Sermon - 7 after Pentecost "Left for dead on the journey"

Sermon – 7th after Pentecost
Luke 10:25-37
July 11, 2010
Journey with Jesus sermon series part 3
“Left for dead on the journey”

We continue on our sermon series, Journey with Jesus. As Jesus continues on his way to Jerusalem, he is stopped by a lawyer. The lawyer is quizzing Jesus about how to inherit eternal life.
Since lawyers are experts in the law, Jesus gets him to answer his own question according to the law. Love God & love your neighbor.
As lawyers do, the lawyer parses the question: Who is my neighbor?
Perhaps implying: Who isn’t my neighbor? Who do I need not show love to?

So then Jesus tells the “good Samaritan” parable we know so well. What is the moral of this story?
The story features four different travelers on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. We know this road was infamous as winding and dangerous. Towards Jericho would have been a steep downhill path.The first traveler was ambushed by thieves, stripped, beaten, left for dead; desperate. Now what?
“By chance” the next traveler was a priest. Good, help is on the way! But no, he avoids him. The next traveler, a Levite, also avoids him. Both models of good faith and morals. Why don’t they help? The lawyer must have been shocked by this.

But even more shocking is the next traveler… a Samaritan! To the lawyer, the Samaritans were the sworn enemies, outcasted. There was a bitter even violent relationship between the Jews and Samaritans.
So it must have been shocking that the Samaritan is the one who shows love (compassion) for neighbor.
He breaks his own prejudices and social expectations to help the man.
Not only does he help them, but goes above and beyond, meeting every need the man had.

The lawyer was trying to qualify who is his neighbor. Certainly a Samaritan would not have been on his lists of neighbors.
Jesus here breaks down the social parameters of who the neighbor is. In the Kingdom of God there are no such parameters. Surely then the point is that we are called to show compassion for our neighbor – in the most unlimited sense.

The parable allows us to put ourselves in the place of the various characters. We can probably think of times where we were like the priest and the Levite, when we saw someone in need, and walked on the other side of the road. Or perhaps we have done so (whether implicitly or complicity) as a part of a system and a society that often neglects the needy and vulnerable.
We have also been the Samaritan. We have shown love to our neighbor. A group of 14 volunteers from our church helped to build a house yesterday with Habitat for Humanity. In many other ways have we loved our neighbors. The Samaritan shows us the lengths that this love/compassion will go (even giving 2 days wages) and the social parameters and ideas of neighbors it will break.

But… What if? What if we put ourselves in the shoes of the one beat up on the side of the road? We can certainly relate to this feeling of being left at the side of the road. We’ve all been beaten and bruised by the struggles and burdens of this life. Whether it be having been robbed and beaten literally, or maybe we’ve felt neglected, abandoned or afraid like this man. Whether it be unemployment, an illness, an addiction, we’ve all felt left at the side of the road.
On the side of that road, left for dead. You don’t know what’s going to happen to you. Is someone going to help? Are the robbers going to come back to finish you off? How long will you last out there all alone on this dangerous road?
You watch as two people you’d expect to help walk by, only adding insult to injury on this feeling of fear and abandonment.
Then, finally… Someone comes to your aid. You squint to see who it is. You can’t believe your eyes. It’s the enemy, a Samaritan. You’re left speechless as the Samaritan gives you first aid, takes you to the inn and gives you money. What did you do to deserve such love/compassion?

We’ve all been left at the side of the road at one time or another. And then we also had a moment of grace, where God picks us up, and revives and restores us. And maybe we looked up at God in the same way the man looked at the Samaritan…What did I do to deserve such love/compassion?
These moments of grace in our lives empower us to be good Samaritans and go on our journey helping others off the side of the road. Amen.