The One who showed Mercy
Thirteenth Sunday After Trinity
Luke 10:23–37
Then turning to the disciples [Jesus] said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
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.”
And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
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. 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, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 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. 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.’
“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.”
And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (ESV)
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending us your Son, Jesus Christ, who showed mercy on our sinful race and performed works of compassion toward us, the chief of which being his death on the cross. Forgive us of our failings to love our neighbor and grant faith to show love because of the love and mercy you have shown us. In Jesus name. Amen.
Dear Fellow Redeemed,
If there was only one thing I could teach you as your pastor that you would never forget, it would be the words of St. Paul, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28). This Scriptural teaching of our justification by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is the most important teaching of Scripture. We confess in the Book of Concord, “It is the article by which the church stands or falls.” If you are straight on this fundamental article of faith, all the other articles can’t help but soon fall into place. And it is the only article which will bring lasting comfort to a sin-sick heart. However, this teaching is absolutely contrary to our human wisdom! Almost every religion and denomination in the world thinks that we must play a part, no matter how small, in our salvation. Paul battles against this notion in Romans 10, where he says of the Jews, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” You can’t justify yourself through your works or your keeping of the law. Christ is the end of the law. Only he can give us the righteousness needed to enter the kingdom of heaven. But why was this teaching so important to Paul? It’s because it was the teaching of Jesus.
Jesus told the seventy disciples who had returned from preaching the Gospel and performing miracles, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” Up until the Son of God became man, God’s people had to be content with shadows and types. But now Christ, God’s own Son, appeared before their eyes. Abraham saw Christ foreshadowed in the ram that he offered on Mt. Moriah in place of his only son, Isaac. Moses saw Christ typified through all the animal sacrifices in the worship of Israel. King David and the prophets saw Christ in their own writings about his suffering and his kingdom. But now Christ was here. They saw their Savior whom the kings and prophets longed to see.
But the lawyer was blind. Oh, he was smart. A lawyer had to be, but he was blind. Instead of coming to worship and praise God incarnate, to receive his grace and mercy, he came to test Jesus. Hoping to trap him in his words, to get Jesus to say something against one of the well-known rabbis or the law, he asked, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” In some ways, this is a great question. We should all be concerned about how to get to heaven. However, his question comes with the presupposition that he must play a part in it—“What shall I do…” as if eternal life was earned by our doing instead of by God’s grace alone. Jesus answers him with a question, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” Here, Jesus teaches us how to answer all theological questions—don’t use the traditions of men or the everchanging opinion of the day—go to the unchanging, inerrant, Word of God.
As a lawyer, he knew the first five books of Moses well. He answered correctly, summarizing the two tables of the law, love God perfectly and love your neighbor as yourself. If the man would have asked Jesus how he might be saved, Jesus would have pointed the man to himself. But the man did not ask that. He wanted to know what he had to do. So, Jesus points the lawyer to the law. “Do this, and you will live.” Jesus teaches that keeping the law is not just knowing it but obeying it. The lawyer’s next question reveals how truly blind he was. He did not realize the impossible demand it was to love God perfectly, to always trust him, to always honor his name, faithfully hear his word, and have your mind and thoughts perfectly aligned with his. He brushes over this part—he thinks he has done it! But to ensure he had kept the second part, he asks “who is my neighbor?” The very question shows that the man had not done it—because he is implying that some are excluded.
Before Jesus answers the question, he tells the man a story. A man, likely a Jew, was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and left him half dead. First, a priest comes down the road, but when he sees him, he passes by on the other side. Then comes a Levite, who comes to the place, but when he sees him, passes by on the other side. Jesus uses two men that would have been highly regarded by the lawyer—a priest and a Levite. The priest could have been journeying from or to his duties in the temple. He was a holy man, a man of God. Perhaps he was afraid of putting himself in danger with robbers possibly nearby or becoming unclean through touching what he thought was a dead body, but either way, he passed by. Likewise, the Levite. But then came a Samaritan. Remember Samaritans were hated by the Jews because they had intermarried with pagan foreigners, established their own place of worship, and worked against the Jews when they tried to rebuild the Temple. But when this Samaritan came and saw the man who was robbed, he had compassion. He was unconcerned about the potential danger of nearby robbers and went to help him. He bandaged his wounds and put him on his animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. He went above and beyond what anyone would expect from a random stranger, much less an enemy. He showed compassion. He was a neighbor.
In this story Jesus shows us what God’s law requires, what it truly means to love your neighbor. Jesus shows that you can’t love your neighbor if you only use the law to justify yourself. When you are trying to justify yourself, you are using the law to benefit yourself. But the love the law requires is a love that benefits your neighbor—not you. If you do it for you, you aren’t doing it to help your neighbor. Your neighbor is whoever needs your help. The man in the road needed the help of the priest and Levite who passed by on the other side. Did they pray for the man? Did they feel sorry for the man? It doesn’t matter. They didn’t show mercy. They didn’t help him. Therefore, they didn’t love him. Love isn’t just praying, talking, or feeling. It is showing mercy.
To love God means to keep his word. A person who loves God loves his neighbor. It’s the child who respects his parents, the wife who honors her husband, the husband who loves his wife and sacrifices his life for her, not when it’s easy or benefits you, but because God commands it. It’s those who honor the authorities whom God has placed over them, not when it’s convenient or you agree with them, but always because God has commanded it. It’s the one who shows mercy to those in need, not just whom he chooses.
The Samaritan showed mercy. The Jews despised Samaritans because of their false religious views. The Jews were not to associate or marry Samaritans. Jesus chose a Samaritan as the hero of his story to force the lawyer to acknowledge that the one he despised obeyed God while the priest and Levite who he revered did not.
The moral of this story is obvious to anyone. You don’t need to be a Christian to understand it. Love benefits others. Love shows mercy. When most read this story, they come away with another example of the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Be kind. Be nice. Be merciful. While the parable does teach this, Jesus is teaching us something more.
Jesus said, “Do this, and you will live.” Have you done this? Have you actually loved your neighbor the way God demands? It’s a lot easier to love your neighbor in theory, than in practice. You and I are as selective in who we love as the lawyer was. It’s easy for us to care about missions across the world, but it’s often hard for us to care about the mission opportunities in our back yard. It’s easy to show mercy to the orphans in India, but difficult to show mercy to the person down the street who made mistake after mistake, poor decision after poor decision. It’s easier to be kind to those you meet on a mission trip, but difficult to show kindness to the rude cashier or government worker. The law of the story tells us to be a good neighbor to everyone and anyone, but Jesus is showing us how it is impossible for you and me to do this.
So, if we can’t be the Good Samaritan, who are we in this parable? What part would you play? We are the one who was robbed, wounded, and left for dead on the side of the road. But we can only see ourselves as the half dead man through the eyes of faith. Human reason says otherwise. But through faith, we understand who the Good Samaritan really is and what this story really means. By nature, that was our spiritual condition—deceived by the devil, led into sin, and left spiritually helpless and hopeless—unable to crawl back to God. We were doomed to perish on the side of the road. No matter our efforts or desires, the law leaves us on the side of the road. It can’t help us. The law can’t help a sinner become a saint. The law condemns sinners to hell. The law passes us by on the other side of the road.
But not Jesus. Our dear Lord Jesus, who humbled himself, making himself of no reputation, came to save sinners. When he saw us wounded and left for dead, he came to our side, becoming man, so that he could save us. He does what the law cannot. Jesus bandages our wounds. He pours on oil and wine to soothe and to disinfect. He takes us to the inn of the church, so that we can be healed and restored. He paid for our stay by offering up his holy life of perfect obedience to God on the cross, his perfect love of God and neighbor, and by offering up himself as our substitute, he wins for us the forgiveness of sins. Jesus is the Good Samaritan, who justifies us by his holy and innocent blood. He is despised by those who seek to justify themselves, but loved by those who know they need mercy.
Jesus never stops helping us because we are always in need. We fail to love God and our neighbor as we ought. We say and do hurtful things; we bring trouble to our lives. The Good Samaritan has seen what a mess we have made in our lives, but he still loves us. He forgives us all our sins and fills us with his love. He changes our hearts so that we want what God wants and love what he loves. Yet, when we fall and lie helpless, Jesus doesn’t scold us for getting beaten, but has compassion on us, lifts us up, and forgives.
St. Paul declares, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28). Your hope of heaven is in Christ alone, the one who showed you mercy. May this parable teach us to love Jesus and proclaim the wonders of his love. Amen.