Jericho Road People
Scriptures: Luke 10:25-37
Introduction
This message is in follow-up to the sermon from last week titled “Looking Saved.” In that message I shared with you the foundational truth that being saved means you learn to love. Not love just in words, but also in deed. The scriptures tell us that a man cannot say that he loves God whom he has not seen and hate his brother who he sees every day. Our love for God becomes evident in our love for our neighbors. During bible study this past week, we had an extensive discussion on how we as Christians should respond to those whose lifestyles and beliefs are different from ours. We talked about several types of “public sins” and how oftentimes those committing those sins are shunned by the Church. All of the discussions focused on how we, as Christians, have a responsibility to demonstrate love in everything we do and with whomever we interact. Yes I know this can be a very hard thing to do, especially with some of the people that we interact with, but the question that needs to be asked is “Do we have a choice?” It is very easy to love the lovable, but it can be extremely difficult to love those who do not fall into this category. It can be very easy to love other “so-called” Christians, but difficult to love non-Christians or those we claim to be part of the “world.”
The title of my message today is “Jericho Road People”. Jericho Road People are those who are in need of help both materialistically and spiritually. They can be black, white, Hispanic, etc. They are our neighbors – even if they do not live right next door to us. In my message this morning, we will look at a story that Jesus told in answer to a question he received from a lawyer. Here was the question: “Who is my neighbor?” The question of who is our neighbor only becomes a problem when we are standing face to face in a situation with someone that we would rather not lift a finger to help. Consider the following examples of who potentially is your neighbor. I do not want you to answer from your spiritual “reserves” of what the answer should be, but from what is actually in your heart. In each example, the question is “Would you help this person if you saw them on the street injured?” The question should be answered with a simple “Yes or No.”
• Your next door neighbor, a person that you like?
• Your next door neighbor, a person that you do not know?
• A fellow Church member?
• A city or state official, politician?
• Confirmed terrorist who had a part in September 11, 2001?
• A racist holding a sign saying that he hated your race?
• The man/woman who harmed a member of your family?
• The man/woman who for years treated your race of people with cruelty?
When you look at these examples, some would qualify for a “Yes” answer immediately while others we’d really have to think about. Although it would be very easy to say “No” to some, it would not be the Christian thing to do. I feel the need to close the loop on the message from last week that bled into our discussion during bible study. We need to understand who is our neighbor and what our responsibilities are for helping them. So, who is our neighbor? Mr. Webster defines neighbor as “One who lives or is situated near another. A fellow man.” It is the latter part of the definition that is the focus of my message today, our neighbor is our fellow man.
I. The Injured Man, The Priest and The Levite
The story of the Good Samaritan is a very familiar story in the bible, one that is used to teach kids and adults alike how to demonstrate compassion. As we walk through this story, I want you to focus on the examples that we discussed earlier of those that your first response to would be “No” if you saw them in need of help.
Turn with me to Luke 10:25-37.
Luke 10:25-37 “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘What is written in the law? He replied. How do you read it?’ He answered ‘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 love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘You have answered correctly, Jesus replied. ‘Do this and you will live!’ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ In reply 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. A priest happened to be going down the same road and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 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. 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.’ ‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.”
In order for you to understand the significance of this story and the example that it sets for us, I want to give you some background on the key players.
• Injured Man: Jesus does not give us any information on the injured man as to whether he was a Jew or Gentile. However, based on the context of the story, most scholars believe that the man was probably a Jew. The way he was travelling was the road leading down from Jerusalem to Jericho, a distance of about 21 miles. It was rugged and well adapted for thieves. This passageway was known as “The Way of Blood” because of all of the attacks on travelers that had taken place. This man, based on the story, was probably a peddler – not someone of influence. As he traveled, he came under attacked by robbers who beat him, stole his money and left him for dead. So in the story we find him lying on the side of the street bleeding, possibly unconscious, waiting to die.
• The Priest: The functions of the priests at this time were primarily to offer sacrifices on the altars in the temples. They also blessed people in the name of God; were involved in the treatment and assessment of impurity and also gave advice on everything from military advice to judging and instructing the people on matters of tribal customs and behaviors. They were the experts on advising the people of God’s will as expressed in Israelite customs. It must also be understood that while the priest was on duty in the temple, he had to keep himself clean. Therefore, during services, the priests were subject to special obligations and restrictions. Some of these restrictions included them having to make special preparations to avoid contamination, which caused most of the priests to remain in the temple during their time of service. Had the priest in this story been on duty in the temple he would have had a good reason (from their custom’s viewpoint) not to go near the man since he could have already been dead. However, the fact that the priest was on the road to Jericho tells us that he was in fact not on duty at this time so the restrictions would not have been in place. The priest would have been a frequent traveler of these roads because the city of Jericho was also known as a city of priest. Many priests lived in Jericho when they were not on duty in the temple. So the priest could in fact have helped one of his “children” if he had chose to – God would have honored his service to one of the “least.” For whatever reason, this priest chose not to help the man, but instead cross over to the other side of the road as if he did not see him.
• The Levite: Remember from bible study that when the Children of Israel came into the Promised Land, the tribe of Levi did not receive an inheritance because they were called to be the “ministers” of God. The community supported them where they lived. Their duties were connected to the service in the tabernacle. They assisted the priests. They also assisted in the interpretation of the law and functioned as teachers of the law. Being one who instructed others in the ways of God, he was fully aware of what his responsibilities were for this man. When he saw the man, he actually went over and looked at him but apparently decided not to get involved. I believe he was led to help the man and that is why he went over to check him out, but he chose to walk away and not look back.
Both the priest and the Levite had a direct responsibility to help this man. This man was a part of their “flock”, someone that they were supposed to be watching over in the name of God. He was not a stranger from a far away place. They were his example of what serving God was all about. They were the leaders, the ones called out by God to lead the way, the ones who supposed to know the right choices to make.
II. The Good Samaritan
Finally we have the Samaritan. When he came upon the man, it was obvious to him that the man was hurt and needed help. He immediately looked beyond the race, religious affiliation and “potential” attitude of the man and reached out to help him. Why is this important? Consider the history between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Samaritan was as far away from being a neighbor to this man as you could get. The Jews hated the Samaritans and they in return, as a nation, hated the Jews. The conflict started because the Jews believed that the Samaritans were not descendants of Abraham while the Samaritans believed that they were. If you were not a descendant of Abraham, you were not considered “saved” or worthy of anything from God. This was the foundational basis for the hatred between the two groups. You can see why the Samaritan would have been the last person to want to help this man. If the man been conscious and if he had a choice, he would not have chosen to receive help from the Samaritan. However, unlike the priest and the Levite, the Samaritan reached out to help.
The Samaritan saw a man in need and he met the need. It did not matter who the man was, the man needed help and the Samaritan reached out to help him. Notice the inconveniences to the Samaritan. First he gave the man his time. He dropped his plans, he forgot about his itinerary, he stopped in his tracks to attend to the victim, then put him on his own beast and took him to an inn. When he got there, he stayed with the man until he was back on track. If we spend all of our time on this side of the road where the Church is, we’ll never devote time to the Jericho road where people hurt. Our attitudes sometimes say, as Rev. J. Smith writes, “Mr. Victim, you climb out of the ditch, clean yourself up, come on over here and we’ll put you on a church committee.” Believe it or not, we have to commit our “real” time, cross the street and help them out of the ditch.
The Samaritan also spent some money – his money. He did not spend the government’s welfare money, but his own money. He spent about two days pay. If you make $15 an hour and you donated 2 days pay, that would be $240 that you would spend to help a total stranger. This is what the Samaritan did for that man. We are looking to build a Church building of our own, a place to call home. A place where we will not have to haul everything to church on Sundays, but it will already be there. But I give you this warning, if we spend all of our money to the keep up our church building and pay staff workers, we will not have any left to use for the bandages and the first aid kits that the Jericho road people need.
Finally the Samaritan did some networking. You professional people know the importance of networking. He went out and found somebody else to help, he enlisted the innkeeper in his cause. The Samaritan knew that he needed some help and he went and found it. If our church is nothing more than a mutual admiration society, telling each other how much love there is in this place, then we will be missing the boat. Love isn’t love until it reaches out to the Jericho Road People. And love will not be totally effective until we bring others in to help. We must know when we need additional resources and where to get it from.
Conclusion
Some religious people are all warm and fuzzy, as long as they are in church. They want to pray for others and share the message, as long as they can do it without getting involved in the lives of those they are seeking to help. Then there are others who swing to the opposite side and do everything they can to help someone materialistically but do nothing for them spiritually. We have to find the balance.
There are many Jericho Road People in our midst. These people are not all homeless or on the streets begging. These people may be sitting right next to you in church, in the cubicle next to you at work, in your class in school or standing in line with you at the grocery store. You make or make not like them. You may or may not know anything about them – except that they are on the Jericho Road and is in need of help.
I ask you this morning to look in your heart and ask yourself this question “Are you willing to walk down the Jericho Road to help someone?” Are you willing to look beyond their race, religious beliefs, sexual preference, attitude, smell, dress, job, housing, neighborhood, education, offenses, credit, drug use and everything else we use to determine the quality of a man’s character? Are you willing to be the Samaritan who reaches out to someone that he knows despises him; someone he has been taught to hate?
It is time for us to take a walk. It is not a long walk. You will not need your special walking shoes. The walk starts in your heart – when you accept the fact that the love that God has placed within you must come out. Then the walk moves to your brain when you override your fear when you are led to help someone and they do not fit the mold of those you feel worthy of your time. Then the walk move to your feet where you actually start walking down the Jericho Road, being a willing vessel to help those in need. The Jericho Road People need you, someone not afraid to reach out to help them out of the ditch. Someone to bandage the cuts and minister to their needs. Someone who is willing to demonstrate the love that all Christians are supposed to have within.
May God bless and keep you.
