Luke 10:25–37

²⁵And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" ²⁶He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" ²⁷And 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." ²⁸And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live." ²⁹But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" ³⁰Jesus 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. ³¹Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³²So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴He 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. ³⁵And 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.' ³⁶Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" ³⁷He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."

Yesterday I went blueberry picking with my family. The bushes were full of berries; some down low, some up high and some just right. There are ripe ones, half ripe ones and some that are still green. So picking berries you have to sort through them to get the good ones, leaving the unripe berries for some other person to pick at a later time. There are also the ones that are too high to reach, and the ones that are too low to stoop down to. So you leave them also for some taller or shorter person who might come by later. Some fall out of your hands as you pick them landing on the ground, but you are too tired to pick them up, so you leave them lying on the ground. The berries you leave are the gleanings.

In our Old Testament reading, God told his people to leave the gleanings in the field for the poor and for the foreigners. The Jews by law were required to leave some of the wheat and grapes and olives for foreigners and the poor. It was an act of compassion; it was part of loving your neighbor as the law of God requires you to do.

There are other requirements here too for loving your neighbor. You shall not steal or deal falsely when doing business with him. You should not rob him of his wages, or even delay payment. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind. You shall not hate your brother, take vengeance on him or bear a grudge against him. All these are sins against the Fifth Commandment. All these things deserve, and will result in, eternal condemnation and punishment from God.

God's law is love, love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Thus says the Lord.

This expert in God's law knew well this text. But he had a problem with it. You see, during the time that the Jewish nation was in exile in Babylonia, the Syrians decided to repopulate Palestine by bringing peoples of other nations, pagan people, to populate that deserted area. These pagan nations had their own religions, their own languages, their own customs and their own foods. They were not God fearing people. They were unclean, dirty, and ate unclean foods. They had disgusting habits and lifestyles.

So when King Cyrus allowed the Jews to go back to their land, they found these offensive, dirty, pagan people living there. The Jews would not have anything to do with them. They despised and hated these filthy people.

Our lawyer, like the rest of the people, hated and despised the Samaritans; uninvited foreigners. This was not their land. This was the promised land God had given to the Jews. He didn't like the idea of leaving the gleanings for these dirty foreigners. So being a shrewd lawyer, he was adept at finding loopholes. He tried to find a loophole to justify his own hatred for these Samaritan foreigners. He was prejudice against them. He despised them. They were dirty, sinful, godless people. He didn't want to love them, to help them, to serve them, and he knew he needed to prepare his defense for the day of judgment on account of his own sin against the Fifth Commandment. He tried to do that by interpreting the command to love your neighbor as applying only to fellow citizens, people of his own kind, his own race, his own nationality. Hence the question: Who is my neighbor?

Jesus knew and understood that he wanted to justify himself. So he answered his question with a story:

A man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. He was right in the middle of Jewish soil. He was no foreigner, but a citizen, and that land belonged to him. He was among his own people. Nevertheless, he fell victim to some thieves. The thieves stripped him and beat him and left him half dead. His own fellow citizens did this, shocking as it might seem. It sort of reminds us that this is exactly what the people did to Jesus. He was in the world that belonged to him. He came to his own people, but his own people did not receive him, in fact they stripped him, beat him and left him to die on a cross.

Then came along someone who could help. Two upstanding members of the church. Leaders in the church. One a pastor and the other a dedicated and highly involved lay leader. These were the important people in church. These citizens held the highest esteem and respect in society. They were not foreigners, but fellow citizens. Once again we remember that it was the leadership of the Jews that rejected Jesus, stripped him, and wanted him executed, not the average person. These two men passed by on the other side of the road. "Oh, I didn't see anyone there," they would later say. Or, "We were in a hurry to get to church on time." Sure, they could justify their actions; they had valid reasons for not helping him.

But, the problem is that we do the same when we are confronted by someone in need. "I don't have the time." "I don't know what to do, or what is the best way to help." "There are too many regulations or restrictions on what we can do. What if something goes wrong and I get sued?" There is no end to the excuses we can find for not helping someone in need. They are all legitimate reasons for not getting involved. We can then go away with a clean conscience, knowing that we did the right thing. We, like the lawyer, are experts at finding loopholes in God's laws.

Then comes along this foreigner. Now the man lying half dead on the side of the road hated and despised this foreigner. Luckily he was half dead, probably unconscious, and couldn't do anything about it. Otherwise he would probably have run away had he been able to when this foreigner came over to him. This Samaritan was despised and rejected. A was a man of sorrow and grief. He was hated and discriminated against. The victim of prejudice his entire life. Unwelcome and shoved aside. No one of these citizens ever lent him a hand when he was in need. Still, he had compassion on the man lying by the road. He could identify with the man, for so often had society beat him down, and stripped him of his dignity, and left him alone hoping he would just die and go away. He knew from his own experience what the man felt like and he was moved to compassion.

So he bound up the man's wounds, gave him water to drink and a morsel of bread to eat for strength. He poured oil and wine on his wounds. Then he put him on his donkey and carried him to an inn. He paid for the man to be taken care of in the inn and promised to pay any additional debts that he incurred. The Samaritan himself was probably not welcome there, but still he paid the hotel bill on behalf of a stranger. And all of this he did for someone who had rejected and hated him; someone who despised him and discriminated against him.

Why? Because the Good Samaritan was Jesus himself. It was Jesus who we, by our failure to love our neighbor, by trying to justify ourselves and find loopholes in God's law, by trying to get out of helping someone in need, by our prejudice and discrimination, we reject and crucify. We are guilty of the Fifth Commandment, of murder, when we do not help a person in need. Moreover, we are guilty of the murder of Jesus, for "Whatsoever you do unto the least of these you do unto me," Jesus says. By our lack of love for others, we have stripped Jesus, beaten him and left him to die on the cross. We, like the priest and Levite, have closed our eyes to our neighbor's needs, and even come up with reasons to justify our lack of action.

Still, even though we have rejected him, despised him, stripped him, beat him and left him to die, Jesus had compassion on us. Jesus binds our wounds. He gives us the water of Baptism. He pours wine on our wounds in Holy Communion and gives us a morsel of bread to strengthen us. He not only takes us to the comfort of the inn, but he pays the bill for us, even though he himself was not welcome there at his birth. By his death he paid for our sin. He paid for all our lack of love. He paid for the times we justify ourselves for our sins. He paid for the times we avoid those in need. He paid for all the pain you cause others because of your hard hearts. He had compassion on you! He died for you. He forgave your sins!

And it is that compassion that frees you from your own sinful hearts. It is the compassion of Jesus that led him to the cross to hang there in your place and give you hope and eternal life. It is because of his death on the cross that you are free to love your neighbor as yourselves. It is by the Holy Spirit who comes to you in Baptism that Jesus lives in your lives. He touches the world with his love by your works of kindness and mercy. The Good Samaritan is today alive in you and is still picking up the downtrodden, the poor, the beaten, the naked from the sides of the road whenever you have compassion and mercy on someone.

As Jesus told the lawyer at the end of the story, "Go, and do likewise." So Jesus sends you to "Go, and do likewise." The Good Samaritan is Jesus living in you. You are the presence of Jesus in the world, in the lives of the poor and hungry. In the lives of the oppressed and rejected and despised who live in your community and neighborhood. Jesus is pushing back the kingdom of darkness and bringing his kingdom to completion in the world by your love and compassion. Jesus sends you to be the Good Samaritan with is command and law: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Amen.

With a firm faith hold fast to the riches of God's grace and joyfully give thanks to his mercy forever and ever. Amen.