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 neighbor 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 neighbor?" 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 traveling 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 neighbor 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."
One of the challenges of preaching on the parable of the Good Samaritan involves knowing the members of the congregation. If I were to preach this sermon in Westfield or Princeton, I would have to be mindful that some members of the church might be lawyers, the villain of this passage. I could never compare a lawyer to that star of Better Call Saul, a down on his luck lawyer who aligns himself with members of a drug cartel and defends some of their disreputable practices.
Many of us hold a stereotype of some lawyers who are shady characters, out to make a dollar on us, charging us outrageous prices for the simplest transactions. The author of Luke’s gospel shares this suspicion of lawyers. If you pay attention to Jesus’ enemies, lawyers count among the fiercest of the lot. We all imagine that this lawyer respects Jesus for he addresses Jesus as “Teacher.” Luke gives us the first clue that something is amiss with that title. In this gospel, the people who understand Jesus call him “Lord.” By calling Jesus “Teacher” this lawyer shows us he does not understand Jesus.
But we also know that he feels hostility toward Jesus since we are told he is testing Jesus. Jesus, however, turns the table and puts the lawyer to the test.
“What must I do to inherit eternal life,?” he asks Jesus. He replies with the answer any good Jew would know, the prayer every devout Jew says every morning and night: "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." Perhaps this lawyer practiced a habit shared by many of us. He was making a list of what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Check off these things and it’s all over and done. To narrow the requirements of loving neighbors, he wants to include the least number of people. With his parable Jesus turns the tables on the lawyer.
Some of us who traveled to Israel know this road from Jericho to Jerusalem. Everyone going to the Holy City has covered this same path. At the time of Jesus, any traveler to the capital city would need to be on guard against armed bandits picking off unsuspecting trekkers. This man was assaulted, robbed, stripped of his clothing and left for dead.
Any story teller in Jesus’ day would have introduced into a story a trio of characters well know to anyone in ancient Israel. Just as we would expect Moe and Larry to be followed by Curley, so Jesus’ audience would have expected a priest and a levi to be followed by a faithful Jew. Jesus turns the table by introducing not an expected character but an unexpected enemy. Samaritans stood outside the realm of acceptability in Israel. Just imagine a social outsider in our own day: a recently released criminal, a homeless person, an addict. Imagine that person coming across the robbery victim and caring for him.
Jesus is alerting us to the boundaries we all to readily impose from our culture. Jesus shows us how, from his perspective, how porous those boundaries should be. The unexpected hero does what is needed to stabilize the man’s health, he then brings the robbery victim to the nearest Motel 6, and gets him a room and a meal. Knowing that he has to continue with his business, he enlists the help of another to care for this victim and he will return and complete the circle of care this victim needs.
Jesus does what he always does. He dismantles the boundaries the lawyer sets up for love. Neighbors are not limited by geographic boundaries. Neighbors are only limited by our heart’s capacity to love. We make our neighbors.
If you listen carefully to this parable you will hear the social walls of first century Israel come crashing down around the lawyer.
When Jesus asks him to identify the neighbor in the story, this lawyer, who would never associate with a Samaritan, cannot even say that dreaded name and refers to the Samaritan as “The one who showed him mercy." Jesus invites the lawyer to go and do likewise.
Inside each of our hearts lies a lawyer who would want to limit the circle of our care. Inside each of our hearts exist boundaries which separate us from others. Inside each of our hearts sounds Jesus’ challenge to tear down the walls.
Tear down the walls which separate you from others, however you may configure that other as different from you. Tear down the walls which limit the capacity of your eyes to see the other as God’s beloved child. Tear down the walls which confine your heart to a safe circle of familiar friends and neighbors. God invites us to expand our hearts, to stretch ourselves beyond the capacities we impose on our love of neighbors.
Perhaps we can begin by loving that part of ourselves which we find unlovable, unacceptable, undesirable. Perhaps we can identify that inner part of ourselves which we cut off from God’s love and allow God’s love to touch us where we avoid God’s embrace. All too often we love our neighbors as ourselves, as the least lovable part of ourselves. What if we allowed God’s love to lighten that darkness, to warm that coldness, to accept that rejection?
What if we discovered that deep love which embraces us in places we dare not accept? Perhaps then we too can obey Jesus who tells us to see the Good Samaritan and go and do likewise.