The Good Samaritan
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25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[e] 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.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
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7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb,[a] with a plumb line[b] in his hand. 8 And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A plumb line,” I replied.
Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
9 “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed
and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined;
with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”Amos and Amaziah
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos is saying:
“‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,
and Israel will surely go into exile,
away from their native land.’”12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”
14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say,
“‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up,
and you yourself will die in a pagan[c] country.
And Israel will surely go into exile,
away from their native land.’”
My wife had been playing squash and after leaving the changing rooms she felt all eyes on her. She thought ‘these people are rude, staring at a sweaty sports woman?’ As she reached her car in the car park, a good Samaritan approached and said quietly, "I don't mean to intrude and I don't want this to be embarrassing. But your dress is caught in the back of your knickers.’ He smiled and walked off leaving Jennie to adjust herself.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is a story JC told. It is recorded as part of an encounter between Jesus and a Pharisee. A religious lawyer whose asking a question on the nature of the law. The stage is set by Luke with these words: "an expert in the law stood to test Jesus."
The Religious Lawyer asks trick question. ‘How do I get to heaven?’ He hoped Jesus would say all you need to do is follow me, the law is so Old Testament.
But JC questions the lawyer - what does the law say? As we explore this encounter we will find it is more about the meaning of true love than it is about tricky questions. 1956 Grace Kelly &Bing Cosby sang True Love Nat King Cole song from film High Society. I wish to present 3 statements about True Love that will help us learn from this encounter.
1. True Love begins by seeing you don't measure up.
2. True Love begins by receiving Christ's loving mercy
3. True Love means showing loving kindness to all
True Love begins by seeing you don't measure up.
Jesus questions the questioner by asking ‘What does the law say?’
The lawyer answers: The law is summarised in the Ten Commandments, and the Ten are summed up in the Shema, ‘love God, and love neighbour.’
The expert understood that the way to heaven is to be as good as you can and keep 10C’s. You justify yourself – be righteous, pure. The lawyer surely knows he doesn’t measure up – but he knew the Law, the theory.
Jesus is going to show him. His love is not God’s true love. He could sing with the Beatles, ‘All you need is Love’ but it’s not True Love.
In our hall is a grandfather clock which is 150 years old. Inside hangs a heavy weight that ticks perfectly every second. However if the clock is not straight and true (leaning back or sideways) then the time is not true. The Shema says, ‘Love God perfectly and Love neighbour as yourself’ - I don't come close to God’s true love. Like that old clock, one moment I’m good and straight and every second is true, then something happens and I’m leaning away from Gods true line.
Amos had a message (with a prop) for Israel, that they are well short of God’s plumb line.
In our gospel reading - Jesus is bringing the lawyer to a point where he sees that he cant be perfect – doesn’t measure up to God’s True Love. His law keeping was not True Love.
Most people believe they are loving people. JC teaches that loving God and loving kindness starts by accepting you do not come close to God’s Plumb line. It brings us to our knees, a place of repentance. But the lawyer wasn’t ready for that.
V29 ‘BUT he wanted to justify himself - asked 'Who is my neighbour?'" In other words, where does my responsibility stop? True Love doesn't ask what is the minimum I have to do to fulfil my obligations. Loving kindness goes the extra mile, loving Kindness does the golden rule (do unto others). True Love involves self-sacrifice irrespective of race class, religion.
The lawyer has to come to a place where he knows he doesn’t measure up. True Love begins by seeing you don't measure up.
True Love begins by receiving Christ's loving mercy
If your Plumb line is about being a good person - that is not God’s Plumb line, that’s justifying yourself. Only by the mercy of God can we be justified and by mercy alone. That is what JC is trying to show lawyer. You can't make it yourself but the Lord says to you ‘I will show you mercy.’ When you get this it breaks you/ melts you. The kind of love the Samaritan shows has a great influence on the lawyer. When he was asked who was the good neighbour his answer was – the one who showed mercy.
The heart that has been touched by the love of Christ will lead you to the needy, broken, ungrateful. The way you treat the people who are the costliest the hardest the smelliest, most time consuming - indicates whether you are self justified or a Sinner saved by grace, who knows the mercy of God – first hand.
The Good Samaritan is JC himself. He stopped with you when you needed him most, had compassion, tended, carried & he paid everything.
Before you truly love your neighbour, you must receive from the Good Samaritan JC.
Donald was a businessman who I visietd in hospital, his prognosis was not good. I spoke to him about how he is processing a life limiting illness.
Donald said, ‘I should be OK when I get to the other side’.
The chaplain explained to him, our eternal destiny does not depend on what we have done but on what Jesus has done for us. Donald put his trust in the Lord Jesus who was merciful to him and prepared a heavenly place for him. Let the magnitude of what Jesus has done melt your heart today.
True Love means showing loving kindness to all
The lawyer’s encounter with Jesus began with a question, what must I do to inherit eternal life and then became a second question ‘ Who is my neighbour’ but this encounter is really about loving God and loving kindness. We don’t use that phrase ‘loving kindness’ much today.
The Priests and Levite’s stayed safe, passed by. The hero got off his Ass and got down in the dust, bloodied dirt and wiped his wounds. Then he brought the injured Jew to a hostel and paid for his rehab. That’s loving kindness. NB The text said he was ‘Naked & unconscious’ which means the hero had not a thought about his race or status. If he was clothed he could have been identified as a Jew or a gentile. If conscious, he could speak, would have an accent . But unconscious & naked.
V36 JC asks which of the three was the good neighbour. Notice the lawyer couldn't even mention Samaritan. He says ‘the one who showed mercy.’ V37 JC says ‘Go & Do!’ Loving Kindness is sacrificial, irrespective of race class religion. High Society today so self-centred that we only want to include in our kindness those who feel the same way, do the same things. Like the lawyer asking ‘Who is my neighbour?’ - we hope the answer is someone who looks like me, sounds like me, acts like me, same colour as me.
Jesus says no. Go & Do v37. Go where the Lord places a burden on your heart whether it's on Pann estate or the streets of Jerusalem and Gaza. To your family or the costliest, most awkward, smelliest person you can think of.
Our loving kindness is to be to all (2 Tim 2:24). Kindness should flow from us because we have tasted God's mercy.
How will we, how will the church make a difference for God. Not by passing by on the other side. Look back in church history and see how we have made an impact. 2ndC letter to Diognetus – Extraordinary people. “Christians are not differentiated from other people by country language or customs; They love everyone but are persecuted by all. They are poor and yet make many rich they are dishonoured and yet gain glory through dishonour. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good they are punished as evil doers, when punished they rejoice as if being given new life. To put it simply the soul is to the body as Christians are to the world. The soul is in the body but is not off the body - Christians are in the world but not off the world.” How I wish they wrote about Christians like that today. It’s a challenge to us.
19thC Wm Booth & Sally Army were serving and witnessing in the slums. Christians risked their lives to show kindness.
God's Spirit helped Ray Hamley fight the impulse to pass by on the other side. On 26th Sept 1944, Ray Hamley, a RAF pilot, dropped bombs on the town of Kleve in Germany. His bombs hit the railway station, Nazi factories, and St Mary’s curch, Kleve. In WW2 647 civilians and 879 soldiers died in Kleve.
After the war, Ray Hamley , married his childhood sweetheart, and became the head of a primary school in Redcarr and later he became a HT in Whitby. In 1983, Ray read a newspaper story about the town of Kleve which was rebuilding St Mary’s Church, to be completed on the 40th Anniversary of the WW2 bombing. Ray realized that it was his bomb that destroyed it 1944.
God’s spirit got working on his heart as he thought about that tiny town, how the loss of the church and lives must have broken those people. Ray was tempted to pass by on the other side. A voice in his head said "Come on, Ray, the Nazis bombed our people in London; it was war, it was years ago; move on. It's not your concern." But Ray Hamley decided to write to the Mayor of Kleve, asking for forgiveness from the townspeople, and requesting that his letter be read by the priest at the dedication of the new church building. In 1984, Ray got a visit from the priest of Kleve, with a letter from the town inviting him to come and see the new church building. The letter was signed by 500 parishioners offering their forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ! Ray Hamley went to Kleve. His visit brought the Lord into his life and brought about an incredible reconciliation between Whitby and the people of Kleve in Germany. And it happened because by the power of God, he did not pass by on the other side! He did the loving thing Adapted. February 1994 Reader's Digest
Ask yourself what can I do in response to this word? Show me church who pursue kindness to all & I will show you people who make an impact for the Lord in our parish and further afield. Pray.
Cover Photo Kelvin in Greece with shepherd in 1978
