The Good Samaritan

July 14, 2019

Gospel Lesson: Luke 10:25–37 [The parable of the Good Samaritan]

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And 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.”

And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”

He said, “The one who showed him mercy.”

A man came up to Jesus and asked him, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Now, as good Lutherans we know that that was the wrong question. St. Paul teaches that we are saved by grace, not by what we do, but by what Christ has done for us. We are saved by faith. The man was a “lawyer” and so he knew the Law of Moses. He knew the summary of the Law, “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.” He had faith in God, and so he should have already known that he would inherit eternal life. But he was uncertain. And what causes people to be unsure of salvation is sin. When we know and feel our sin, we too start to doubt our salvation. “Am I really saved?” And the devil makes us think that we must work for our salvation. And if we have to work for salvation, then that means that the work of Jesus on the cross was insufficient or unnecessary. And that would be a victory for the devil.

We all want to be sure of our salvation. We want to see signs. Therefore God has given us baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Spirit, and fellowship of believers. We also hope that there will be a change in our lives so that we can truly love God and our neighbor. Jesus told the man, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But we still wonder, “If I do not do this correctly, will I live?” And so, in a positive sense, we can understand the man’s question as asking for help to know how to love the neighbor. And Jesus gives an example of neighborly love.

Just as an aside. The man could measure his faith in the words, “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.” Often times, we measure the faith of other people with those words. How does he or she measure up? We have doubts about the faith of someone who doesn’t keep the first tablet of the Law, by not going to church on the Sabbath or by using the Name of the Lord in vain. Are they really Christian? And we wonder how strong someone’s faith is when they don’t keep the second tablet of the Law, when they don’t honor or respect others, when they hurt others, when they lie and call others names, when they cheat, or are not decent. We think that if that is the way they are, then they do not deserve to receive our neighborly love. But when we begin to think like that, then we are not loving our neighbor as ourselves, and therefore we are condemning ourselves. Then it is time for Jesus to tell us the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

The man fell among robbers and was left half dead. Then the Priest and the Levi came by. We think, “Oh, those religious hypocrites! They didn’t help the man in need.” But in a positive sense, the Priest may have been keeping the Law. Because to touch blood would make him ceremonially unclean, and therefore unable to perform his duties as a priest of God until sundown after he had bathed. The same for the Levi. And of course, like us, maybe they were busy, maybe they didn’t have a first-aid kit or didn’t know how to perform CPR. Maybe the Levi saw the Samaritan coming down the road and thought, like us, “Let someone else do it. I do not want to get involved.”

Rather, we should all be like the Samaritan. Don’t ask questions. If we see someone in need, just jump in and help. Even if someone is not from our “neighborhood,” they need a neighbor and that neighbor is us. We become their neighbor.

For most of us, that is not the natural thing to do. What gives us both the motivation and the power to become a “good Samaritan” is that Jesus was the True Good Samaritan. But first, Jesus was the one who was attacked by robbers. The robbers in the Good Friday Passion Story are the Priests and Levis who accused him and attacked him. They beat him and stripped him and put him on the cross to die. And then, not passing by on the other side of the road, they came close and mocked him. He was hung on the cross between two more robbers. And no one came and rescued him, because in this way he rescued us. The Prophet Isaiah said it this way, “53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” “ISA 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Jesus found us along the highway of life. We have been beaten by the trials and troubles and pains of this world. Our sins have robbed us of our dignity. Without hope, we are half dead. The Gospel Good News is the compassion and mercy of God. And so Jesus came to this world to be with us and help us. That is the story of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost, too. He did not pass by on the other side of the road, he came close to us. He bound up our wounds of sin, pouring on the cleansing water of Baptism and healing wine of the Lord’s Supper and the Holy Spirit. He did not pay only two denarii, about $100, he paid with his precious life blood. And like the Good Samaritan, he promised to come back for us.

Through faith and grace, we become more than just neighbors, we become brothers and sisters and children of God. We see that Jesus is the Best Good Samaritan, and we carry on in the family tradition.

We pray that God will open our eyes to see others in need and then give us the compassion to spread to them the love of God.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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