Our lesson for today is probably one of if not the most well-known parables in all of Scripture. It is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. This parable has done more to build the world’s hospitals and brake down walls of racism and prejudice than any other parable. In the world, much good has been done by people who have tried to follow the example of the Good Samaritan. However, if you read Jesus’ story about the Good Samaritan and see only an encouragement to do good to others than you are missing the point. I am not saying that I am against hospitals and racial harmony, I am all for helping those in need, but so many people, myself included, have missed the main point of this parable for years. The parable of the Good Samaritan is not a story about how we can do good to others. It is a story about the good that God has done for us.
Let’s get into it and I will show you what I mean. In 10:25 Luke writes, “25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Jewish experts of the law studied the Old Testament Scriptures, with special emphasis on the Pentateuch, the first five books of the bible written by Moses. These men were authorities in interpreting the teachings of Moses. But at the time of Jesus these experts had lost sight of the gospel that Moses taught in the Pentateuch. They thought that Moses taught salvation by the deeds of the law. So, it doesn’t really surprise us that such a man would think there was something he could do to inherit eternal life. We Lutherans who have been “saved by grace alone” know better than to ask such a question. Right?
Jesus replied to the expert’s question with a couple questions of His own. 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” The expert in the law does not disappoint. He demonstrates his knowledge of the law by quoting from the books of Moses. With Deuteronomy 6:5 the expert sums up the first three commandments - “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’. With Leviticus 19:18 he sums up commandments four through ten – “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus readily admits the expert has interpreted the law well. In fact, later Jesus Himself would quote these same verses when He was asked which commandments was His favorite. 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
“What must I do to inherit eternal life”, the expert in the law asked. “Do this.”, Jesus answered. Do what God has commanded you. Do that which is commanded in commandments 1-3. Do it, with a willing heart. Do it, with a pure soul. Do it, with your actions. Do it, with your intentions. Do it absolutely, completely, unequivocally. Do it, with your all. Then do that which is commanded in commandments 4-10. Do it, with intensity. Do it, with passion. Do it, with dedication. Do it, with drive. Do it, as though you were doing it for yourself. “Do this and you will live.”
Understanding the totality of what Jesus was telling him to do and recognizing his own inability to do it, the expert in the law did what you and I have so often done. He seeks a loophole, an exception, a concession that will make his doing of the law more doable. Wanting “29 to justify himself, … he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
It is in reply to the experts attempts to find a loophole in God’s law that Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. “30 Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.” The victim in Jesus’ story is simply described as “a man”. We know nothing about him except where he was coming from and headed to. I suspect the man’s anonymity is intentional. I suspect the guy in Jesus’ story is just some random guy or general dude so that we don’t get caught up on skin color or gender or ethnicity. I suspect Jesus doesn’t describe this guy with more detail so that it is easier for us to see him or her everywhere we look. The victim in Jesus’ story is stripped, beaten, and left for dead. We see people like this all around us. People who have been stripped of all hope, beaten down by life, and dealing with one of life’s dead ends.
Thankfully for the victim in Jesus’ story “31 A priest happened to be going down the same road.” It was the duty of the priest to care for his fellow man. This was the guy who spoke to God on behalf of the people and offered sacrifices to make atonement for their sins. If it was anybody’s job to help the man, it was the priest’s. However, Jesus tells us “when (the priest) saw the man he passed by on the other side.”
Jesus doesn’t give a very detailed description of the priest either, yet somehow this priest is very familiar to me. I suspect I know why the priest passed by on the other side of the road. I suspect he was busy. I suspect he had work that needed to be done, obligations that needed to be met, commitments to keep. I wouldn’t be surprised if his Google calendar was so full of appointments to help other people that he just didn’t have time to stop and help the man bleeding out on the side of the road. Clearly the man’s needs were pressing but surely his needs could be met by someone less busy than the priest. …For some reason this priest is very familiar to me. Is he familiar to you?
The priest didn’t have the time to help the man who laid in the ditch beside the road. Thankfully for the man, “a Levite …came to the place and saw him”. The Levites were known as the faithful ones. They are the ones who stood with Moses against those who worshiped the golden calf. If anyone was going to step up to meet a need it would be a Levite. However, Jesus tells us when the Levite “came to the place and saw him (the man laying along the side of the road), he passed by on the other side.”
Once again Jesus doesn’t give a very detailed description of the Levite, but I feel like I have seen him somewhere before. I feel like I know why the Levite also passed by on the other side of the road. I don’t think it’s that the Levite didn’t want to help the man, I think the Levite just assumed someone else would do it. I think the Levite assumed someone more equipped or better prepared would come along to help the man. I think the Levite assumed a family member or a friend of the man would come along to help, and the Levite didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes or butt into anyone’s business. Obviously, the Levite could tell the man needed help, but if he could tell, surely someone else could tell, and no doubt that someone else would help the man. …I feel like I have seen the Levites face somewhere before, don’t you?
The Levite assumed someone else would help the man, but I doubt he expected help would come from a “33… Samaritan”. The Samaritans were descendants of disobedient Jews who married pagans. As a result, the Samaritan was mistrusted and despised by the Jew. No self-respecting Jew would associate with a Samaritan. Thankfully, however, for the man laying in the ditch alongside the road this particular Samaritan didn’t feel the same way about people as they felt about him. Jesus tells us when the Samaritan saw the man “33… he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’” The Samaritan was under no obligation to help a man who despised him. Yet He took pity on the man who had been stripped, beaten, and left for dead. At great personal cost to Himself, the Samaritan clothed the man, healed his wounds, and restored his life.
There is something very familiar about the priest and I feel like I have seen the Levite somewhere before, but I have to say, the Samaritan in Jesus’ story is unfamiliar to me. I don’t think I have ever seen a guy quite like him. He has pity on a man who despised him and made his needs a priority over his own. He takes responsibility for a man he has never met and is willing to pay whatever it costs to make the man whole???
Like you and me, the expert in the law likely had no trouble identifying with the priest and the Levite. But the Samaritan was probably as foreign to him as he is to us. So, when Jesus asked, “36 Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” and “37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”” And “Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”” It likely cut the expert in the law to the core. “What must I do to inherit eternal life”, the expert had asked. “Go and do likewise” Jesus answered. Go and do what the Samaritan did. Go and love anyone and everyone you meet. Love them even if they despise you. Love them though it cost you greatly. Love them totally, completely, and without end. Go and do likewise again and again and again. Do what the Samaritan in my story did, do it perfectly and you will inherit eternal life.
Here ends our gospel lesson. “Go and do likewise” are the last words that are spoken. The expert in the law who tried to find a loophole in the law has been silenced. And though it isn’t spelled out for us, we know why. The expert in the law knew what we know. It can’t be done. We cannot live up to the impossible standard set by the Samaritan in Jesus’ story. We cannot and do not do what he did. The reason why the expert in the law was silenced and the reason why you and I have nothing more to add is because we know If that is what we must do to inherit eternal life, then we are doomed to damnation.
“Go and do likewise” is an impossible standard. I mean, have you ever seen anyone do what the Samaritan did? Have you ever seen someone meet such an impossible standard? Have you ever seen someone who resembled the Good Samaritan in Jesus story? Actually, you have. You have seen Him all throughout the Scriptures. The prophet Isaiah tells us that “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men.”[1] Scripture speaks of a man who was as despised as a Samaritan. And yet this man took pity on the very people that despised Him. He took pity on people like you and me. Like a highway robber, Satan stripped the robes of righteousness from humanity when he tempted Adam and Eve in the garden. Without the robe of righteousness, we are vulnerable and exposed, so Satan used the guilt of our sins to beat us down. Satan then threw us into the ditch of despair and left us for eternal death. But then our Good Samaritan had pity on we who had been stripped, beaten, and left for dead. At great personal cost to Himself, our Good Samaritan clothed us with His robe of righteousness, our Good Samaritan was pierced, crushed, and punished for our guilt so that we can be healed, our Good Samaritan endured damnation and death so that we could have salvation and life. I was wrong when I said before that I have never seen a man like the Good Samaritan. When I look closer at the Good Samaritan, I do recognize Him, and I am certain you do to.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is not a story about how we can do good to others. It is a story about the good that God has done for us. It is a story about the good Jesus has done for you. Amen.
[1] Isaiah 53:2-3