{"id":3980,"date":"2021-08-07T18:33:23","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T18:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/?p=3980"},"modified":"2024-08-19T16:55:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T16:55:28","slug":"jesus-is-the-good-samaritan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2021\/08\/07\/jesus-is-the-good-samaritan\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus is the Good Samaritan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity<\/strong>| <strong>September 6, 2009<\/strong>|<strong> St. Luke 10, 23-37<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Jesus Is the Good Samaritan: Trinity 13 Sermon by Rev. Rolf Preus 2009\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/1EYSo3YJfEVksf84vbXKsw?si=a4a47fc6d0d24550&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, &#8220;Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see;&nbsp; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.&#8221;&nbsp; And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, &#8220;Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?&#8221;&nbsp; He said to him, &#8220;What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?&#8221;&nbsp; So he answered and said, &nbsp; &#8220;&#8216;You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.'&#8221;&nbsp; And He said to him, &#8220;You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.&#8221;&nbsp; But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, &#8220;and who is my neighbor?&#8221;&nbsp; Then Jesus answered and said: &#8220;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.&nbsp; Now by chance a certain priest came down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.&nbsp; Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.&nbsp; But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, &#8216;Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.&#8217;&nbsp; So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?&#8221;&nbsp; And he said, &#8220;He who showed mercy on him.&#8221; Then Jesus said to him, &#8220;Go and do likewise.&#8221;&nbsp; St. Luke 10, 23-37<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God became a man.&nbsp; What a wonderful sight!&nbsp; Prophets and kings had known it would happen.&nbsp; They longed to see the day when it did happen.&nbsp; But they didn\u2019t.&nbsp; Jesus\u2019 disciples did.&nbsp; They saw.&nbsp; They heard.&nbsp; In seeing and hearing Jesus they saw and heard God.&nbsp; They knew Jesus.&nbsp; Therefore they knew God.&nbsp; They knew life.&nbsp; They didn\u2019t know with the knowledge of a scholar or a philosopher.&nbsp; They knew God as only his children know him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The child of God inherits eternal life.&nbsp; It is his inheritance because God himself has so decided.&nbsp; His decision was made in eternity.&nbsp; It was a gracious decision.&nbsp; Children of God don\u2019t work for their inheritance.&nbsp; Why, the very idea insults God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our God can\u2019t be conned by pretence.&nbsp; The self-righteous lawyer pretended he was righteous.&nbsp; He sought to justify himself, as Luke reports.&nbsp; What an irony!&nbsp; Standing before him was the Lord, our righteousness.&nbsp; The only possible way that lawyer could have been justified was through faith in Jesus.&nbsp; But he was too busy putting Jesus on trial to stop and consider his own need for mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone tries to justify himself.&nbsp; It is the most foolish attempt anyone can make.&nbsp; It cannot but end in failure.&nbsp; But everyone tries to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lawyer was face to face with mercy incarnate.&nbsp; But he was so persuaded of his own goodness that he could not see who was standing before him.&nbsp; He asks him what he must do to inherit eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His question showed he was not a child of God.&nbsp; A child doesn\u2019t work for his inheritance.&nbsp; He receives it as a gift for that is what it is.&nbsp; A child of God doesn\u2019t become a child of God by doing anything.&nbsp; He becomes a child of God by receiving.&nbsp; He receives mercy.&nbsp; Then he lives under mercy.&nbsp; The life that he lives under God\u2019s mercy is then marked by showing mercy to others just as he has received mercy from God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>St. Paul writes in today\u2019s Epistle Lesson:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.&nbsp; But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the lawyer asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life, Jesus pointed the man to the law.&nbsp; He asked him, \u201cWhat is written in the law? What is your reading of it?&#8221;&nbsp; Jesus answered a law question with a law answer.&nbsp; The man wanted to do something to inherit eternal life.&nbsp; He wasn\u2019t interested in knowing what he should believe or in whom he should trust.&nbsp; He wasn\u2019t interested in mercy.&nbsp; He wasn\u2019t interested in God or neighbor.&nbsp; He was interested only himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His hypocrisy is breathtaking.&nbsp; He correctly cites the two tables of God\u2019s law:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But note the question he asked after Jesus told him his answer was correct.&nbsp; He asked, \u201cAnd who is my neighbor?\u201d&nbsp; He assumes that he has already obeyed the first table of the law.&nbsp; He has loved the LORD his God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his strength, and with all his mind.&nbsp; How could this be when he didn\u2019t even know who God was?&nbsp; He asked who is neighbor was but he didn\u2019t bother asking who God was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, God was standing before him!&nbsp; The man didn\u2019t even know God and yet presumed that he had loved him sufficiently.&nbsp; How does he demonstrate this love?&nbsp; He puts Jesus \u2013 that is, God \u2013 to the test.&nbsp; Instead of receiving as a gift the righteousness that Jesus came to bestow he set out to establish his own.&nbsp; He despised mercy for himself, thinking that he didn\u2019t need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The parable of the Good Samaritan serves a twofold purpose.&nbsp; First, it teaches us that our neighbor is the one who needs our mercy.&nbsp; Second, it teaches us that Jesus is the one who shows us mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The priest and the Levite were scrupulous in following the rules.&nbsp; The lawyer undoubtedly patterned himself after such men.&nbsp; They prayed the right prayers.&nbsp; They read their Bibles.&nbsp; They went to church.&nbsp; They gave their offerings.&nbsp; They did all of the things you would expect religious men to do.&nbsp; But they walked on by when they saw their neighbor in need.&nbsp; They did not love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They were revealed for what they were when faced with their neighbor\u2019s needs.&nbsp; You cannot claim to love God when you don\u2019t love your neighbor.&nbsp; And why did the priest and the Levite walk on by?&nbsp; Why did they ignore their neighbor in need?&nbsp; The answer is simple.&nbsp; They had not met God in his mercy.&nbsp; Therefore they could not serve God by showing mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Had they learned to know God by receiving God\u2019s mercy they would have known that God wanted them to show mercy.&nbsp; But they didn\u2019t know this.&nbsp; While they were experts in the law they didn\u2019t know the first thing about its true requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This parable teaches us that our neighbor is the one who needs our mercy.&nbsp; It also teaches us that Jesus is the one who shows us mercy.&nbsp; Jesus is the Good Samaritan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We travel through life and are mugged by the devil.&nbsp; He leads us into temptation and we willingly conform our will to his as we commit all sorts of sins against God and neighbor.&nbsp; We respond to our neighbor\u2019s needs with indifference, tossing the Golden Rule aside as if it means nothing at all.&nbsp; Instead of asking how we would want our neighbor to treat us if we were in his shoes, we ask what our neighbor can do to benefit us.&nbsp; Thus we sin and are trapped in it and lie on the pathway of life suffering terribly from our guilt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The law walks on by.&nbsp; He tells us to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.&nbsp; But he does not help us to love.&nbsp; He passes by on the other side of the road.&nbsp; The law walks by again.&nbsp; He tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.&nbsp; But he does not help us to love.&nbsp; He passes by on the other side of the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then the Samaritan walks by.&nbsp; He is despised.&nbsp; He is held in contempt by the most respectable religious leaders.&nbsp; But he willingly bears their contempt.&nbsp; He is set on one thing: to show mercy.&nbsp; The Samaritan sees us in our need.&nbsp; He doesn\u2019t see us in our worthiness because we are unworthy.&nbsp; But we are needful.&nbsp; This is what he sees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is merciful to us.&nbsp; He lifts us up out of our sins.&nbsp; He washes them away.&nbsp; He cleanses them with the oil of forgiveness that soothes the pain and heals the wounds.&nbsp; He pours in wine to disinfect the wound, and that hurts, but it is the blessed pain of repentance that is overcome by peace.&nbsp; He sets our conscience at peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He bears us to the church, whose ministers care for our needs.&nbsp; He pays for those needs.&nbsp; The gospel we hear and the sacraments we receive obtain their power to save us from Jesus Christ and his obedience all the way to his death on the cross.&nbsp; And he always gives the church all that she needs to be our faithful mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus is the Good Samaritan.&nbsp; He tells the story to show us what it means to show mercy.&nbsp; He tells the story to show us his mercy.&nbsp; The two go together and cannot be separated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What must I do to inherit eternal life?&nbsp; What a foolish question!&nbsp; It isn\u2019t a matter of doing.&nbsp; It\u2019s a matter of receiving.&nbsp; The man asked a law question and got a law answer.&nbsp; Had he known who he was talking to he would have asked, \u201cHow can I receive eternal life?\u201d&nbsp; Jesus would have given him a gospel answer:&nbsp; \u201cI am the way, the truth, and the life.&nbsp; No one comes to the Father, except by me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And as we approach God the Father through faith in his dear Son Jesus, we are always directed to find Jesus in his condescending mercy.&nbsp; He is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters.&nbsp; Even when we are covered with sin and wounded by the judgment it brings, he comes to us and washes us clean.&nbsp; The sins he bore on the cross are the sins he forgives.&nbsp; This is his mercy.&nbsp; It is ours by faith and by faith alone.&nbsp; It brings us eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the mercy we show to those who need it from us.&nbsp; We forgive.&nbsp; We consider our need and how our Lord met it.&nbsp; Our greatest joy as Christians is in giving what we have received.&nbsp; This is the beginning and end of love and everything in between.&nbsp; Amen&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/TrinityThirteen2009.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity| September 6, 2009| St. Luke 10, 23-37 Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, &#8220;Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see;&nbsp; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2021\/08\/07\/jesus-is-the-good-samaritan\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,4,73],"tags":[561,238,216],"class_list":["post-3980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-sermons","category-sermons-by-historical-lectionary","category-sermons-by-rolf-preus","category-trinity-13","tag-luke-10","tag-rolf-preus","tag-trinity-13"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3980"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6035,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3980\/revisions\/6035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}