Reach Out and Touch Someone
Luke 10:25-37
A lawyer once came to Jesus, in order to put the master to the test. Now, he asked some tough questions—good questions, that many of his own people were struggling with: what do I do to inherit eternal life? was the first question on his mind. We can only speculate what his motivations were—but, Luke has already let us know, he had more on his mind that going to heaven. Perhaps he was wanting to show Jesus up—to make himself look good to the crowds. Maybe he had even rehearsed the whole thing in his mind before he came to the rabbi from Nazareth; you know—he’d ask a question; Jesus would answer; then, he would throw Jesus a curve and win the game. Only, Jesus wouldn’t play the game fairly! Instead of answering the man, Jesus put the lawyer on the spot. “What does the Scripture say, how do you understand it?” Immediately, the expert in the law answers—he doesn’t want to appear stupid. After all—anyone raised in Judaism knew the answer: “Love the Lord your God . . . love your neighbor as yourself.” I can see the smile on Jesus’ face as he responds: “Good answer: do that, and you’ll live.”
Suddenly, the man’s well-laid trap is sprung right before his eyes! It didn’t work out at all like he planned. The lawyer has been likened to a school boy, who’s allowed to make up his own test, and then proceeds to flunk it. His mind races—he can’t be shown up like this; how could he justify asking such a simple question? How is he going to save face? Quickly, he decides to ask another question: “Well, then, who is my neighbor?” Another good question, one that would clearly interest the crowd. Only problem, like the first question, it’s good, it’s just the wrong question: The lawyer’s very question condemned him. “Who is my neighbor?” is a wrong question because it is a selfish question. The right question would have been, “Am I a neighbor?” The lawyer looked for limits to his obligation to love (Stagg, Luke, 79).
But, now, he’s certain he’s got Jesus. Now, he’s ready for debate. Only Jesus doesn’t debate him at all. Jesus doesn’t offer any philosophical rambling. He simply tells a story—one of the simplest, yet profound stories in all of literature: the story of the good Samaritan.
You know the story well. A man is on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho (it really is going “down” you know, a drop from twenty-five hundred feet above sea level to eight hundred feet below sea level, in only seventeen miles—that’s quite an incline). On the way, a group of thieves waylay him—beat him, strip him, and leave him for dead. After while, a priest, on his way home from Jericho, strolls by (how the beaten man’s heart must have leaped with hope)—and proceeds to walk on by on the other side of the road. Next, a Levite, a sort of “associate pastor” makes his way past the man, and then, he too goes away without helping. Finally, a Samaritan, a no-good half-breed comes by (I can almost hear the “boos” from the crowd). He doesn’t go away, though—instead, he reaches down to help the man, going beyond expectations to take care of him and give him shelter.
The story over, Jesus turns to the lawyer and asks a different question: who proved himself the neighbor in the story? The lawyer chokes on the word, Samaritan, and says instead—the one who helped. Jesus then replied—you start doing the same!
Friends, you’ve heard this story a thousand times. Probably lost count of the number of Sunday School lessons and sermons you’ve heard on the good Samaritan. So, what does it have to say to us today? What more can we possibly gain from this story than we’ve already got? While the message may not be “new,” my friends—it’s truth we must gain for our lives. We are called to be involved in the lives of those around us. If we are not involved, then something is dreadfully wrong. How do we reach out an touch someone for God?
What will it take for us to get involved? Let’s explore this familiar story, and learn the requirements of being involved in ministry.
I. To be involved requires that we see with compassion.
A. Please note that all three characters in the parable saw the beaten man.
B. There comes a time in all of our lives, if we are to be the people God has called us to be, that we must open our eyes and see—really see.
C. Christ calls us to look at people with love, compassion—when we sing “open our eyes, Lord”—perhaps we should remember, we not only need to see Jesus, we need to see the broken, the wounded, the crying ones in this world.
II. To be involved requires that we put human need before personal wants.
A. Through the years, I’ve heard many motives offered to try and explain why the priest and Levite did not help the beaten man.
B. The Samaritan, on the other hand, gives us a beautiful picture of what it means to care enough to go beyond the minimum in helping someone.
C. When we are called upon to care, it is not always convenient—but it is necessary in the plan of God.
III. To be involved requires that we have been touched by mercy.
A. Have you ever stopped to ask—why this Samaritan cared so much? How is it that he would reach out to a Jew in such compassion?
B. I have often heard preachers ask: “With whom do you identify in this story? Priest, Levite, or Samaritan?” Perhaps, for the story to have any real meaning, we must do as Frank Stagg has suggested. In response to “whom do you identify with,” Stagg wrote: “Must we not first identify with the victim? Must we not first see ourselves in the place of the man in need of compassion and help? Must we not first see ourselves naked, broken, and helpless, forced to accept mercy from an unexpected and undesired source? Only as we thus accept mercy can we begin to understand what mercy is.” (Stagg, Studies in Luke’s Gospel, 81).
C. In our desire to understand involvement in ministry, let us not forget who told this story: Jesus, our Good Samaritan: He is the one who allowed death to beat him down, in order to take away death’s sting for us; he is the one who suffered the stress of Gethsemene, so that he could show us he understands when we are lonely and afraid; he is the one who suffered, and bled, and died to rescue us from the dark abyss of our guilt and shame; he is the one who loves us—and has come down into our ditch to find us, bind up our wounds, and set us on our feet! (idea adapted from Thielicke, 169).
Does this describe your heart? It can. Today, why not commit yourself to being a good Samaritan? Why not commit yourself to becoming involved with the hurts of the world about you? If you will look at life’s wounded with eyes of love, if you will commit to serving whenever God “surprises” you with a need, if you will recall Christ’s great act of mercy in your life—then, and only then, your life will take on new direction. You will reach out and touch someone who needs love—and Christ will smile down upon your actions. All around us there are people who need a touch of love: those who have been beaten down by their own choices of sin, those who are sick, and wounded by physical hurts, those whose hearts are old before their time, who find it hard to see a reason to go on. They are hurting everywhere, lying in ditches, waiting for someone to come down and help them up. Join me—let’s commit ourselves to finding ways to reach out and touch someone.
