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Sermon for Trinity 13
Galatians 3:15-22 + Luke 10:23-37
The nation is still in turmoil after the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk that took place on Wednesday. We’ve seen more hatred from our neighbors than any decent person can handle seeing. And Christians have had to deal with the stark, cold reality that many, many of our neighbors, of our own countrymen, don’t merely disagree with us Christians on key societal issues. No, they would actually dance on our graves, as they’re dancing on Charlie’s even now. They are the ones who are truly consumed with hate, and with wickedness.
Now, we’re not going to dwell on this today. We’re simply going to acknowledge it, and, we’re also going to use it to illustrate one of Jesus’ points in today’s Gospel, in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
It’s an inspirational story, but what is it intended to inspire? At first glance, the parable seems like a story with a very simple moral: It’s good to show kindness to a stranger in need. That’s not wrong, it just isn’t the whole point, or even the main point. In fact, this parable is so expertly told by Jesus that it inspires three things, in this order: The Samaritan inspires fear, then hope, and then purpose.
Let’s remember how Luke sets the stage for this parable. A religious lawyer, an expert in the Law of Moses, approaches Jesus with a question. Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? It’s a very basic, very important question. Only Luke informs us that it wasn’t an honest question; the man asked it to “test” Jesus. You see, the experts in the Law were angry with Jesus, partially because they misinterpreted His message. (This, by the way, is one reason why people hate Christians today, because the devil, through his many liars, has led them to misinterpret our message, and to ascribe to us wicked motives, even as they have done to Charlie both before and after his assassination.) The lawyers in Israel thought Jesus was disparaging Moses and the Law of Moses in His teaching. But that’s wrong. He didn’t disparage the Law. He upheld the Law, more than the experts in the Law did, as a matter of fact, as He demonstrates in the parable.
In answer to the man’s question, Jesus went straight to the Law. What is written in the Law? He asked. How do you read it? And the lawyer gave a fine summary of God’s moral Law: 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. And Jesus agreed with him. You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.
Now, you would think the expert in the Law would have been very pleased with an answer like that, one that agreed so perfectly with his precious Law. But he wasn’t! He was smart enough to realize that such a broad-reaching commandment, to love God with all one’s being, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, was a tall order—something he couldn’t be sure he had lived up to. So, wanting to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” So, to answer his question, Jesus went on to tell the parable.
It’s a simple story. A man was walking from Jerusalem to Jericho and along the way he was accosted by bandits. They grabbed him, beat him and robbed him of his possessions and left him half-dead on the side of the road. Did they “love their neighbor as themselves”? Obviously not. Then along came a priest, and then a Levite—some of the most godly and good people in Israel. Each one saw the man and just kept walking. Did they “love their neighbor as themselves”? Did they do to that man what they would have wanted someone to do for them in that situation? Obviously not. But then along comes a Samaritan. And as you recall, the Jews despised the Samaritans, and the feeling was usually mutual. The Samaritans were “neighbors” of the Jews. They lived to the north of Jerusalem in Samaria. And they had some Jewish blood, mixed with Gentile blood, and they followed their own hybrid religion. Jews and Samaritans did not associate with one another. But this Samaritan saw the Jewish man lying half-dead on the side of the road and took pity on him. He went over to him, tended his wounds, hoisted the man up on his own pack animal, took him to an inn, cared for him overnight, and then left the innkeeper with instructions, and with money, to continue the man’s care until the Samaritan returned from his journey.
Now it’s time to apply it to the lawyer: “Now which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Go and do likewise. Do this, and you will live. To the one who thinks he can appeal to God’s Law, can appeal to his own goodness and decency as he stands before God, saying, “See, God? I’ve done everything You required,” the parable of the Good Samaritan provides a terrifying dose of reality: You are not nearly good enough to earn the eternal inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. If you think you inherit eternal life, or “get into heaven,” by doing enough good, by keeping the Law, and if keeping the Law means having a heart like the Samaritan’s heart, and producing such selfless and devoted behavior toward the person next to you who needs your help, as the Samaritan did, all the time—and if you’re honest with yourself—then the Samaritan must inspire fear within you. If “do this, and you will live” is the only path to heaven, you don’t stand a chance. No one does.
Because, again, it’s not, “Go and try your best; God will do the rest.” That’s not what Jesus says. It’s not what the Law says. It’s not “work really hard,” either. It’s “do this.” Do it. Get it done, from the heart. All the time. In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination this week, it’s easy for us to compare ourselves with all the hate-filled people out there in the world, with the ones who make false accusations, with the ones who commit acts of violence, or who would like to see acts of violence committed against anyone who holds the same views as Charlie did. They obviously don’t fulfill the Law’s command to “do” as the Samaritan did. But the harder truth is that, neither do we. All have sinned, God declares. There is “no one who does good,” God declares. Not in the sense of “doing good enough” to be justified before God. No one. That’s why “do this” as the path to eternal life should inspire fear in all of us, lest we should ever begin to think that we have done enough, that we could ever be good enough to inherit eternal life. If the Law is the only way into heaven, then we should all be very, very afraid, because hell is the only alternative to heaven.
But, as I said, the parable of the Good Samaritan inspires more than one thing, has more than one purpose. It serves very well to frighten the secure sinner and the one who relies on his works to be saved. But we should also look at it from a different angle, one that inspires hope in those who have had their hope in their own goodness rightfully ripped away from them.
If you’re looking for a helper who is as kind and merciful and compassionate as the Good Samaritan was, you won’t find one, except in one place: in Jesus, who is very much like the Good Samaritan in the parable. The Samaritan was related to the Jews, but also a foreigner. So Jesus took on human flesh and became Man, became related to all of us, even as He remains a “foreigner” to us in that He is also true God. The Samaritans were despised by the Jews. So Jesus was despised by them, too, and is still despised by most of the world. Still, that didn’t stop Him from coming to help us. As the priest and the Levite, who represent the Law, passed by, unwilling to help the miserable man, so the Law still passes us by, unwilling to help us, unwilling to save us, because we’re born in slavery to sin and death. But as the Samaritan so mercifully cared for the injured, dying man, so Jesus came to us in our sins, and in our condemnation. He gave His life on the cross for our sins. He is the true Martyr after whom every Christian martyr is named. Why would Charlie Kirk, why would anyone risk their life for Jesus? Because He knowingly gave His life for us, that we might be delivered from sin, and from death, and from the power of the devil. And then, just as the Samaritan took the dying man and carried him to an inn and placed him in the charge of the innkeeper until he returned, so the Lord Jesus has placed us in the inn of His Holy Christian Church, and charged the ministers of the Church to look after His people, tending to their spiritual wounds, forgiving the penitent in Jesus’ name, feeding them with the Word and the Sacraments of Jesus, until He returns from heaven, as He has promised, to bring us safely into His heavenly kingdom.
Do you see what hope the Good Samaritan inspires, when we see Jesus in the Samaritan’s kindness, when we see that Jesus came and fulfilled the Law of God, to love God and to love our neighbor? He fulfilled the Law by loving all people, and by doing it in our place, offering us a different path to heaven, not the path of doing enough good, but the path of believing in the Lord Jesus, who did enough good for us, so that we might be justified by faith in Him, and not by our works.
That was the hope that Charlie Kirk confessed and in which he died. That’s the hope that God holds out to all men, urging everyone to repent and to believe in the Lord Jesus, and promising the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation to all who believe. And that gives us hope, to confront the darkness of this world, to confront those who hate us and those who wish us dead. It gives us a sure hope for this life, and for the next. It gives us hope, a sure hope, that God and His people win in the end, no matter how bleak it appears at the moment, because, as Charlie posted a few days before he was martyred, “Jesus defeated death so that you can live.”
So the parable of the Good Samaritan inspires fear, and then hope. And for those who have hope, it inspires one more thing: It inspires purpose.
“Go and do likewise,” Jesus said to the expert in the Law. Go and be like the Samaritan. Be a merciful neighbor to the person next to you who needs your help, who needs your concern, who needs your invitation to come to church, to come to know the Lord Jesus. That is the purpose that God has given to His hope-filled people in this world: to be imitators of Christ.
Of course, in order to do that, you have to know Christ. And you know Him best and most directly through the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There we see Him as the compassionate Good Samaritan toward the one in need. He is the patient Teacher to those who will listen. He is the willing and even joyful Target of hatred, false accusations, and wrongdoing. He is the Good Shepherd toward His sheep who believe in Him. And He is also the Speaker of harsh truth, and, sometimes, condemnation to the liars who threaten His flock.
But, you’ll notice, He is never, during His earthly life, the Punisher of the wicked. He is never the Mocker of those who believe falsely. He is never the bitter Cynic who always sees the worst in His neighbor. He is never the Pharisee who had no heart for the lost.
So, go and do likewise. Let it be your ongoing purpose as a Christian to imitate Jesus in all things, including His compassion and care for the one in need. And you don’t have to go to the other side of the world to find him. In fact, you shouldn’t. Because your “neighbor” is literally the person “next to you” who needs your compassion and your acts of mercy. And that person doesn’t have to be a stranger lying on the side of the road. It could be your family member, or fellow church member, or someone you work with, or go to school with, or who lives down the road. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to imitate the Good Samaritan, to show mercy to the one in need, and the Lord will surely provide them, because the needs of this life are many and great.
In summary, may the Holy Spirit use this account of the Good Samaritan to inspire fear in the secure sinner and in the one who seeks to work his way into heaven. May He inspire hope, through the mercy of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in all who recognize their need for His help. And may He inspire purpose in all who have received that help, purpose in showing kindness and mercy, which will always pale in comparison to the kindness and mercy that we ourselves have received from God. Amen.
