(This sermon was delivered twice. First for Sunday worship at the Transylvanian Saxon Heimattag celebration at the Saxonia Hall in Aylmer, ON, then at the usual Sunday worship service at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Aylmer, ON.)
Luke
10:25-37
25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.
"Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal
life?" 26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you
read there?" 27 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." 28 And he said to him,
"You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." 29 But
wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and
fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away,
leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and
when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when
he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan
while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them.
Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said,
"Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more
you spend.' 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man
who fell into the hands of the robbers?" 37 He said, "The one who
showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
But a
Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with
pity.
· The story of the so
called “Good Samaritan” has so many twists and turns in it, it can be shocking.
· The “lawyer”, who is
really an expert in the Law of Moses rather than a barrister of some sort, asks
a question about what he must “do” to gain eternal life. Jesus turns it around,
asking him what the Torah says about just that. The lawyer gives a great answer
and Jesus approves. Then the lawyer asks “Who is my neighbor?” and the parable
begins with, in modern English, “some guy
was
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho…”
· A priest and a Levite
pass the man by for reasons we don’t know about; maybe ritual purity, maybe
fear, maybe callous apathy. The next passer-by stops, binds the man’s wounds,
and carries him to an inn where he pays for the man’s care, including a promise
to pay more if needed once he returns. Of course, this last man is a Samaritan,
a group hated by the Jewish people. Why this hatred endured would be a long
story, so we’ll just leave it here, saying again that the Samaritans were
hated.
· To make the hero of
this story a Samaritan would be very shocking. If the story was about tolerance
and acceptance, the man in the ditch would have been a Samaritan, but in Jesus’
story, the Samaritan is the man held up as the example. Jesus even says "Go
and do likewise." Some scholars believe that this was added to
give the story a moral.
· The parable is deeper
than a simple morality play. Parables are Jesus’ way of telling about the
Kingdom of God. When the lawyer asks what he should do to inherit eternal life,
Jesus’ answer turns the whole question upside down.
· The despised outsider
becomes the hero. The hated one shows true mercy, and goes out of his way to do
more than what might reasonably be expected. (“Take care of him; and when I
come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.”) Our passage
has Jesus describe the Samaritan as being moved with pity. That doesn’t
really convey what words were really used. The Greek uses a word that says the
man was moved in his bowels with compassion. It’s a gut-wrenching
compassion. Luther’s translation says the man “jammerte” over the wounded man. What could that mean? Mourned?
Lamented? Even ‘belly-ached’?
· Whatever the case,
Jesus says the Samaritan was moved so deeply in his guts that he had to
help. To the lawyer, he’s saying ‘Leave behind your prejudices and judgements.
Become someone who comes to the Kingdom with fresh eyes. Then you’ll see your
neighbor as your neighbor. Nobody is excluded… even you.”
· I wonder what the
lawyer did after this encounter with Jesus. Maybe he refused to hear what Jesus
said and tried again to ‘justify himself.’ Maybe he changed and became a
disciple. Maybe he thought about it all and really had to help the next time he saw someone in need. We’re just
guessing here.
· What we are not
guessing at is what Jesus is saying to his disciples. It isn’t something
against the keepers of the Law. It isn’t a warning about hypocrisy. It isn’t
even a blue print for how to act, telling what to do to inherit eternal life.
It’s Jesus telling his disciples and anyone who can hear it that this is the
Kingdom. This is how the Kingdom is made real right before your eyes. It can be
gut-wrenching and even painful, but it is real and right there in front of you,
for ‘Truly
I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of
my family, you did it to me.’ (Mt 25:40)
But a
Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with
pity.
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