St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

July 22, 2007 Luke 10:25f Pentecost 8

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.” A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

My brother—Uncle Terry was back in the United States from the Amazon Rain Forest for their once a year furlough. And so we made our traditional Friday afternoon and evening trip to the Windy City. It is an amazing place—Chicago. Matthew drove us smack downtown! You can smell downtown Chicago. You can smell the exhaust of the cars, the taxicabs, the long limos with the darkened windows; the trucks double parked making deliveries. You can smell the trains making a hammering racket overhead. You can smell Lake Michigan—just a few blocks away—the smell of the river—green and brown and stagnant. You can smell the greasy food through the exhaust fans of restaurants everywhere. The smell of expensive cologne and perfume on the people in the expensive suits and dresses—as people talking on their cell phones are hurrying past people—bumping shoulders and cursing. In the middle of all of this—there was a little boy—about 4 feet tall—a little boy did a cartwheel down the sidewalk! For a moment it was like a musical—people in the street suddenly literally dancing! Have you ever seen that? Have you seen people downtown in a big city literally dancing? Probably not! Why not? Because this world is so spoiled so infected—so mixed up and messed up by sin almost nobody feels like dancing! Today God’s Word talks about changing all that—when it asks the simple question, “Are You a Good Samaritan?” The fact is—when we live such lives that Jesus’ forgiving love would be more and more obvious—our neighborhood, our community, our nation would be changed. Instead of grim determination—we would begin to see the joy that comes from sins forgiven and heaven won. Today God’s Word asks you:

Are You A Good Samaritan?

1. It is tempting to pass by

2. But Jesus makes us strong to show mercy

As we catch up in spirit with the Lord Jesus—his public ministry is fast nearing an end. Chapter 9—we read Simon Peter’s powerful confession by Caesarea Philippi—Jesus is the Christ—the Son of the living God! Jesus has been transfigured—shone with the bright white hot holiness that is his as the very Son of God! Jesus taught about the cost of following him. Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” It was not much later that an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Do you detect the fatal flaw in the question? What must I do to inherit eternal life? I do? I don’t save myself! Do to inherit? You don’t do anything to inherit something. An inheritance is a gift of grace—a gift you receive because someone loves you! To do something—to go to heaven—would rightly require a sinless life. It would mean, “Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself.” Again—wanting to justify himself—the expert in the law asks, “And who is my neighbor?” That’s when Jesus tells the parable—the teaching story about the Good Samaritan!

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.” The story Jesus told was very realistic. The road—about 17 miles--from Jerusalem to Jericho was not a wonderful highway. It was a path—sometimes narrow—sometimes steep over the edge. But the worst part was the fact that along the road there were huge stones—huge cream colored stones. Perfect hiding places for robbers and thieves—who would jump out—take you by surprise—and hurt you. They could start a rock slide—or throw huge stones at you—or simply pound you with sticks or hurt you with swords or knives and daggers! Out in the middle of nowhere—in the shadows of the early morning—or better yet—when it was getting dark out. It was painfully easy to imagine a man being attacked—robbed—stripped and beaten—half dead!

A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. Sad to say—this part is painfully true, too! It happened one month ago—Monday. A lady was stabbed during a fight in a gas station mini-mart. Three times she struggled to her feet and collapsed. Five people stepped over her—not one stopping to help her. One person stepped over her four times—in and out—in and out again—stopping once to take her picture—but not lifting a finger to help her! Would you help? Or would you think—I don’t want to get involved! In Jesus’ story a priest and a Levite—Temple workers—passed by on the other side! But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. It is hard to imagine the bitter feelings that persisted between Jews and Samaritans—the bitterness—the plain hatred that continued from generation to generation—between Jews and Samaritans. Samaritans—were not pure children of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah—physically, racially. They were not pure children of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah—spiritually, scripturally. And so the Jews despised them. And the Samaritans despised the Jews for treating them—like they were not good enough! This bitterness and hatred had simmered for hundreds of years—a grudge that was passed down from generation to generation! For a Samaritan to help a Jew would be like an Iraqi insurgent helping an American soldier. A Samaritan would be the last person you would expect to help!

The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ Not only did the Good Samaritan spend time and effort—taking care of his neighbor—now he is going to spend money on his neighbor! Money is a funny thing. The fact is—God’s Word talks about money a lot! Since it does—it would be dishonest—if we pretended it didn’t. I would be less than faithful—if I pretended it didn’t! Two silver coins would be two days wages—enough to rent a room for two months! Would you work for 16 hours for free? Would you give two days pay to a complete stranger—with the promise of even more—if it is needed? Would you trust the robbery victim? Would you trust the inn keeper? What is valuable and what isn’t? When we were in Chicago the other day—we went to the Art Institute! We saw a self portrait of Vincent Van Gogh. We saw paintings of lilies by Monet. We saw Picassos and Gogans—paintings bigger than double garage doors—of people in the park—made from literally millions of dabs of oil paint. We saw paintings that are so precious and irreplaceable they are quite literally priceless! Do you know what is truly priceless? People are priceless—immortal souls are priceless! Life is a matter of priorities—choices we need to make all the time—about what is precious and what isn’t. What are we going to spend our time on? What are we going to spend our literal effort and sweat on? What are we going to strive for? More and more things and stuff—or people—which is what is truly priceless. People are so precious—Jesus died to buy us back. Jesus spilled his holy innocent blood to buy us back from sin and death. What is precious to us? Plasma TVs and expensive cell phones—i-phones and i-pods—and fast cars—or people—and missions—and sharing God’s Word?

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” The Good Samaritan showed mercy. Do we? When we were downtown Chicago—in the Theatre District—where people literally in tuxedoes and designer dresses got out of limousines to see Broadway shows. When we were by restaurants where people drank expensive coffees and expensive imported beers. When we were by parking lots where people parked their SUVs and their sports cars—for $24 for 6 hours—we saw beggars. They sat on the busy sidewalks—shaking their plastic beer cups—jingling the coins in the bottom. They would smile—to reveal the grey, black and green that stained the few teeth they had. Their hair was a greasy tangled mess and their clothes were stained and smelled. Their shoes and their socks had holes on the tops and the bottoms. Would you help someone like that? Would you give them some of your hard earned money? Of course not! For all kinds of reasons! Oh, they would just spend it on that very cheap—very sweet high alcohol wine! Oh, they should get a job! The Bible says—if you don’t work—you shouldn’t eat! It says that somewhere doesn’t it? If all that fails—there is the forever popular—nobody ever gave me a handout! The answer of the expert in the law—exposes my sinful heart! Am I a Good Samaritan? Not very good at all! Do I help the people in my own home? Do I pick up my own dirty socks—my sweaty shoes—or leave them wherever I take them off? Do I make my bed or leave it a rumpled mess? Do I rinse out the sink or leave whiskers and shave cream and toothpaste on the side of the sink? Do I empty the dishwasher without being asked? Do I do the little things around the house that need to be done—or grumble and complain in the face of constant painful nagging? Am I a good neighbor to my spouse and my children and my co-workers—because I love Jesus or not? God’s Word again today exposes my selfishness and sin.

Who was the neighbor to the man in painful need? The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” It is by the power of the Gospel that we will have mercy—to bear the sweet fruits of faith that give glory to Jesus! We went down to Chicago the other day—with Uncle Terry—to see a play—a musical—that advertises—a lot happened in Oz—before Dorothy landed! Before the show starts—you get to read the Playbill—the little booklet with the show poster on the front. It has a little paragraph about each actor—a paragraph they get to write. There is Glinda—the good witch—who comes in on a bubble—a huge stainless steel circle—with bubbles flying everywhere! Glinda is thankful for the friend who is closer to her than a brother—that is her Savior. Read Romans 8:28. Do you know what that says? “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave his up for us all—how will he not also along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God, and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” How powerful is that! Law and Gospel! Jesus’ unconditional forgiving love never fails! Law and Gospel work repentance in our hearts—a humble child like trust in Jesus’ complete forgiveness and then a powerful strength to bear sweet fruits of faith. May every moment of our life then show love to our Redeemer and our neighbors. Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz