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Luke 10:25-37

²⁵ And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” ²⁷ And 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 neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

When the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, the they figured Jesus was just as defiled as His table companions. But Jesus responded, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, [and He quotes from Hos. 6:6] ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mt. 9:12-13). Jesus reveals His most earnest desire as the Son of God. God desires to show you mercy – mercy which is new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23) and endures forever (Ps. 118).

But you naturally don’t want a handout. You would rather work your way to God with sacrifice. And so, like the lawyer, you ask, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The answer lies in the Law. What does the Law demand? Love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. And if you think that sounds like a nice warm fuzzy, repent because you have a pathetic understanding of what love is.

Love is a constant self-giving, self-emptying of yourself for the sake of another. Love is complete only in death. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13).

If you are a “To-Do-List” person, you go through your day checking things off. “Make the bed,” check. “Wash the dishes,” check. “Fold the laundry,” check. “Love God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind.” If you still are alive, you cannot never mark that as done. “Love my neighbor as myself,” same thing.

The Law is right and good, but it doesn’t stop making demands for you to love – ever. If there had been a law which could have given life, righteousness would have been by the Law. But Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin (Gal. 3:21-22). The Law robs you of all your works, strips away the thin veneer of what you call ‘love,’ beats you up with its demands, throws you in the ditch, and leaves you there to die.

Watch this play out in our text – and not in the parable!

The lawyer already knew what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus just drives it home by asking him what the Law says. The lawyer answers correctly. Love God perfectly.
Love your neighbor perfectly. This is nothing new. It is simply what the Scriptures say in Dt. 6:5 and our Old Testament text Lev. 19:5. Jesus tells the lawyer, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.” But Jesus might just as well have said, “Yup. Go to hell.”

And the lawyer gets it. He is trapped, caught in his own question. He understands the gravity of the situation. According to the right and just judgment of the Law, he is damned. So, desiring to justify himself, he asks, “Well, who is my neighbor?” Now, this desire to justify himself is not evil. He wants off the hook. The Law has done its work of exposing him for the wretched sinner that he is. The Law has left him scared and confused because he doesn’t know the Gospel yet. So, looking for a loophole, he asks, “Who is my neighbor? Whom should I love”

But every Sunday school student knows the answer. “Who is my neighbor?” Everyone. “Whom should I love?” Everyone. Without fail.

Now, as we turn to the parable, we need to be careful. The parable doesn’t answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?” If the parable of the Good Samaritan is mainly meant to tell the lawyer that he should love everyone, then Jesus is kicking a man who has already been beaten up by the Law. “You’re tired of being dead? Well, try harder.”

But that is not why Jesus tells this parable. You see that Jesus is not answering the question, “Who is my neighbor?” by the way Jesus ends the parable. Notice that Jesus changes the question, “Who was neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” And the answer is not, “Everyone.” Jesus changes the question to get the answer He wanted – the one who showed mercy. The one who showed mercy.

Remember God says, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Jesus desires to show the lawyer and you hope. Jesus wants to show you what God mercifully does for you. He wants to show you the Gospel.

Now look at the parable: The man is going the wrong way – he is leaving Jerusalem, going away from the place where God is, and heading toward Jericho. He falls among thieves and is left half dead. The priest and the Levite represent the moral and ceremonial law. They do not help him because they cannot help him. The Law cannot go down into the ditch. The Law simply shows you that you are down in the ditch.

The Samaritan comes – the despised one, the rejected one, the one who had no form or majesty that we should look at him (Is. 53:3) – and He has compassion.

In the Gospels, that word, ‘compassion,’ is only used of Jesus and characters in parables that represent Jesus. He goes down into the ditch. In mercy, He goes down into the blood and the mud. He binds up the man’s wounds, pours on oil and wine (think Baptism and Lord’s Supper), puts him on His animal, takes him to the inn. Before he takes off, the Merciful Samaritan leaves two denarii (enough to house and feed this guy for two days) promising to return. A nice little hint, there, that He will be back on the third day.

But He also promises, “Whatever more you spend, I will repay when I come back.” In other words, the Merciful Samaritan vows to make good on a no-limit account to this complete stranger who could ruin Him. But He makes the promise nonetheless.

Jesus does all this for you. He rescues you who were going the wrong way – away from God. He rescues you who have been robbed, beaten, stripped, and left half dead. He binds you up with His Word, Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. He puts you in the inn of His Holy Christian Church promising to return and pay for your no-limit account. Jesus desires mercy and not sacrifice. Jesus desires to be merciful to you. Nice little parable, huh?

The parable is over. And Jesus asks, “Who was a neighbor to the man who fell among thieves.” Duh. The one who showed mercy. Jesus says, “You go, and do likewise.” What does that mean? Exactly what you think it means. Be like Christ. Go and have compassion, be loving be compassionate toward your neighbor, not because you have to, but because good works follow faith. Always.

What God pours into you – His love, grace, forgiveness, and mercy – spills out to your neighbor around you. Thanks be to God for this mercy. Amen.[1]

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] I am thankful to a sermon by Pr. David H. Petersen as inspiration for portions of this sermon.