“Jesus, Our Good Samaritan”
Luke 10:25-37
7/15/2007
The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most
well-known and recognized parables of Jesus. Even many
non-Christians have heard of it. And yet, it is also one of the
most misunderstood parables of Jesus. Many people, including many
Christians, read this parable and come away from it thinking that all
it does is teach us how to be good neighbors. And yet, to make
this into a “how to” parable is to miss the whole point of
it.
The lawyer who approaches Jesus here with a couple
of questions is a “how to” man. He wants to know two
things: how to inherit eternal life and how to identity who his
neighbor is. He asks these questions like someone would ask how a
game is played and what its rules are. To win at a game you have
to know and follow the rules. The lawyer figures salvation is won
in a similar way - by following the rules, playing the game the best
that he can, pitting himself against others to see if he can outdo
them. And since one’s eternal life is at stake, it’s
vital that one gets the rules of the game down clearly to make sure
you’re not disqualified.
So, he asks Jesus what he has to do to inherit
eternal life. But he does this not because he doesn’t think
he already knows the answer. He’s a lawyer, after
all. He knows the rules of the game, the Law, better than anyone,
as he shows by how he answers Jesus’ question. No, this
lawyer doesn’t come for information from Jesus, but as the text
says, he comes to Jesus in order to put Him to the test.
“If Jesus is who He claims to be, He above all should know the
rules of the game like I do. He must know the Law, God’s
commandments given to His people through His servant Moses, which if a
person does he will live, as the Law says. So, if Jesus is off
here, if He’s not on the same page as me (one who’s job it
is to study the Law and teach it to others), then He’s the one
who’s wrong, not me.”
We are told here that this lawyer with his questions
wants to justify himself. He wants Jesus to confirm what he
already thinks he knows about the Law, that it’s by following the
rules, obeying the commandments, and being a good person that one
inherits eternal life. His problem, however, is twofold:
First, he believes that eternal life is won by obeying the Law, as if
God’s Law was given to be a “how to” guide for
gaining salvation. But this is wrong, because God never gave His
people the Ten Commandments as a means for obtaining eternal
life. God gave the Ten Commandments to His people as a guide to
show them how to live as His people, living in love towards Him and
towards one another. Just as God had had mercy upon them, so they
were to show mercy towards each other. God’s Law cannot be
used to earn eternal life, because it will not grant you eternal life,
nor can it help you to get it. It’s main function is to
show you that you can’t keep it, because the second problem that
this lawyer has (and as you and I have as well) is that he is a sinner,
and sinners can’t keep the commandments; they can’t justify
themselves; they can’t love God and their neighbor as they should
no matter how hard they try. The main function for which God gave
His Law was not to help you gain eternal life by following the rules,
but to show you that you have failed at following the rules and to
direct you to the One who has done it perfectly for you, Jesus Christ.
And so, with His parable here about the good
Samaritan, Jesus teaches us primarily about Himself and what He, our
Good Samaritan has done for us who are all little lawyers at
heart. He shows you that far from having followed the rules as
you ought to have, you have been waylaid by sin and the devil.
They have robbed, stripped, and beaten you, leaving you powerless and
half-dead to wallow in your own blood, with no one willing or even able
to help you. The only one who’s able to help you is your
despised but Good Samaritan, Jesus Christ. And until you see
yourself as the poor, helpless man in need of the mercy of your Savior,
you will not inherit eternal life, but you’ll die in your sins.
Jesus, then, must get us to recognize that we are
poor, helpless and in need of His mercy. The lawyer doesn’t
believe this about himself yet. So when he asks Jesus what he
must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus asks him to tell him what the
Law says. “You want me to tell you how the game is played,
go to the rule book. What does it say?” And the
lawyer answers, “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
answers, “You’ve answered correctly; do this, and you will
live.” Jesus knows the rules too. The rules
are: love God and love your neighbor. Love is the summary
of the Ten Commandments. It’s not about following rules,
but love. And if you can love God and your neighbor perfectly,
you win the game, you inherit eternal life. The trouble is that
the Law only declares perfect people perfect. The rest it
condemns for not having kept it, for not having loved God and
one’s neighbor perfectly. And there’s no getting
around the rules, no credit for half the job or even 99% of the
job. It’s either all or nothing. You have to play
this game perfectly every second of every minute of your life, and if
you mess up on just one commandment, the game is over and you’ve
lost. What’s even worse is that we’ve already entered
into this game as losers. We’re sinners from the start,
from the very moment of our conception.
This the lawyer doesn’t understand. He
doesn’t see himself as a sinner, as not having kept the Law
perfectly. In fact, if there’s a problem anywhere in the
game, he believes it’s with the rules themselves. His
question, “Who is my neighbor?” is a back-handed way of
saying that the Law isn’t clear enough on this point.
“Jesus, if the rules tells me to love, then I need to know who it
is I’m supposed to love, because there’s a lot of people
out there who aren’t worthy of my love, who don’t deserve
to be loved. I need to know who is my neighbor and who
isn’t?” Along with calling into question God’s
Law, this question just asks for more rules.
So, with His parable Jesus teaches this lawyer and
us about our true condition, that we haven’t and cannot keep
God’s Law. We have not loved God with our whole heart,
soul, strength, and mind, nor have we loved our neighbors as
ourselves. We’re so wrapped up in following rules and
commandments that we have failed to see that God’s game is all
about love and showing mercy, beginning with His show of love and mercy
towards us through Jesus Christ, our Good Samaritan.
In this parable Jesus answers neither the question
of what we must do to inherit eternal life nor the question of who our
neighbor is. The parable doesn’t teach us about rules, but
about Jesus and His mercy towards us. Again, it teaches you to
see yourself not as the good Samaritan. In fact, we’d be
better to see ourselves as the men who passed the poor man by, to see
ourselves as the priest and the Levite, both of whom looked like they
followed the rules of the game, but forgot the whole goal, which is
showing love and mercy towards others, especially those in need, no
matter who they are. Better yet is to see ourselves as the poor,
beaten up man himself. To see yourself as poor, naked, and dead
in your trespasses and sins is to see yourself rightly before
God. It’s what His Word says of you. But the Lord
also calls such people blessed saying, “Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The
inheritance of eternal life is not earned; it’s a gift of God
given to the poor in spirit. That’s everyone. Every
human being is poor in spirit. Every human being has been waylaid
by sin and the devil and is poor and helpless before God. The
trouble is that not everyone believes this about himself. But
those who confess this about themselves and believe the Lord’s
promise that the kingdom of heaven is theirs are heirs of eternal life.
You are heirs of eternal life not because of
something you have done. Remember, you were poor, naked, and left
for dead. You are heirs of eternal life because of what Jesus has
done for you. In the parable, the good Samaritan sees the poor
helpless man, has compassion on him, and saves him. He applies
balm to his wounds, takes him to a place where he will receive care,
and pays for that care Himself until He returns. And this gives
us a picture of our merciful Lord. Jesus came to this earth as a
man, because He saw us in our poor, helpless state. During His
ministry He performed many works of mercy - healing people of their
diseases, raising people from the dead, along with proclaiming good
news to the poor, releasing the captives, freeing the oppressed, and
proclaiming God’s favor. Then, He paid for our salvation
with His own blood shed on the cross. There He allowed Himself to
be waylaid by our sin and the devil, becoming poor and helpless in our
place. But in doing so He overcame those robbers. With His
resurrection He assures us of this and also guarantees us the perfect
healing of both our body and soul along with the inheritance of eternal
life to come. In the meantime He applies the healing balm of His
words, the waters of Baptism, and His body and blood to us in this
place where we are cared for until He comes again for us.
Only when we see ourselves as poor helpless sinners
upon whom our Good Samaritan, Jesus Christ, has had mercy, bandaging
our wounds, healing us, paying for our salvation with His blood, and
granting us eternal life, can we then begin to talk about being
merciful ourselves to our neighbors in need. It’s only
after Jesus has taught the lawyer that God has been merciful to him
that He then tells him at the end of the parable to go and do likewise
to others.
By understanding that the parable of the Good
Samaritan first and foremost speaks to us about Jesus, we will avoid
the mistake of making this into a story that simply teaches us a moral
lesson, and we will not conclude that it’s by following a bunch
of rules, by obeying the commandments, or even by showing mercy towards
others that gets us the inheritance of eternal life. Eternal life
is a gift to you from God granted you through the works of your
merciful Savior, Jesus Christ. Your works of mercy towards your
neighbors in need are done in response to what God has first done for
you. By showing mercy towards others you show that God’s
mercy towards you in Christ has had its way with you.
The game isn’t won by our obedience to a bunch
of rules. It’s won by trusting in our Savior’s love
and mercy towards us. Jesus has kept all the rules for you, died
for your sins, and risen again from the dead to win the inheritance of
eternal life for you. Jesus has had mercy upon you. He has
been the good neighbor towards you. Live under that mercy and
then go be a good neighbor to others, showing them the mercy that you
have been shown in Christ. Amen.