HOW DOES IT FEEL?

Dr. Richard J. Henderson July 15, 2007

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Psalm 82
Luke 10: 25-37

Introduction

The Good Samaritan is alive and well in our culture. We have "Good Samaritan awards;" we have helping agencies known as Samaritan Centers; we even have a non-profit, counseling organization in Farmington called the Samaritan Counseling Center. Samaritan has become synonymous with people helping other people. Usually it is healthy, well-to-do people helping those who are down and out; the good guys helping those who are struggling. Even in the Christian church we sometimes see it that way.

But that's not what Jesus' parable is about. Jesus' story is far more radical. It's not just about a nice guy doing good, but a story that undercuts our pious confidence about our place in God's favor. This is a parable that upsets our ideas about who are God's people. Jesus' parable is a wild creature that we've made into a tame pet.

I

A Jewish lawyer comes to Jesus and asks what he needs to do to receive eternal life. Since he is an authority on Jewish law, he probably feels like he already knows the answer. Luke says he asks the question to test Jesus. Jesus answers his question with a question. "What is written in the Jewish law?" The lawyer answers, "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." "Do this and you will live," Jesus says.

Stop here just long enough to recognize what Jesus has said. The lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus answer is to follow the heart of the Jewish law. So Jesus says to this Jew, if you follow the essence of the Jewish law you will have eternal life.

II

Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. OK, who's my neighbor? Then Jesus tells his story. A man, who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, was attacked by robbers. He was robbed, beaten, and left for dead. Life has changed dramatically for this man; suddenly he is facing life or death. He wonders if he will survive.

Down the road comes a priest. He sees the beaten man lying in a pool of blood and passes over to the other side of the road. Later a Levite comes down the same road. He is an assistant to the priest. He sees the beaten man and hurries to the other side of the road.

We usually see them as bad guys - crass and hard-hearted - almost as bad as the robbers. They leave the guy there to die!

Actually, the problem is not as much with the priest and the Levite as it is with the religious tradition. The religious leaders weren't allowed to go near a dead body. Certainly, the beaten up man appeared to be dead, so they were following the rules of their religion. Leviticus 21:10-11 says that a priest shall not go where there is a dead body - even if it is one of the priest's parents.

Nobody hearing this story would expect the priest to go help the dying man. Most likely the half dead man doesn't expect the priest or Levite to come to his rescue. The problem isn't so much with the priest and Levite as it is with the religious rules.

III

After these two pass by, a Samaritan comes along. Now the beaten man might wish he were dead! Down the road is coming the enemy. Samaritans were people of mixed race who opposed the rebuilding of the temple, and who had helped the enemy to attack the Jews.

There was bad blood between Jews and Samaritans. You might picture here a civil rights worker and a Ku Klux Klan member, or Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. These are diehard enemies.

If he's coherent, the man in the ditch probably expects the Samaritan to finish him off. This is his worst nightmare.

IV

But the Samaritan reaches down and bandages his wounds. He puts him on his animal and takes him to an inn. There he stays with him caring for him all night, and in the morning he tells the innkeeper to get him whatever he needs, and whatever it costs, he will repay him for it. The Samaritan is not just caring and generous, he is overwhelmingly so.

It's hard for us to conceive of the shock this story would have had to everyone who heard it. Good and Samaritan were impossible for Jews to put in the same sentence.

The lawyer who asked the original question knew that Jews were in with God, and Samaritans were out. The Jews were chosen; Samaritans were unfaithful. But in Jesus' story, the Samaritan does what's right and the priest is a miserable failure.

The result is to destroy the parochial idea of God only loving me and my kind of people. It wipes out confidence that God is on my side and against those I know are faithless.

V

There's one more twist in this story - and it's important. The story is told centering on the man who is beaten up. We hear the story and identify with that man who's been robbed and left there.

Part of the parable is that this beaten man has to accept extraordinarily generous help from his enemy. The one he looks down on, despises, and knows is not as good as he is, is the very person he has to accept life-saving help from.

Put yourself in his place. The person who's your enemy, the one who doesn't believe like you do, and the one you intensely dislike, is the one who reaches down to save your life. How do you feel about accepting that help - from your enemy?

Jesus' parable is not only about extravagant help from one we least expect it from, but also about accepting that generous help from the one we despise and look down on. Jesus' story is about a great deal more than a good guy helping a poor man who is down and out.

The way Jesus tells it, the one who is supposed to be the bad guy is the one who reaches out beyond barriers of race, religion, and ethnicity to help a person near death. This Samaritan sees someone in desperate need and acts without weighing whether he deserves the help, without asking what his religion is, or where he lives. When the Samaritan looks at the half dead man, he doesn't ask if his hands will get dirty if he responds to him. He sees and cares and acts.

Conclusion

We talked last week about Jesus' story of the two sons. A father goes to one of his sons and asks him to go work in his vineyard. The boy says no, but later changes his mind and goes to work.

The father asks his other son to go work in the vineyard, and the son says yes, but he never goes to work. Jesus asks, "Which son did the will of his father?" Obviously it is the one who ended up doing his father's will. Words don't count; actions do.

This is a similar story. The one who acts does the right thing. He may be the enemy, and his actions are a big surprise, but he is the one who acts to save the man's life. He doesn't accept excuses for not acting. He sees a person in awful need and he helps him.

He acts. That's what's important. And Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."

Amen

© Richard J. Henderson 2007