Luke 10.25-37
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall 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 your neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’
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Once in a while, one reads a ‘feel good story in the papers of the generosity and care and love shown by one individual to another. For example, a person is in trouble with debt and household bills and an anonymous benefactor clears them and gets them back in the black. Or perhaps somebody can’t pay for their petrol at the petrol station because their contactless card hasn’t worked, and a stranger steps in to cover the cost.
Ok, seemingly trivial compared to the story in our gospel reading this morning, but the point is made, In each case, somebody is in need of help, and the ‘good Samaritan’ goes out of their way to help. That is how a ‘good Samaritan is understood these days’ somebody who does nice things for strangers.
In fact, there is a whole charity that has the name ‘Samaritans’ attached to it. They offer an anonymous telephone and text and email service to those who are distressed and/or in despair and are at risk of taking their own lives. I volunteered with them for about a year, and very rewarding work it was.
But, there is more to this story then doing nice things for people, even strangers. The whole story is set within a conversation that Jesus has with an expert lawyer. The lawyer wants to test Jesus, and asks him a question that he knows he can answer.
‘Teacher!’ He says, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life.?’
Jesus would have known the answer, but he asks the Lawyer, as he too should know as well…
‘What is written in the Law?
Part of the answer given by the lawyer is one of the most fundamental prayers in the Jewish faith. That prayer is the Shema, and it is recorded in Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible. It reads:
‘Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.’
Now, this prayer is not making a statement about the nature of God, although there is indeed only one God. But rather it’s more a statement of loyalty, the people of Israel are faithful to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, the one who made the promise though Abraham to bless the nations and the one who, through Moses, brought them out of Egypt. He is their only Lord, and he is the one who is to be loved and followed and no other. This is a prayer that our Jewish cousins still pray today.
The second part of the Lawyer’s answer, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself,’ comes from the book of Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18:
‘You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.’
Surprising isn’t it, we forget that many of the legal and moral principles that govern our society come from the Jewish scriptures. It’s fascinating, particularly in our age which treats any kind of received wisdom from the past with suspicion, ought to be problematised, and ultimately rejected in favour of modern norms.
Anyway. The lawyer has successfully summed up the law to Jesus. But then we read that the lawyer wants to get the upper hand by asking ‘who is my neighbour’ Here he is challenging Jesus’ view of God, we will see how in a moment.
Jesus tells his tale; it’s a story that’s much more powerful when we understand that the Jews and Samaritans hated one another, and had done for hundreds of years. Both claimed that they are the true inheritors of the promises of Abraham and Moses. For the lawyer, the Jews are the ‘true’ inheritors. Remember he quoted the Shema, he was a part of the tribe of Israel, he followed the law, and the promises given to his ancestors. He declared every time he prayed the Shema, that he follows the one true God, unlike ‘those people over there like the Samaritans’ who do their own strange things. God is Israel’s God, and his neighbours are Jewish. And the Lawyer in asking ‘who is my neighbour’ wants to find out if Jesus thinks the same thing or something a bit more ‘heretical’ to Jewish norms.
So, we have a man beaten and left for dead, quite a common danger in those days. Especially on the path they were on which was very winding and had lots of dark shadows where robbers could lurk. We have two more people, a priest, and a Levite, who walk on by. Now we may say ‘oh how horrible!’ But it’s not that simple. A body on the road like that could have been a plant left there by robbers to trap others, so going to help him would have been a danger. There is also the problem of conflicting duties. If these two had touched the man, they would not have been able to perform their ceremonial duties in the temple as they would have been ceremonially unclean. They have a duty to help, but they also have a duty to their temple responsibilities. We can’t say that the Levite and priest are just awful as that makes them caricatures and not like you and me at all. The whole point is that these two people are relatable to the people that Jesus is speaking to, and so we assume they are meant to be relatable to us.
This is a case of conflicting duties, and potential great harm done to themselves if the body was indeed a plant. How often do we ‘walk on by’ when we see suffering, because we are busy or there are other things we need to do?
And yet, it’s the Samaritan, a hated enemy is the one to help him, binds up his wounds, puts him on his animal and takes him to an inn where he is cared for. He is the example that we are to follow.
Notice what Jesus does at the end of the passage. Jesus turns the question from the lawyer on its head. ‘Who turned out to be a neighbour’ he asked, whereas the Lawyer asked ‘who is my neighbour.’ The latter implies that there are those who are ‘in the camp’ and those who outside it. the former looks at the character of a neighbour and says that, in all you do, be a neighbour to others.
So, given all that perhaps it is right that we call people who help strangers ‘Good Samaritans’ as I said at the beginning. All human beings are our neighbours, we are all image bearers of the living God. But again there is more!
If Jesus were in this story he would of course act in the way that the Samaritan did. What if we are the people at the side of the road, battered and bruised and left for death by the darkness of this world and the sin in our own lives. what if it’s us who is waiting to see who come and help us.
And then we see Jesus, our true Godly neighbour, who picks us up, takes care of our wounds, homes us and gives us the thing that we need. Jesus is our Good neighbour who helps us by bringing us to himself.
“’Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into that hands of the robbers?’ [the lawyer] said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”
See the connection?
We are told to ‘go and do likewise’ not because we ought to. Not because of some vague moral imperative which is forced upon us. We are good to our neighbours because God was a good neighbour to us first. It’s because Jesus is a good neighbour to us, and he says that we as his people should do the same.
God loves everybody, he is sacrificial, and he finds, binds up our wounds, and takes us to a safe place, the place of salvation, our heavenly home, and we are to do the same for others because that is what salvation looks like.
God has turned out to be the greatest neighbour of us all.
Amen.