I want you to listen very carefully. I'm going to describe four people, and at the end of the service I want you to tell me which one of the four your can identify with the most. Which one of the four you are most like. It's a very unusual story.
According to the report I have in front of me, the man had left church and was heading straight home, minding his own business, when all of a sudden he was ambushed by a bunch of thugs. Rumor has it that these muggers were a group of political activists trying to overthrow the government. Be that as it may, they wanted the man's money.
As far as I can piece the story together, this man was not about to part with his money and so he decided to put up a fight. But, since he was hopelessly outnumbered, it was a very unwise decision and it wasn't long until this gang of thieves had beat him to a pulp, leaving him more dead than alive, by the side of the road.
How he lay there bleeding and moaning and slipping in and out of consciousness, no one knows for sure. But in time, after what seemed like hours, the dying man thought he could hear footsteps coming down the road. Through his one remaining eye, he could see the blurred outline of a man. As this man got closer, the victim could see it was a clergyman. God be praised! Surely the man of the cloth will help.
But the account says that the clergyman took one look at this mangled form of humanity and hurried on his way. We cannot say, we do not know how much longer this poor man lay by the side of the road before someone came to his aid.
We do know from the account that at least one more chap passed by without helping. And, finally, after long hours, when all hope was gone, another man chanced to drive by this way. He spotted the man lying in the ditch, got out of his car, gently pulled him into the back seat, blood and all, and drove him to the nearest medical center, agreed to pay for his care until the poor man was fully recovered.
You see, this was before there were national Medicare services, and so, this guy had to pay right out of his own pocket. It was an incredible story of heroism.
Now, the story I have just related to you didn't happen in New York City or Toronto. You'll find this story, minus the automobile, in Luke chapter 10. It is one of the greatest stories Jesus ever told. We call it the Parable of the Good Samaritan. There are four principle characters in this timeless story. And I want us to look at each of them, this evening, and see where we best fit in.
I. The Traveler
The first person we meet is the traveler. Jesus called him "a certain man."
We don't know his name,
his age;
we don't know his race, though we suspect he was a Jew.
Facts are, we know very little about him.
But we do know that this nameless man was on his way from Jerusalem, Jericho. The distant between these two places is less than 30 kilometers. I suppose it would be like taking a drive out to Airdrie.
But there the similarity ends, for the distance between Jerusalem is not only measured horizontally, but it's measured vertically. You see, Jerusalem is over 2,000 feet above sea level. And Jericho is over 1,000 feet below sea level. You put that together and you have a 3,000 foot drop in less than 30 kilometers.
The Bible says "the man went down". And when the Bible says down, it means down. The Jericho road was narrow,
the terrain rugged,
the risks high. It was a perfect place for packs of thieves to hold up lonely travelers. And that's exactly what happened.
Now, I assume this traveler was in Jerusalem to worship God. Jerusalem was not a great commercial or political center at that time, but it was the worship center for the Jewish faith. People came to Jerusalem from all over the world to worship the true and the living God.
And I submit to you that this was what the man had been doing in Jerusalem. The point is, he got mugged coming home from church. He got into deep trouble right after worshipping God. But wait a minute. I thought God protected people who worshipped Him. I thought sickness and suffering could never touch the worshipping child of God.
It doesn’t make sense that this man could be worshipping God in the morning, and could be breathing his last in the afternoon. It doesn't make sense that God-fearing people should have trouble and pain and heartache. And bad people should prosper.
Here we are, in the warmth of God's house, basking in the sunlight of His love, worshipping the true God of Heaven. Does this fact shield us from trouble for the rest of the week? Because I worship God today, will my car start tomorrow? Because I gather in the House of God today, will I have a trouble-free week? Friends, whatever worship does for me, it does not give me immunization from all of the ills that befall mankind.
Nor does worship prevent me from making unwise, stupid decisions that later on bring suffering. You see, this man in our story, made a very unwise, stupid decision.
As far back as anybody could remember, Jewish mothers have been telling their sons, "Don't travel on the Jericho road alone. Never go alone on the Jericho road. It's infested with thieves. Always travel in a caravan. Always go in a group." Do you hear that? Issy, Are you listening to me?
Just like Canadian mothers pounding into our little ones, "Don't play in the street. If you play in the street you'll get killed. Never play in the street. You play in the back yard, you play in the playground, but don't play in the street."
So everyone from Dan to Beersheba knew the reputation of the Jericho road, and nobody in his right mind ever traveled that road alone. Everybody said that if you traveled those 30 kilometers alone, you're asking for trouble.
But, the lead man in our story went ahead and did it anyway.
Against common sense,
against better judgement,
against the laws of cause and effect, against his boyhood training. He went and did it anyway. And, sure enough, his world fell in.
How do you react when people get into big trouble with their eyes wide open? How do you feel towards people who suffer great tragedy because they wouldn't listen to godly advice?
You see, there are a lot of people who believe that if you eat cookies in bed, you deserve to sleep in the crumbs. Their favorite scripture is "Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap".
This man had no business out there, alone, on that highway. He got what he deserved. He got what he was asking for, so tough on him. I always say that if you play with fire, you're going to get burnt. So let him fry. It's very easy to be hard on a fallen brother, isn't it. To be smug, to be judgmental, to be self-righteous and cold.
The amazing thing is that there were four men who traveled on that road, long ago. And all four traveled alone. All four had made the same unwise decision, but only one got caught.
But that's not the point. The point is, they were all guilty of indiscretion. But it wasn't until the third man came along, that somebody woke up to the fact that, but for the grace of God, there go I. It could have been me. It could have been me.
I talked to a man battered by life, reeking with alcohol, and part of me says, "How could you be so stupid?" And part of me says, "It could have been me. It could have been me."
So there he is, bleeding, bruised, broken by the side of the road. What are you and I going to do about it?
Before we answer that, let's look at the Priest and the Levite.
II. The Priest
In ancient Israel, almost every male descendent of Aaron was a Priest. You'll recall that Zachariah, John the Baptist's father, was such a person. It's estimated that there were at least 20,000 priests, in Israel, at this time. Now, it's one thing to have a ministerial staff of seven. It's quite another thing to have a staff of 20,000. It's rather difficult to get everybody worked into the program every week.
For ordinary purposes, there were far to many priests. So they had to take turns in serving in the temple. It was the highlight of their life, for these men. Nothing would deter them from doing what they wer born to do. Destiny had been laid upon them. They were very special men.
So here he comes, God-fearing, religious, upright, intent on doing the will of God. And suddenly he stumbles upon this mangled form of humanity. His response was to recoil from the body. You see, one of the rules of the priesthood was that they could not touch a dead body, or they would forfeit their turn in the temple. So, the priest had to assume that the man was dead, and he passes by.
It's good to be disciplined. It's good to have a sense of direction in life. It's good to have goals. It's good to have, at times, tunnel vision, to let nothing deter you. It's good to be eager to worship God.
But it's a tragedy when these qualities prevent us from seeing and meeting human need. It's a tragedy when Christians take the attitude, "I don't want to get involved." And so we justify our lack of involvement with religious sounding reasons, as the priest did.
Meanwhile, the man by the side of the road is dying. You know, friends, there is a delicate balance between worship and service. Some people have gone the service route and have deeply committed themselves to helping people, but they never get to the temple to worship.
And others, like the priest, get to the temple all right, but, in so doing, they have passed a score of broken people. You see, God wants both from us. Our worship and our service. Our adoration and our deeds, with kindness. God help us to be balanced Christians. And this evening, as we gather, we gather to worship Him, but also, let us reach out to those who have fallen by the wayside. Let us get to the hurts of our fellow man.
III. The Levite
The third man in our story is called a Levite. Now, all priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests.
For some reason, this man must have disqualified himself as a priest. Perhaps it was his marriage,
or his physical condition,
or something else that disqualified him.
In any case, he wasn't a priest. The text seems to indicate that he took a closer look at the dying man than his predecessor, the priest. Perhaps he was almost ready to help, and then he backed off.
We can only surmise what thoughts may have raced through his mind that day. Perhaps he said to himself, "You know this could be one of those decoys."
They do that sometimes. One of the gang lies down by the side of the road with cosmetic blood all over him, and when some sympathetic passerby stoops down to help, the rest of the gang jump in.
"That's it. This man is a decoy.
I better get out of here fast. I can't take a chance. There's too much danger in this place. I mean, I've got to think of my family. I've got to think of my job, of my future. I can't risk it. This has to be a set-up." So the Levite passed by with haste.
Stop and think about it for a minute.
The Levite's logic is hard to knock. It makes a lot of sense. I think that many of us, here, think the same way and react the same way, and feel fully justified in doing so. He wasn't a bad man. He just wasn't willing to show love if there were any risks involved.
Did you know that in any act of love there are risks involved?
Whenever you reach out in love, to someone else, there is always the possibility that you will be hurt.
There is always the possibility that you will be rejected or misunderstood, or humiliated, or something else painful.
All of us have felt the pain of putting trust in someone, only to have the rug pulled from under us. It hurts, I mean it really hurts.
Did you ever play that awful game when you were a kid, where you ask someone to sit down and just as they were sitting, you pulled the chair away and they landed in an ungraceful clump on the floor?
So what do you do if this happens to you?
Stand up for the rest of your life?
Always look over you shoulder?
Or do you go on trusting people?
Now, my message is not a call to recklessness,
to become the village fool like Charlie Brown, but I think we need to be reminded that there are always risks involved when we give ourselves to other people.
Look at what happened to Jesus.
He trusted 12 men with His life.
One turned Him in, one denied Him and the rest scattered in the night. Now, no one would suggest that Jesus was wrong to love these men.
And some of you here have had bitter experiences in childhood,
or in business,
or in marriage,
or in child raising,
or in dating; where you trusted someone, where you loved. And when you went to sit down, they took the chair away and you were badly hurt.
And ever since that, you have been like the Levite. A little older, and a little wiser, and a little colder in your soul. And you say, "I cannot take the risk of being hurt again.
I cannot afford to suffer. I must stay away from any relationship that exposes me to the possibility of pain."
Oh God, give us the ability to love, even at the risk of being hurt. Even, like the Good Samaritan.
V. The Good Samaritan
Here is the man who had lots of reasons to keep going, but didn't.
He showed compassion to the dying man. He took the risk to love him.
He said, by his actions, "There go I, but for the grace of God."
Not only did he give this poor man emergency care, but he made sure that he had long-term care. It's estimated that he paid the Innkeeper enough money to keep him for two months. Now, you work that out in today's language at your friendly Holiday Inn, never mind your local Hospital. Room and meals for two months would be at least $15,000.00. And then Jesus turned to His followers and said, "Go and do likewise."
So, who are you most like?
Who can you identify with of these four? The traveler, battered and bruised by life, rejected by people, helpless and confused.
I suppose, spiritually, all of us have been in this place at one time or another. All of us have been plundered by the thugs of hell.
Religion did not help us,
discipline did not help us,
morality and education did not help us.
Or is there somebody here tonight that can identify most with the priest?
Very religious,
very upright,
very rule-conscious,
very disciplined,
but also very cold.
Is it possible that we have someone here, tonight that has smugly said, "Serves him right."
Or, perhaps, you're like the Levite. You're very slow to show love because of the way you have been hurt in the past. And so, you take one look and walk on by.
I wonder if we don't have some here who are like the Good Samaritan, filled with compassion and love. Men who worship, yes, but also men who are filled with deeds of kindness. Men and women who are willing to take the risks. To love others in Jesus' name. With our heads bowed, I'd like to identify which of the four we are most like. And then I'd like some from each category to come forward.
