Trinity XIII - St. Luke 10:23-37 - August 30, 2015
Order of Service - Pg. 15
Hymn #344 Come, Let Us Join Our Cheerful SongsAlmighty and Everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity, and that we may obtain that which Thou dost promise, make us to love that which Thou dost command; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
1) Jesus
is the Good Samaritan. Without that understanding this Gospel lesson makes no
sense. We might think it makes perfect sense because Jesus ends with the words,
Go and do likewise. Many have
imagined that those final words of Jesus show us the entire point of the
parable. Go from this place and be the Good Samaritan. Do good works for your
neighbor. Be thoughtful, selfless people ready to sacrifice of your own time
and money for your neighbor in need. And that’s all well and good. Christians
are to be doing good works. In fact, if anyone claims to be a Christian and has
no good works, St. James tells us that that one’s faith is a dead faith which
is no faith at all. But Go and do likewise
isn’t the point of the parable. Jesus exhortation at the end does not fully
answer the young lawyer’s question. The young expert in the Law of Moses seeks
to test Jesus with the question, Teacher,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus responds in the way in the
same vein as He spoke to the sons of Israel in Leviticus 18:4-5, You shall observe My judgments and keep My
ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep
My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am
the Lord. The young expert in the Law is pointed back to his own studies.
Love God with all you’ve got. Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus backs the
young expert into a corner. He feels he must justify himself because really, who loves their neighbor as
themselves all the time, let alone God? He seeks self-justification and that is
where the Go and do likewise comes
into play. It is as if Jesus tells the young man, “You want to live by the Law,
go for it. Here’s how you do it. You don’t go looking for individual neighbors
to love. You simply BE a neighbor to everyone around you in need.
2) And
of course the young expert in the Law can’t do it. It’s just too difficult.
People say they love their neighbors as they love themselves but it’s a lie.
Otherwise the golden rule wouldn’t have to be drilled into children and
recollected by adults in troublesome situations. The instinct of the sinful
flesh, which we all carry around with us, is the defensive position of
self-preservation. The other instinct is the offense position of
self-gratification. The sinful nature in us wants to protect ourselves from our
neighbor’s words and actions, their demands and needs because it sees those
things as impositions upon our time and money. Sinful nature simultaneously
wants to extract as much gratification out of our neighbor as possible for
nothing in return. The sinful flesh sees itself as the primary consumer, while
our neighbor is viewed as the item to be consumed for our own benefit. By nature
we don’t love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The Good Samaritan shows this
young expert in the Law that he really didn’t understand the Law at all. You
don’t get to pick the neighbors you want to love. You don’t even get to pick
your neighbors. You are to simply BE a neighbor, selflessly loving and
ever-giving to those around you in need, as you have ability and opportunity. Go and do likewise is an exhortation to
go do good works. But to this young lawyer it is a word of condemnation. That
sort of love for neighbor, being neighborly, is impossible.
3) Except
for one, the real Good Samaritan, Jesus. Hear the parable again and see the
young lawyer and your Lord in it. A
certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who
stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
This poor man isn’t just anyone. It’s the young lawyer who first stepped onto
the path of self-justification. He falls among thieves, that is, temptations
and devils who strip him of his clothing. Any righteousness the young man
assumed he possessed, temptation to sin and selfishness have stripped from him.
Sin not only tempts, but wounds the young lawyer because you cannot sin, even
once, and get back up from the ground. Sin wounds because it destroys holiness
and any righteousness that he thought he had. It is a wound that is incurable
by his own working and medicines because the thief of temptation and sin leaves
him half dead. Sin does not leave
the sinner with bumps and bruises, small lacerations and abrasions. It leaves
you half dead, which is as good as dead. Left to his own devices, in time,
without outside aid, this man would have gone from half dead to fully dead. This
is the spiritual state of the young expert in the Law. Sin, both actual sins of
the heart and hands, as well as original sin, have left him dead on the side of
the road to eternity. What must he do
to inherit eternal life? It doesn’t matter. A half dead man cannot do anything.
4) But
he still things he is capable of doing something to inherit everlasting life,
though he is half dead because of his sinful nature and his own sin. So Jesus
then shows the young lawyer that the Law won’t do him any good for inheriting
eternal life. Now by chance a certain
priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other
side. Priests were the ones who made atonement for sins through sacrifices
in the Temple. Priests were the ones who helped the defiled on their way back
to purity through the Levitical rituals. But the priest is of no help. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the
place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. A Temple worker, a
scribe and student of the Mosaic Law comes upon the half dead man and gazes
upon his infirmity and does nothing. The Levite, the teacher of the Law, is
unable to give aid or comfort to the man. This is always true of the Law. It
only accuses. Perhaps he passed by on the other side, thinking this man must
have deserved this fate because of some sin. In that case he ought not
interfere with God’s judgment. Perhaps the Priest and Levite simply didn’t
care. The half dead man could not meet their demands anyway. He was powerless
to do the Law, being half dead on his way to being fully dead, so they assume
he is a lost cause and abandon the man to his death. Such is the case for all
sinners. The Law cannot get you out of your sin. It can only make you try
harder so that you eventually are wounded by the invisible wound of
self-righteousness, or it drives you to despair when you realize just how bad
off your condition really is. The Law is of no help whatsoever to heal sinners
and revitalize them.
5) But
a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him,
he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil
and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took
care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave
them to the innkeeper and said to him, “Take care of him; and whatever more you
spend when I come again I will repay you. The Law has no compassion. It
only condemns transgression. The Samaritan is Christ because He comes not to
condemn sinners but save them because God
so loved the world. The Good Samaritan goes to the man because the man
cannot go to his healer. In like manner Jesus, the second person of the Holy
Trinity, comes to mankind by assuming human flesh and becoming man, one of us.
He bandages the half dead man’s wounds by pouring in the oil and then wine. The
oil is repentance and contrition over sin, which sting the human heart, but are
necessary to remove the sin. Jesus brings the sinner to repentance so that he
sorrows over his sinfulness and his sins. It stings, fizzing and bubbling in
the wounded heart, but it is a necessary sting. After the purging oil comes the
sweet wine of the Holy Gospel, the absolution, Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you. (Matthew 9:2)
6) Jesus sets the sinner upon His own donkey, giving the sinner His place of
honor and righteousness so that all that belongs to Jesus belongs to the sinner
who repents and believes the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. The Good
Samaritan does not leave the man to heal on his own either. The Good Samaritan
brings him to an inn, cares for him there, and sets an innkeeper over the
healing man. This is a picture of what Christ does for sinners. He does not
leave them on their own on the side of the road so that sin and temptation
might easily attack them again. Rather Christ brings them into the inn of His
holy Church and works to heal him through the instruments of His Word and
Sacraments. Before Christ ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand
of God the Father almighty, He set innkeepers over the sinner to continue to
heal him. These were His apostles and their heirs, Bishops, pastors and
teachers within the church. Pastors and Bishops have the command to care for
the souls of all who the Lord brings in who are damaged and wounded by sin. The
church is nothing but an infirmary for those attacked by Satan, wounded by sin
and bludgeoned by the Law’s strict demands. Though Christ is ascended into
heaven, He is everywhere because He is fully God, and so He is present in His
Church, through the Word, the Sacraments, and the Ministry, to continue to work
for the healing and preservation of sinners.
7) Jesus is the Good Samaritan. What must you do to inherit eternal life? You
can try the way of the Law, self-improvement, self-protection, and
self-righteousness but it will leave you half dead leading to fully dead on the
side of the road to eternity. Besides, you cannot do anything to inherit an
inheritance. An inheritance is freely given to those who have not built it with
their work. Jesus comes to you again today, putting the stinging oil of
repentance onto your words and then applying the sweet wine of forgiveness. He
puts you on His own animal again, giving you His righteousness, His innocence,
His blessedness. Realizing that Jesus is the Good Samaritan, then you can, by
the power of the Holy Spirit working in you, Go and do likewise. You will never be the perfect neighbor to those
around you. You can never fear, love, and trust God perfectly in this life of
sin and death. And although all going and all doing likewise will be imperfect
and incomplete in this life, your heavenly Father loves it because it is Christ
in you, by faith, doing those good works of being a loving neighbor to your
neighbors. You cannot be THE good Samaritan because that is what Jesus is for
you, but you can, with His heavenly aid, be like the Good Samaritan, your Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.