Pentecost 8 – 10 July 2016 – Year C
Grace to you and Peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 10th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 25–37:
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 And
behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 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.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will
live.”
29 But
he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 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. 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, as he journeyed, came to where he was,
and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 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. 35 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.’ 36 Which of
these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among
the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him
mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do
likewise.”
Today’s reading from the Gospel account is the
very familiar story of the Good Samaritan.
A man gets attacked on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The attackers leave him to die. Following that, two representatives of the high
moral society … a priest and a Levite … notice the poor victim and pass him
by. Next, a representative of what the
Jews consider as the scum of the earth, a Samaritan, comes by, and this scum
has compassion and saves the victim’s life. The animosity between Jews and
Samaritans was so intense, that the Jews would pray in their temple that all
Samaritans would be sent straight to hell.
For Christians this is a ‘Chart Topper’ parable,
along with the ‘Prodigal Son’ – Love and Forgiveness; leading Christian
virtues! On a worldly scale, this parable is so powerful that the Samaritan has
become the icon for people who come to the aid of strangers. There are even “Good Samaritan” laws that
prevent helpful strangers from law suits in the event that the rescue is not
entirely successful.
To really get the full impact of this story,
however, it is important that we understand the context of the conversation
that Jesus had with the lawyer before He told the parable of the Good
Samaritan.
It is also important to know that this lawyer is
not of the Macrossan and Amiet or Shine Lawyers kind. This is a Lawyer well
versed in Jewish Law, the Law of Moses (the first Five Books of the Bible – The
Torah), which means he is coming from the high moral ground and has the
audacity to test Jesus.
First of all, this lawyer stood up and asked a
question: “Teacher, what shall I do to
inherit eternal life?” This is a law question. It requires an answer from the law. So Jesus asked the lawyer to consider the
law: “What is written in the Law? How do
you read it?” This is Jesus asking
this lawyer to speak what he knows well … to recite the basics of the law.
The lawyer quickly recited the words from
memory. 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 neighbour
as yourself.” Of course this is the
right answer and so Jesus said to him,
“You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
Now here is where the lawyer made a blunder that
we all tend to make. Deep down inside,
the lawyer knew that he didn’t have the ability to love his neighbour, as he
should. He should have confessed that He
did not love God or his neighbour.
Instead, he asked Jesus to provide a loophole, some sort of
justification for his ‘human attitude’.
He said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” The lawyer was hoping that Jesus would put
some kind of limitation on the word neighbour.
Then loving the neighbour would be a lot easier. That is when Jesus told the parable of the
Good Samaritan.
I wonder, how often do we, as a community or
personally, try to weaken the law and / or our own values in order to make it more
easy or convenient for ourselves? We
have all witnessed the results of ongoing watering down of Censorship Laws in
Australia and the reluctance of many parents to enforce them. I was shocked
whilst attending a primary school for an ANZAC Day address, when the Principal
explained to the school, right down to the Grade 1, that Mr James’ address was
going to be something like the movie “Saving Private Ryan’. He then asked how
many had seen that film and more than 90% of the hands went up. To me, ‘Saving
Private Ryan’ was one of the most graphic displays of reality combat violence
that I had ever seen. It’s rated MA (V) – I ask how did those Children get to see
that and what effect did it have on them. This is a prime example of how we as
a community are prepared to compromise our values for the sake of convenience.
The justification: Kids hear and see this stuff at school and everywhere!
Again, the Bible says, [1 John 3:15] “Everyone who hates his brother is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Can we honestly say we have never hated
anyone? Jesus said, [Matthew 5:27–28] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You
shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that
everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed
adultery with her in his heart.” Is our
thought life absolutely pure? What about
stealing? Have we ever taken a longer
break than allowed? Have we made
personal copies on the company photocopier without paying for them? What about the copyright laws concerning the
material that you copied?
An honest examination of the law shows that we
are murderers, adulterers, thieves, liars, and so forth. No wonder we want to weaken the law. We want to weaken the law so that we don’t
feel so bad about ourselves. After all,
the most important thing for us is to be happy: Isn’t that right? If we weaken the law so that we can be
happier, that’s a good thing. Or is it??
Jesus puts an end to that kind of thinking by
choosing a Samaritan as the hero of His parable. The Jews hated the Samaritans. They were mortal enemies. If it weren’t for the Roman occupation, the
Jews and the Samaritans would be at war. As far as the Jews were concerned, the only
good Samaritan was a dead Samaritan, and the Samaritans more or less thought
the same way about the Jews.
So when Jesus chose a Samaritan to be the hero
of His parable, He was strengthening the law.
He was telling this lawyer that the Samaritan was his neighbour. Jesus was saying that there is no limit on
who is your neighbour. Everyone you meet
as you go about your life is your neighbour, and you are to love your neighbour
as you love yourself.
If we are really truthful, our response is “I
can’t do that. There are some people
that I will never love no matter how hard I try.” and we would be right. No one can love with the kind of love that
God calls for in His commandments. We do
not love God with all our heart, soul, and strength. We do not love our neighbour as
ourselves. Jesus calls us to be the
Samaritan in the parable of the Good Samaritan, but we can’t do it.
We are supposed to be the Samaritan, but we end
up being the victim. The devil, the
world, and even our own sinful flesh have attacked us with our own sin. Spiritually speaking, we are not just near
death. We are, in fact, [Ephesians 2:1] literally
dead in our own trespasses and sin.
There is no help for us in the law. The law passes by us and is disgusted with
our condition just as the priest and the Levite passed by on the other side. The law asks us to help ourselves, but we are
dead in sin and can’t help ourselves.
Jesus Christ is able to keep the law of
love. He is able to fill the role of the
Good Samaritan for us. He lived a life
of perfection. He loved his neighbour
enough to sacrifice Himself. He
generously applies the oil of His righteous life and the wine of His own blood.
[Isaiah 53:5] He was wounded for our transgressions; he was
crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us
peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
He gave us His righteousness and took our sins onto Himself as He
suffered and died on the cross.
Jesus then took us to the inn of the
church. There he gave instructions to
His priests and people to care for us. He has given the priests something way
better than a card with a billion dollar credit limit or a blank check. He has left His Word, Holy Baptism,
Confession and Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper with the inn of the
church. He has given His priests
instructions to use these Means of Grace to tend to the well being of all those
who have been beaten up by sin. With
these Means of Grace, the priests tends to the victims of sin, death, and the
devil.
If we want to live by the law, then we
must live up to the example of love in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We cannot do that. Sin attacks us and leaves us at the side of
the road to die. In fact we are
spiritually dead.
Our only hope is for Jesus to take on the role
of the Good Samaritan. Only He can
rescue us and bring us healing. Jesus is
the one who set His face to go to Jerusalem so that He could die for us on the
cross. He is also the one who rose from
the dead to give us the promise of eternal life with Him. He offers us forgiveness, life, and
salvation.
Don’t mess up this salvation by trying to do
your part to save yourself. We can’t
help ourselves. Jesus has already
written us into His will, and He has died.
Jesus Christ has taken up the role of the Good Samaritan in our
place. Jesus Christ has already earned our
forgiveness. The inheritance of eternal
life is already ours.
The Holy Spirit administers Jesus’ estate by
transmitting forgiveness to us by the Means of Grace … Word and Sacrament. The Holy Spirit establishes the faith that receives
that forgiveness, as it trusts in Jesus.
There is nothing left to do. When
it comes to our salvation, God does all the work. We have already inherited eternal life. It is ours.
Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that
is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
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