In the Name of Jesus
Luke 10,25-37
13. Trinitatis 058
Richardis, Wife of Charles the Fat, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, † 893
18. September 2011
1. O Holy Spirit, the Giver of both the law and the gospel, You have imprinted the eternal law upon our conscience from the day of our conception. We know the law, but in our sinful human state of original sin we go against our conscience, suppress the law that we know in our heart and daily strive to live our lives according to our own precepts that many times are opposed to Your principles. Unlike the law, the gospel is foreign to us and it must be preached to us in Your holy, revealed Word and given to us in the Sacraments. Like the law, we also struggle against Your gospel, seeking to supplant the gospel with our own deeds and merits. Help us, O Holy Spirit, to retain Your law and gospel, rejoicing that Jesus has fulfilled the law for us in our place and has freely given us the forgiveness of sins through the gospel of His crucifixion and resurrection. Give us opportunities to show mercy to our neighbors as Christ has shown mercy to us. Amen.
2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to Luke where the holy evangelist writes: And behold, a lawyer stood up testing Jesus, saying, „Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?“ And Jesus said to him, „What has been written in the Law? How do you read it?“ Then he answered, „You will 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 you will love your neighbor as yourself.“ [Deuteronomy 6,5; Leviticus 19,18]. And Jesus said to him, „You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.“ So wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, „And who is my neighbor?“ Jesus replied and said, „A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was seized by bandits, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him about to die. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he was compassionate, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring olive oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own donkey, and brought him to an inn and cared for him. On the next day he took out two day’s wages and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ Which of these three do you think has been a neighbor to the man who was seized by the bandits?“ And he said, „The one who showed him mercy.“ Then Jesus said to him, „Go and do the same.“ This is our text.
3. „Yes, the story of the Good Samaritan is always misused when it is taken out of context, so that it is presented with a slightly raised moral index finger as a guide to action that shows how to behave as a decent Christian, and as evidence shows what good people we are if we behave like the good Samaritan. But Jesus precisely did not tell the parable this way“ (Martens § 5).
4. The question at hand is eternal life. The lawyer asks Jesus: „Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?“ Right away his question is flawed. You cannot do anything to inherit something. An inheritance is given to you by someone else as a free gift. You cannot earn it, but you can do something heinous to lose an inheritance. Likewise, you cannot do anything to inherit eternal life, for it is a gift freely given to you by Yahweh and like all gifts you can foolishly reject it and refuse to receive it.
5. To prove this point, Jesus asks the lawyer what does the law say about eternal life. Quoting Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the lawyer answers that we should love God and love our neighbors. If these two commandments can be kept, then one can earn eternal life under the law. So the lawyer needs to clarify exactly who his neighbor is. The way of the law is to be as specific as possible. It would be nigh impossible to love everyone as one’s neighbors, so the lawyer wants to know what the bare minimum limit is set as to who is his neighbor. If your neighbors are those who live in and around your house, say a dozen or so homes around you, then it is potentially possible to be a good and faithful neighbor to them and thus live up to the standards of the law. If, however, the definition of neighbor is broad, say everyone in your town, state, nation, or the entire world, then it is quite apparent that one cannot hope to truly be a neighbor to all these people.
6. Jesus then tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. As this parable unfolds, first a Jewish priest and then a Levite, see a wounded man laying along the roadside. Both pass him by. Under the law, neither the priest or Levite were a neighbor to their fellow wounded Jew. The cost of doing so was too high. The priest could defile himself if the man turns out to be dead and it would takes weeks of ritual cleansing to return to Yahweh's service at the temple, the bandits could be waiting to pounce on those offering assistance, the wounded man could be a ruse to sucker a caring person to offer assistance and then spring up and rob him. A host of other contemplations ran through the minds of both the priest and the Levite. Both reasoned that obeying the law in this instance was too costly, so they reasoned that it is safer and easier to leave well enough alone, consoling themselves perhaps that some one else would soon be by and render the beaten man assistance, and thus they went on their way and about their own business. Would the lawyer prideful of his keeping of the law have stopped and helped? Would he have done what the priest and Levite had failed to do? No, he too would have walked past, knowing that doing so would violate the law to love the neighbor as oneself.
7. It is fallen human nature to act exactly as the priest and the Levite do in Jesus' parable, and the law reveals how you do as little as is absolutely necessary for your neighbor and then move on. We see it in the parable, and even on TV. Yes, citizens of Utah helped a man from under a car, but they did the bare minimum. Who checked him out to see how hurt he was? Who offered to drive him to a hospital and tell the doctors do whatever is necessary, spare no expense, and offer to pay the expensive bill? Yes, like the lawyer, you claim to love God and your neighbor, but the law quickly reveals how little you are willing to do for God and your neighbor. Every single person is guilty of this attitude because we are all corrupt sinners.
8. Jesus dialogue with the lawyer and His following parable are all about showing the lawyer and every person that one cannot do anything to earn the inheritance of eternal life. The Good Samaritan gave his all far and beyond what might be expected. The lawyer was humbled when Jesus told him that even a despised Samaritan is a better keeper of the law than a scribe of that very law. You and I are humbled when the law reveals that we are not the paragons of virtue who love God and help our neighbor in every need and with all the means at our disposal.
9. You cannot earn everlasting life; it is a gift that is freely given to you by your Heavenly Father on account of the abundant merit of Jesus Christ. Where you fail to love God and your neighbor, Jesus succeeds. The compassion of the Samaritan is the theme of Jesus’ parable, and the Samaritan is an image of Jesus. The Samaritan went above and beyond his service to his neighbor. He bound his wounds, brought him to safety, nursed him, and paid in full all the monetary debts accrued from his predicament. God requires and expects mercy, a mercy which knows no borders (Martens § 15). Jesus lived this mercy and He showed this mercy. Jesus was merciful to His own Jewish people, but not only them. He was merciful to women, children, tax collectors, prostitutes, the worst sinners, Gentiles, and even Roman occupiers. Jesus’ love for His Heavenly Father and for His neighbors knows no boundaries.
10. Jesus was, and is, a neighbor to you. He has found you in dire need and He has mercy upon you. Jesus desires to bring eternal life to you. What you cannot earn, Jesus freely gives for He gives of His very self, yes, He gives all of Himself. Jesus told this parable about a man journeying down from Jerusalem to Jericho. In Luke 10, Jesus is journeying from Jericho up to Jerusalem (Luke 9,51). He is traveling to the holy city, yes, to Mount Zion where He will become the sacrificial lamb upon the altar of the cross for the sin of the world (Martens § 16). „This route is difficult for Him, even dangerous, and actually ends up costing Him His life. But Jesus is not afraid of this risk, risking His life, just to get to His destination“ (Martens § 16). The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by the one who is here to save you unto eternal life by being the Good Samaritan to you (Martens § 16).
11. As Jesus loves you, so you love one another. As Jesus is merciful to you, so you are merciful to each other. Jesus loves, and is merciful to, the ungodly and the unworthy. His love and mercy are not earned by you, but His love and mercy are freely given to you as a gift. Thus it is by grace and not by the works of the law. Thus you love and are merciful to one another by God’s grace. This is not the way the world works. The world does not understand the wisdom of such grace. The world helps those who are known to them, assisting friends, relatives and the like, but helping a foreigner or a stranger is not the natural way of the world.
12. Jesus has saved you. Jesus has given you eternal life. Jesus wants to make you know how good you have it with Him; He is your Good Samaritan (Martens § 17). You are now free to be a Good Samaritan to those around you; you are free to be a good neighbor to any who are in need. Yes, go and do likewise, not out of fear or obligation to merit your salvation under the law but by grace and mercy that flows from Christ’s love. Amen.
13. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, You love Your Heavenly Father with all Your heart and Your neighbor as Yourself, redeeming us from all our sins and reconciling us back to our Heavenly Father. Help us to proclaim this mercy to our neighbors, helping them when they are in physical or spiritual need, so that they may be cared for and give glory to You alone. Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Luke © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.
Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 6. September 2009 (13. Trinitatis) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on Luke 10,25-37. Copyright © 2011 St. Mary Church in Berlin-Zehlendorf (SELK). All rights reserved. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.
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