Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; Amen.
The text for this meditation is written in the 10thChapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 25–37:
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 neighbour 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 neighbour?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man wasgoing 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 priestwas going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise aLevite, 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 boundup his wounds, pouring on oiland 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 denariiand 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 neighbour 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 bashed and robbed on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The assailants leave him to die. Two representatives of high moral society … a priest and a Levite … notice the poor victim and pass him by. Next, a representative of the scum of the earth comes by in the form of a Samaritan, and this scum has compassion and saves the victim’s life.
This parable is so powerful that the Samaritan has become the icon for people who come to the aid of strangers. We even have “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, we need to understand the context of the conversation that Jesus had with the lawyer before He told the parable of the Good Samaritan. This is very important context for this story.
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. A question whose answer comes from the Law that God handed down to all humans in the first five books of the Bible. Our most familiar reference to the Law is written in the Ten Commandments. So, Jesus question requires an answer from the Holy Scriptures. Jesus asked the lawyer to consider the law: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” This is sort of like Jesus asking this lawyer to remember what he learned in catechism class … 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.” 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 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 loop hole. 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.
How often do we try to weaken the law in order to make it doable? How often, if we are serious in our response, do we justify ourselves with a “yes but that doesn’t really apply in this case”; or, “that was a law for a different place and time”?
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 we copied?
An honest examination of God’s law shows that we are murderers, adulterers, thieves, liars, the whole ‘box and dice’of law breakers. 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, right? If we weaken the law so that we can be happier, that’s a good thing, right?
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 our neighbour. Everyone we meet as we go about our life is our neighbour, and we are to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.
Now, our response to this should be, “I try, but I can’t do that. There are some people that I will never love no matter how hard I try.” and that 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, most of us probably want to be, but we end up being the victim. The devil, the world, and even our own sinful flesh have ambushed us with our own sin. Spiritually speaking, we are not just near death. We are, in fact, literally dead in our own trespasses and sin. [Ephesians 2:1]
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 alone 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 pastors to care for us. He has given the pastors 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 pastors 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 pastors tends to the victims of sin, death, and the devil.
If we, on the other hand, want to live by the law, then we must live up to the example of love in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The example given to us by Jesus Christ Himself. We cannot do that. Sinrobs us and leaves us at the side of the road to die. In fact we arespiritually 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.
Why mess up this gift of salvation by trying to do our part to save ourselves? 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 peace and love of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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