The Eighth Sunday of Pentecost
Becoming a Neighbor *(The History of the Good Samaritan)* Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. Jesus asks a lawyer in today’s Gospel, “*Which of the three travelers proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers*?” We could translate our Lord’s question a bit differently, and a bit more to the point: “*Which of these three travelers*,” asked the Lord, “*BECAME a neighbor to the man*?” Dear Christian friends, The lawyer in today’s Gospel raises the possibility that we Christians have a long history of failing to teach the faith to our children. Undoubtedly this lawyer had studied and had even memorized the Christian faith. He seems to have received the same sorts of lessons that we are still teaching our children today, and that we ourselves have learned. The dull years of repeated memory assignments must have suddenly seemed worthwhile to this man as he gave his robotic answer to what the Lord had asked him. Did this man’s parents feel proud when Jesus posed the exactly the right question using exactly the right Words, stimulating the right memory cells in the lawyer’s mind, with the result that all the right answers poured out with vending-machine precision? “What is written in the Law?” Jesus asked… The lawyer 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.” This man passed his confirmation exam, but there is something missing in his performance. The Scriptures had clearly entered the lawyer’s mind, but that is all he allowed them to do. The lawyer had placed the Words of God securely under lock and key, kept in solitary confinement within his brain. God’s Words were no given access to this man’s body and life and being. He had learned the language but not the love. He had plenty of memorization but no mercy. Overflowing with mercy, our Lord Jesus refused to leave this man in his self-delusion. “*Go and DO this*,” thunders the Lord. Become a neighbor! Our God’s repetition of “*go and do*” should perhaps cause us some concern: · What does it mean that Jesus should command me to “*go and do*,” especially when I have been so carefully taught—and I have so carefully memorized—that salvation does not rest upon my doing, but upon His? · Might there be a connection between the mercy Jesus wants me to demonstrate and the mercy I have received? · And what does this mean that we “*BECOME a neighbor*”? Of the three travelers in today’s Gospel, Jesus indicates that only one “*BECAME a neighbor to the beaten man.*” Perhaps we think too little of God’s gift of faith when we treat it as something to be memorized by the end of the eighth grade. Perhaps our Lord’s gift of forgiveness and His promise of eternal happiness should mean something more to us than the memorable lessons of childhood. St. James might have hit the nail directly on the head when he said, “*Faith apart from works is dead*” (2:17). James also wanted to know, “*What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?*” (2:14). James clearly expects us to answer No. The beaten man on the road in today’s Gospel can only hope that we will indeed answer No. 1. In this Gospel, two people crossed the road and “*passed by on the other side*,” fully absorbed in the careful study of their smartphones. These two people demonstrate to us that all sin finally boils down to self-absorption. Frightful and disturbing sins—sins such as homosexuality or pornography—are merely crass examples of what Luther called “curving inwardly upon oneself.” The more socially acceptable sins—sins such as “*strife, jealousy, fits of anger… and things like these*” (Galatians 5:20)—all fit perfectly onto the same plate. In this regard, not one of us is any different than anyone else on the planet. In today’s world, even today’s Church, many “*works of the flesh*” (Galatians 5:19) can be perpetrated with a broad Christian smile on one’s face. Two people crossed the road and “*passed by on the other side*.” Your sin is always all about you. My sin is never about anything but me. Meanwhile, somebody lies nearby, bleeding in a ditch. 2. It speaks a double warning to us that the two men who “*passed by on the other side*” were a priest and a Levite. These were religious men. They show us that unbelievers might not be the only ones who feel the urge to reject the power of God’s Word. Like the lawyer, the priest and the Levite had been given the Word of God. You and I have also been given the same Word. We should ask ourselves: shall we walk with these men in the self-justifying idolatry of treating God’s Word as mere information, “*passing by on the other side*,” or shall we repentantly pray God to shake us free from our own incurved delusions? Everybody gets to answer that question on their own. The best and sweetest part of today’s Gospel might be that Luke (its author) does NOT describe this Gospel as a parable. We have all learned to call it a parable—and the English subtitles in almost every Bible label this as a parable—but that is just us using our imaginations. Neither Luke the Gospel writer nor Jesus the Christ identifies today’s Gospel as a parable. Perhaps we should stop calling it a parable. We could call today’s Gospel instead, “The History of the Good Samaritan.” We gain a wonderful gift from God when we think of today’s Gospel as an actual event—something concretely historical—rather than a parable of our Lord! If this Good Samaritan is a character in a parable, then you and I have a moral example that we must somehow strive to imitate. Left to our own strength and power to show mercy, we will do nothing but fail! However, if this Good Samaritan is an actual person, then you and I have reason to hope! If this Good Samaritan is an actual person, then · You and I will NOT be required to find some inner strength or ability of our own in order to “*Go and do*” and “*become a neighbor*.” · Our acts of mercy will simply be a matter of allowing the powerful, faith-creating Word of God to break out of the prison-cells of our brains, so that it may be allowed to escape into our hands and our feet and our wallets. · This Samaritan had already heard the life-giving, sin-cleansing Word of the Lord—just as you and I have likewise heard it—and by that Word alone is this Samaritan called Good. The Gospel writer Luke, prior to today’s Gospel, has already given us ample reason to believe that the people of the Samaritans had heard the Word of the Lord for the forgiveness of their sins—just as you have heard and have been forgiven. At this point in Luke’s Gospel, the good news of Jesus’ mercy had already traveled far and wide (Luke 9:1-9), even into Samaria (Luke 9:56). It is even possible that Jesus had already by now visited with the Woman at the Well, as reported in John chapter 4. What was the result of that visit? Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony… So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them. Jesus stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His word. The Samaritans said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:39-42). So we have in today’s Gospel a Good Samaritan, but not a Samaritan who was good in and of himself. We have here a Samaritan who was good in the same way—yes, the only way—that you and I may likewise be called good: · This Samaritan is called good because the Words of Jesus had come to him, declaring him free from all sin and condemnation—just as you and I are likewise free from all sin and condemned by no one on account of Christ. · This Samaritan is called good because the life-giving Word of the Lord had done more than entered his brain in memorized form. The Word of the Lord passed forward into the man’s body—just as it has the power to pass forward into your body and my body—creating this man’s mercy. · This Samaritan is called good because the “*Word is at work in you who believe*” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). By the power of the Word, this Good Samaritan is NOT the moral example that we must summon the strength follow. This is the Samaritan is the goal that we might, through God’s good gift of faith in Christ, hope to attain. Perhaps we can even hope to dare such things and pray such things for our sons and daughters: that they would stop being lawyers and turn into Samaritans; they would somehow also learn from the power of God’s Word to “*go and do*” and “*become a neighbor*.” What is the connection between the mercy Jesus wants us to demonstrate and the mercy we have received? Perhaps we should think of our acts of mercy as the Word of God set free from the prison of our memorization, that it may have uninhibited course into our lives. In that case, even the denarii we give to the innkeeper will speak praise and give thanks to God, who alone is truly good. “*Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen*” (Revelation 7:12).
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