6th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 10
Luke 10:25-37
The Ditch and the Samaritan
25 ¶ And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and made trial of him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 And he said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
30 Jesus made answer and said, A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance a certain priest was going down that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And in like manner a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion,
34 and came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine; and he set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow he took out two shillings, and gave them to the host, and said, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, I, when I come back again, will repay thee.
36 Which of these three, thinkest thou, proved neighbor unto him that fell among the robbers?
37 And he said, He that showed mercy on him. And Jesus said unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
’No don’t take my money, please don’t hit me again. Stop I beg you stop. Here take what you want, take my wallet, take my money, but please leave me alone.
Hey, were am I?? Oh, I remember, the robbers, I see they are gone. Let’s see if I can get up and get out of here. Oh, Oh, I think I have a few broken ribs and a twisted ankle. I cannot climb out of this ditch. Maybe someone will come along. I can’t get out of here by myself.
I think I hear someone, yes it is. Hey down here, help help. That’s right I am down here. What are you doing. Don’t leave. What was that he said? ’He didn’t want to get involved. He was afraid of making a mistake. He assured me someone who knew how to help me would come along.’
Oh, yea he said something else. Said he was late for meeting at his church. Some church member he is. Oh I am sore.
Hey I hear some more noise. Help, help, help me I am hurt. He did the some thing. He looked, said something and left. I barely heard him. I think he said I should have been more careful and a man in his position shouldn’t get involved in such matters. Someone else surely will come along.
He looked familiar. Yes he is involved in politics holds some important office. He doesn’t think much of the down and ousters. Figures everyone wants a free handout. Boy do I hurt.’
I hear another noise. Help, help me I am hurt. He is coming down here. He doesn’t smell too good. I know him, he’s the town drunk. Imagine that, he’s picking me up. Now he is putting in the back seat of his car. Where are we going? to the hospital. Well, can you beat that, the town drunk is helping me when those other two men couldn’t get involved. Imagine that .,...."
I am sure all of you guessed that was a modern parable of the good Samaritan. The good Samaritan can be the most unexpected person who is willing to give of himself/herself in a situation which calls for action. A person who is willing to give with out thinking of the cost, the cost of the involvement, is what a good Samaritan is all about.
The other two men weighted their response and found that giving of themselves was too great a price to pay.
When they might give, it would be so they could feel good. Giving of self can be a very selfish act as we weigh what kinds of rewards we can achieve. However in this parable, Jesus is speaking about giving without counting, or measuring the rewards. Jesus says we are to give from a caring, unselfish, loving heart. Giving because you enjoy and want to give of yourself freely.
This is one level of looking at this parable. This morning I would also like to look at this parable in another level.
The first question the lawyer asked Jesus was "Teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He is looking for the good life, the meaningful life, the satisfying life, the life which God intended for him to have. The life that is in a right relationship with God and all of his creation.
He is asking," how can I get out of the ditches of brokenness, separation, hatred and self righteousness. How can I pull myself up from this kind of life to a life which is not separated from God and other".
Jesus answers him by asking what does the law say and the lawyer repeats the law. Jesus tells him to do it, but he still doesn’t understand so he asks another question about the identity of his neighbor.
And in this parable, Jesus speaks to the obvious question of neighbor and the implied question how shall I save my life? How do I get myself out of the brokenness of this world?
In Jesus answer he tells the lawyer that he cannot get himself out of the brokenness of this world, he cannot save himself, he cannot pull himself up by his bootstraps, he must wait for the good Samaritan, he must wait for the Messiah, he must wait for Jesus.
Can you see this very subtle point Jesus makes as we see this parable from the point of view of salvation. His question stated, "Teacher what shall I do," notice the I. He wanted to know how he could have the good life and in a subtle way Jesus told him that by himself he cannot achieve the good life, but only through the savior. And then the savior would show him what was meant by the good life. It is a life of service, sacrifice, and giving of one’s self. Jesus showed him two truths in one parable. Jesus saw him missing the point, missing the only way for salvation.
It wasn’t what he could do, but what Christ can do for him. After he felt the love, the service, the caring of Christ, then in the parable Jesus commands him to do likewise to love his neighbor in the same kind of way that Christ loved him. Salvation doesn’t depend on a person’s actions, but on the love of Christ. Jesus saw that the lawyer didn’t understand at all why Jesus come to earth. He was so wrapped up in himself so he couldn’t see Christ as the savior and the Messiah and he couldn’t love his neighbor either.
Jesus was saying that the lawyer didn’t understand what Jesus mission was all about. Jesus came to take the "I" out of salvation picture. Jesus came as Luther said, "as God’s Good Samaritan." Jesus came because we cannot pull ourselves out of the brokenness the bondage of sin which engulfs us each day. We cannot save ourselves no matter how much we try.
"What shall I do to inherit eternal life" What shall I do to live the good life, what shall I do to live in contentment and harmony with God and us
Jesus says nothing. You cannot save yourself, that his job. Then after salvation is secured then Jesus says that life is lived in service to my neighbor. Service to my neighbor without counting the cost or expecting a reward.
Maybe the following legend concerning St. Peter will help to make this parable even clearer.
"Jesus and the disciples came to a rocky field. Jesus said, ’If each of you would carry away a stone it would clear space for grain to grow. All the disciples except Peter picked up the heavy stones. Peter felt the whole thing pointless so he carried off a pebble. The disciples were hungry. Jesus had mercy and turned the stones to bread for their lunch. Poor Peter. On the way home they again picked up stones. This time Peter staggered along with the biggest, dreaming of the feast which would be their reward. Jesus had the disciples carry the stones to the banks of the Jordan then he said, ’Let none do good for the hope of reward; throw the stones into the river.
Poor Peter!!"
Service is not done for the reward we expect. The reward, eternal life, is given to all as a free gift, no string attached. Our service, our response, our sacrifice comes from a loving heart which has been loved so much by Christ that it cannot help but to love in return. The Samaritan received no reward for his service, he loved period.
You and I are to love period because salvation has been given as a free gift, that is already taken care of for us by Jesus. He has removed us from the ditches of life. He has pulled us out of our particular ditches.
Pastor Richard Hoefler says in his book "And He told them a Story" "we are all in one way or another ditch dwellers. And the tragedy is that we so often desperately try to save ourselves trying to avoid the embarrassment of admitting our helplessness. Sometime we think the answer is a ladder that will enable us to climb out--a ladder such as technology or science and education. Some think the answer is moral fortitude--becoming so good we will sprout wings and fly out like haloed angels. Many have just given up and applied first aid to our wounds with drugs and drink. But eventually you and I will come to the realization the ditch is just too deep and we must get help from outside ourselves."
And that is just the point Jesus is subtly making to the lawyer and to all those who think they can by their own efforts pull themselves out of the ditches of brokenness and bondage to sin. We are wounded by our sin, we are broken by the pain of life and we must admit to ourselves that we need a good Samaritan to come and carry us out of our ditch. Then Christ will come take us upon his back, the back which shouldered the cross, and carry us out of our ditch into the light, the brightness, the glory of living for him and with him.
Then Jesus us will point out to us all the others who are living in their ditches and asks us to do likewise. We cannot carry them out and give them salvation, however, Jesus asks us to carry those out who are feeling the brokenness of this world, those who have been mugged, robbed, beaten, broken, battered by the forces of this world in which we have no control.
These we are to carry out. These we are to minister to, these are the ones in which we can become like that good Samaritan.
A closing story sums it up best:
"They knew that they had a serious problem before they even pulled over to the side of the highway to check it out. The car shrieked and shuttered. Something was dragging on the pavement- and whatever it was, it sounded expensive.
They got out of the car to survey the damage and sure enough it was going to cost them a bundle. The man looked under the car and then back at the young woman he had a worried look on his face. She asked him what the problem was and he told her that it was the universal joint. She knew better than to ask him more.
He raised the hood and tied a cloth to the door handle and they waited, waited for someone to stop and help. They waited for someone to call the police or a tow truck.
The young woman sat on the grass by the roadside ditch and fanned herself with the map. She was tired and hot and she prayed that God would send an Amoco tow truck because it was the only credit card in her purse. Where would they stay? What would they do? They were in Elkhart Indiana, miles from his home and hers. They had so little money. She doubted that anyone would even stop to help them: they’d been traveling for days and they both looked pretty scruffy. The man’s beard was down to his chest and his tee shirt was soaked in his sweat and he was now covered with grease and dirt. She didn’t look so great herself her long hair was dirty and windblown and she’d been in the same wrinkled outfit for the past three days . They’d been cooking over a small propane stove to save money and camping by the roadside.
The woman scanned the horizon and saw the lights flashing in the distance a tow truck. She couldn’t believe her eyes, it was an Amoco truck. And little did she know, but driving it was the Good Samaritan!
The driver jumped down from his truck and hitched up their broken car to his tow line. They hopped up in the cab with him and within just a few minutes they were driving back to town "Bill", the Amoco tow truck operator, listened to their story and said you’re gonna stay with me and my wife while we get you fixed up.
He pulled over to the side of the road to use the pay phone and they heard him say : honey, we’ve got ourselves some guests for dinner.
But it wasn’t just dinner. Bill and Mary were cordial hosts with big hearts and they opened their home and their hearts to the young couple. They insisted that the young couple take their bedroom- and Bill and Mary slept in the living room on the hide-a -bed. Bill and Mary gave them all their meals and let them do their laundry. They insisted that the couple use their phone to call worried relatives.
Bill drove the young man to all the nearby wrecking yards and helped him to scavenge for the used parts thatthey would need to put the car back together. The young couple stayed with them for three days and the night before they left- Bill and Mary took them out for a pizza party to celebrate and picked up the check.
They sent the couple off with cold drinks and sandwiches for the road. When it came to settling money- the entire bill was $35.00- the cost of a used universal joint. "
The lawyer asks Jesus "What must I do to get the good life?" Jesus answers,"The good life is a gift from God, and when you get it you will be like the Samaritan who helped even his hated enemy, the Jew."
Are you a good neighbor?
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale
