
The laws and constitutions of our state and country are plumb lines. The Torah of the Old Testament is a plumb line. So are the life and teachings of Jesus. There are communal plumb lines and there are plumb lines that are unique and personal to each of us.
The plumb lines you and I choose for our lives matter not only for us individually but also for our community and our relationships with one another. Some plumb lines promote life and human dignity, others diminish life and human dignity.
One of the ways we begin making changes in our lives and community is by resetting the plumb lines. Sometimes we choose to reset the plumb lines in our lives. Other times we donât. Other times events, circumstances, or experiences start the plumb line swinging and we are forced to rethink everything. Itâs as if there is a reset on everything, including our plumb lines.
Thatâs what it feels like to me today as an individual, as your priest, and as a resident of Uvalde. Maybe it feels that way to you too. Since May 24th it has felt like the plumb lines of our lives and city have been swinging wildly, out of control, and crashing in to each other. Who among us today doesnât feel like he or she is having to reset the plumb lines of life? Thatâs what grief, suffering, and loss can do. They force us to rethink and reset the plumb lines of our lives.
Thatâs not unique to Uvalde and itâs not limited to May 24th. Resetting plumb lines is a part of every life in every place and in every time. The need to reset plumb lines is showing up throughout our country and the world. And itâs showing up in each of our lives.
I think thatâs what Jesus is doing in todayâs gospel (Luke 10:25-37), the parable of the Good Samaritan. Heâs resetting the plumb lines in the lawyerâs life. And I wonder how todayâs gospel might help you and me restore and reset the plumb lines in our lives and this city.
I donât know what the new plumb lines will be for you, me, or Uvalde. It takes time to reset a plumb line. You canât do much with a swinging plumb line. Right now our work is to wait but we must also stay awake, pay attention, and listen deeply. The new plumb lines are revealing themselves every day and todayâs gospel gives us some hints of what to watch and listen for.
Just like the lawyer in todayâs gospel we know that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves. And just like the lawyer most of us live with a plumb line that distinguishes between who is and who is not our neighbor.
Weâll cross the road for someone we know, but for the stranger we often âpass by on the other side.â Weâll cross the road when itâs convenient and on our way, but when it asks us to change, takes us out of our way, or costs too much we âpass by on the other side.â Weâll cross the road for a citizen but what about a migrant? Weâll cross the road for those who look, think, believe, and act like we do, but for those who donât we âpass by on the other side.â Weâll cross the road when itâs in our own best interest, but when itâs not we âpass by on the other side.â
For some people we are willing to cross the road but for others we âpass by on the other side.â That plumb line is revealed in the lawyer’s question, âAnd who is my neighbor?â Itâs a polite way of asking, âWho is not my neighbor?â âWho is not deserving of my love?â âWhose life is not worthy of my time and effort?â âWho can I ignore, denigrate, hate, or pass by?â The plumb line Jesus resets in todayâs gospel declares, âNo one.â (Levine, Short Stories by Jesus, 93). No one.
The issue for Jesus is not who the neighbor is, his or her identity, where he or she comes from, what he or she has done or left undone, what he or she believes, or what he or she thinks about us. There is no way for the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan to know that information about the man who has been robbed, stripped, beaten, and left half dead. The issue for Jesus is what action you and I take or refuse to take for another’s benefit and well being. (Ibid., 113) Will we cross the road or do we âpass by on the other sideâ?
We usually cross the road only when itâs safe to do so. Itâs a lesson we learned early in life. Setting new plumb lines means taking a risk. The new plumb lines will ask us to face our fears of others, change, and crossing the road.
Martin Luther King, Jr., imagines thatâs why the priest and the Levite in todayâs parable passed by on the other side. They were afraid. âAnd so,â he says, âthe first question that the priest [and] the Levite asked was, âIf I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?â ⊠But then the Good Samaritan came by, and he reversed the question: âIf I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?ââ (Ibid., 102)
Maybe thatâs the question that resets the plumb lines for ourselves and this city. If I do not stop to help, what will happen to the other, this city, our nation? If you do not stop to help, what will happen?
What would it look like and what would it take to reset the plumb lines in our lives and in Uvalde?
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Image Credit: By Jim Linwood – The Plumb Line and the City – Coventry Cathedral, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
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