Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity
Galatians 3:15-22 + Luke 10:23-37
Even people who don’t know the Bible or pay much attention to the words Jesus spoke are familiar with the term “Good Samaritan.” They think of a Good Samaritan as basically a nice guy who stops along the road to help a stranger in need. In fact, just last week there was a tragic news story, headlined, “Good Samaritan killed after helping two South Carolina teens pull SUV from ditch.”
We need to pause again this year, on this 13th Sunday after Trinity, to recalibrate our understanding of the Good Samaritan, to line it up with what Jesus was teaching, as opposed to what the world has come away with from this parable, which is basically the notion that you’re supposed to lend a helping hand to a stranger once in a while. That’s not why Jesus told this parable. He told the parable of the Good Samaritan to frighten his hearers to death.
Let’s back up for a moment. Let’s start where our Gospel starts. Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; 24 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. Why? What was it that Jesus’ disciples were seeing and hearing that the prophets and kings of the Old Testament all yearned to hear and see?
They were hearing and seeing the Seed of Abraham in action. Remember what you heard in today’s Epistle from Galatians 3—that’s a key chapter of the Bible for understanding the role God intended for the Law of Moses to play. Paul reminds us that God made a covenant with Abraham—that God would cause Abraham and His Seed to inherit the earth, to inherit eternal life. And the apostle points out that God did not make that covenant with all of Abraham’s descendants (plural), but only with THE promised Seed of Abraham (singular), which was Christ. He was the Heir of the Old Testament. Prophets and kings longed to see His day—which meant the fulfillment of the Law, the atonement for sins, and the proclamation of the day of grace—salvation for sinners by grace through faith in the Seed of Abraham. That was always God’s intention, always the only path for sinners to inherit eternal life.
But what happened between the time of Abraham and the time of Jesus? The law was added, summarized in the Ten Commandments, and summarized again in a different way with the twofold command: 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.’ Why was the law added to the covenant God made with Abraham and his Seed? Paul tells us that it was not added in order to void or to change in any way the promise of salvation by grace that God made with Abraham. It was added, Paul writes, because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. In other words, the law was added in order to shine a bright light on the transgressions—the sins—that all men commit, so that we might repent and believe in the promised Seed of Abraham for the forgiveness of sins and for the gift of eternal life that only He can give.
But human beings still have this innate, twisted tendency to think that we can earn a place in heaven by keeping the law, even though the law was never given for that purpose. That’s what the lawyer in our Gospel thought. What was his question again? Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And since the lawyer was infatuated with the law, Jesus sent him back to the law for his answer, and he answered correctly—Love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus agreed. If you do this, you will live.
The problem is, he couldn’t do it, and neither can you. Neither can anyone. As Paul wrote, For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. If life could be won by the law, it would have been done by the law. If man was capable of earning his way to eternal life, God would have made the law the way to enter eternal life. It’s a good law, after all! Love for God! Love for your neighbor! What could be better than that? But human beings are fallen. Human beings are sinful. We can’t do it. And not only can’t we do it, but we can’t even recognize that we can’t do it.
Like the lawyer in the Gospel. He heard Jesus’ reply, Do this and you will live, and he knew how broad and overarching that command was, but still tried to wiggle his way out of the law’s sweeping command—and condemnation. But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Maybe if I can narrow down this command of the law to include only a small set of people—my immediate family, my next-door neighbor, people of my own race. Who is my neighbor?
That’s what prompted Jesus to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan. You heard it. You know it. We’ll summarize it briefly.
There’s a man in need. He’s been robbed and beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. Two men come upon him—two men from Jerusalem, two “holy” men, two “children of Abraham,” a priest and a Levite, the guardians of the Law. They see the man lying there, right on their path, needing their help, needing their love. He’s their Jewish brother, their fellow church member. But they each go out of their way to step to the side, to avoid him, to avoid loving him.
The Samaritans, on the other hand, were treated poorly by the Jews, despised as foreigners and half-bloods. But see how this Samaritan treats the dying Jewish man as if he were his brother, his next-door neighbor, his friend. Some people might see a wounded man on the side of the road and despise him, or fear him. The Samaritan has compassion on him. He runs over to help. He takes all those loving steps to tend to his wounds, to bring him to safety, and to see to his ongoing care there at the inn until the Samaritan returns from his journey. It’s a beautiful story of love and compassion.
But it’s also a terrifying story. Because this is what God’s law requires, if you would do something to inherit eternal life. Not the once-in-a-while helping of a stranger, but the ongoing treatment of every single person around you with this level of care and compassion, even putting your own life at risk if necessary—in addition to that perfect love for the God of Abraham who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do to others what you would have them do to you. That’s the model the Good Samaritan sets for you. That’s the Law. Either keep it without fail, or be damned.
The parable of the Good Samaritan should terrify people. It should send them running for cover from the Law’s condemnation, which is aimed at everyone who has ever shown anything less than the mercy of the Good Samaritan in our Gospel. If people understood that, they would not think so highly of the Good Samaritan. Because he puts all men to shame and shows us what we must do, if we would inherit eternal life.
What a terrible lesson. But what a necessary lesson for us poor sinners to learn. Because most people live under this delusion, that you can be good enough for God to accept you into eternal life. But you can’t. That’s why you should fear the Good Samaritan.
But at the same time, if you’ve learned to fear the Law and to tremble at your sins, there is great comfort and hope for you in this Gospel. Indeed, as Paul writes to the Galatians, the Scripture has confined all people under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
The Lord God saw us wounded by the devil, abandoned by the Law, helpless to save ourselves because of our inborn sin. He saw us, wretched, poor, naked and blind, and He took pity. He had mercy. He sent His Son into our flesh, even though we were His enemies by birth. He became our Neighbor. He came and helped us, putting His own life in danger, even sacrificing His own life on the cross in order to buy the bandages and the oil and wine to heal our wounds, to forgive us our sins. He sent His Gospel to you in the ministry of the Word, He sent someone to baptize you, washing your sins away from God’s sight. He brought you into the inn of His holy Church, where His ministers look after you and keep applying the healing salve of Word and Sacrament, until He returns from His journey to bring you safely home.
Once the Good Samaritan has terrified you, so that you flee from the law and from thinking you have to do something good in order to inherit eternal life, flee in faith to the truly Good Samaritan, Christ Jesus, and thank God for Him who has loved you with a love you can never equal.
And yet, because He has loved you and granted you the gift of eternal life that is only His to give, as the Seed of Abraham, now you are equipped, as a son of Abraham through faith in THE Son of Abraham, to spend the rest of your life on earth imitating His love. You’ve experienced the love of Christ, the Good Samaritan, firsthand. So it’s a fitting thing for the Holy Spirit to call out to you now, Go and do likewise. Not in order to inherit eternal life. But because Christ has inherited eternal life for you and gives it away for free to all who believe in Him. Amen.
