Sermon 13th July 2025 – 5th Sunday after Pentecost
Text:
Luke 10:25-37 – The Good Samaritan
The
Parable of the Good Samaritan is timeless. It’s one of those parables that is
so meaningful that even worldly society has captured the theme and uses that
term. Good Samaritan refers to someone who has helped another person without
any need to or without any personal gain – sometimes at a cost. This is not
merely a lesson that belongs to the past; it is a timeless call to action that
echoes through the ages. This parable urges us to examine our hearts, our
priorities, and our responses to the needs of those around us.
So,
what has led to this parable told by Jesus? A lawyer wants to test Jesus. “What
must I do to inherit eternal life?” The
question seems simple enough. But are we going to build on the wrong foundation
about eternal life if that is our opening question? An inheritance is not about
what you do. Remember what he asked – what must I do to inherit eternal life. An
inheritance is about relationships. Especially in Jesus’ time property was
inherited from family members and to family members. You didn’t do anything to
earn an inheritance. An inheritance is a result of who you were – a child of
the deceased or at least a family member if there were no children of the
deceased. So, Jesus is going to set up this lawyer so he can see for himself
that he has the wrong foundation when it comes to eternal life.
As
the man is a lawyer, Jesus invites him to respond with the Law. Jesus says –
what is written in the Law. The lawyer responds: love the Lord your God with
all your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself. And
Jesus says – you have answered correctly. But does he understand the answer as
God sees it that no one can keep the law 100%, 100% of the time. Because he
doesn’t understand God’s gift of grace in eternal life and still feels that
eternal life must include something he does - he asks: “Who is my neighbour?” It is still about
“doing”. And that’s the problem with a foundation of “what must I do” because
when it comes to eternal life there is nothing we can do that will ever satisfy
the demands of the law for eternal life. We always fall short. And we will
never feel satisfied that we have done enough. Until he understands God’s
grace, even the answer to this question will lead to the next question – until
he understands God’s grace.
So
Jesus uses this question – who is my neighbour – to set up the proper
foundation for our relationship with God and eternal life. At the centre of
this parable is a traveller who has been beaten by robbers and left for dead. There
are 2 types of responses to this beaten man and they could represent our
response to God being Law or Gospel. The first to arrive are a priest and a
Levite. Both are possibly on the way to the Temple and as a result, uppermost
in their minds, the Law. The Law that specified that you could not enter the
temple if you were unclean. And presuming that the traveller is dead they would
become ceremonially unclean if they had touched the body. Numbers chapter 19
says: Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. They must
purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then
they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and
seventh days, they will not be clean. If they fail to purify themselves after
touching a human corpse, they defile the Lord’s tabernacle. They must be cut
off from Israel. Because the water of
cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness
remains on them. So, their response to the needs of this traveller is the Law
and preservation of themselves.
But
the 2nd response is the Samaritan. He sees a Jewish person in need. And he has
2 options. To gloat that this person who had rejected his people is now getting
his deserved justice. Remember the other week when Jesus was passing through
Samaritan countryside and they rejected him. And James and John wanted to call
down fire to consume them. That was the relationship between Jews and
Samaritans. However, when he sees this man in need he puts that aside and at
his own cost, physically and spiritually, he stops to help this man. So when it
comes to “who is my neighbour” the answer is anyone who is in need. It is so
tempting to use the hurt of others for our own satisfaction. As a form of
informal justice. Eastern religions would call this Karma – they are getting
what they deserve. But how fortunate that this is not how Jesus responds. Remember
what we often pray in our Confession of Sins – “we deserve your eternal
punishment” – not eternal life. We are thankful that God does not treat us as
we deserve but reaches down to pick us up as did the Good Samaritan.
And
just as the Good Samaritan said to the inn-keeper - when I come back, I will
repay you whatever more you spend.
So
too, the one for whom there was no room in the inn – says he will come back to
bring us to where he is. That he has paid the full price for our eternal life. And
then Jesus says to us as he says to the Lawyer – go and do likewise.
There
is nothing that we can do to earn our inheritance as St Paul says in Romans 8
about our inheritance: Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God
and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we
may also share in his glory. The question by the lawyer is honourable and a
question that seems on the surface a natural desire to show our love and
appreciation to God by asking “what can I do”. It’s a question we often ask of
a person who is in need – “what can I do”. But when it comes to eternal life,
it’s not about “what can I do for God” but what has God done for me. We could
never do enough for what God sacrificed for us – his own Son. And this was St
Paul’s concern for the Galatians. They were being conned by a false Gospel. And
that’s why his heart goes out in pity to them: You foolish Galatians! Who has
bewitched you? I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who
called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different
gospel. And he puts it plainly - if righteousness could be gained through the
law, Christ died for nothing!
Just
like those who quizzed the King when thanked for feeding the hungry and giving
drink to the thirsty who had no idea – when did we see you hungry and fed you
or thirsty and give you something to drink. It came from their heart Likewise
the Good Samaritan didn’t stop and ponder before he acted – it came from his
heart. And that’s what Jesus is teaching the Lawyer and us. That Salvation
comes from an act of love – the love of God for us his children. And as his
children we receive eternal life – we don’t do anything to earn it. And Jesus
asks that we respond in kind – to go and do likewise.
To
love one another as Jesus has loved us. And that’s also what Paul is speaking
about in his letter to the Colossians: In our prayers for you we always thank
God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in
Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the
hope laid up for you in heaven. Joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has
enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has
rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of
his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
So
friends, cherish that there is nothing you have to do to receive eternal life
or the love of God. You have it because you are children of God. And if
children, then heirs – joint heirs with Christ.
