we start that long walk into town
where we show a little mercy
A lawyer stands up. Testing Jesus with a question he thinks already knows the answer to. “Teacher, What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus tosses the question right back. “You seem like the kind of guy who got perfect attendance in Sunday School. I bet you know. What have you year in the Bible?”
And like the know-it-all the guy is, he gives the textbook answer. Word for word…
Turning to leave, Jesus shrugs. “You obviously have your answer. Do that.”
But not to be put off so easily, the lawyer asks his now infamous follow-up; “And who, exactly, is my neighbor?”
And you know the rest, don’t you? Why, this parable is so popular, it even has laws named after it. You too figure you already know the moral, the point of this parable…
But does it ever bother you? That disconnect between what happens here and the rest of your life? The way the moral, the point never actually carries over into real life all that well?
…Today we hear Jesus telling the so-called parable of the “Good Samaritan.” And this parable, rather than giving answers, actually asks a question. But we, like the lawyer who tests Jesus, don’t hear it. Because we think we already know the answer.
So if you’re going to hear this parable, you need to brush up on a finer point of theology. That Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Fully human, and fully divine.
Jesus shows us who God is, yes. But that’s not all. Jesus also shows us what we are like too. In Jesus’ life, we get a picture of what it means to be fully human.
And frankly, this parable is about both of those things. It’s not a guide to being more religious. It’s about how to be more human.
And the depiction Jesus makes, is one we would never expect…
…A man was leaving the city, when his car stalled. But before he could get the engine to turn over, he was mugged. Left unconscious on the side of the road.
As he lay there half-dead, wouldn’t you know it, a pastor came down the street. But when the pastor saw the scene of the crime, he took a wide berth. And the same thing even happened with the chair of the woman’s aid passed by, too!
…But then, another guy came down the road. And you know the kind. The kind you hope never moves in next door.
Well, when that guy saw the scene, he couldn’t just pass by. He put the man in his old jalopy. Drove across town, to the hospital. And when the intake nurse asked for insurance, the guy just gave her his credit card. Telling her to, spare no expense. Then, the rest of the night, that guy sat at the edge of the man’s bed.
To which, Jesus asks a question so straight-forward, we never see it coming. “Which of the three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
Now, I’m going to repeat Jesus’ question. Because all of us, like the lawyer, think we already know the answer. “Which of the three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
All too often we’re like the lawyer, or Martha for that matter. We’re so caught up with trying to give the right answer, do the right thing, we miss the point.
We miss the point thinking Jesus is just trying to get us to be more religious. We miss the point by thinking we already know the answer. And the result is always the same, we don’t hear the question.
But that’s the key to today’s parable. The question.
“Which of the three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
So, what’s the answer? “Which of the three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Go ahead, someone shout out the answer.
That’s right. The one who showed him mercy.
It all begins with a question about inheriting eternal life.
When the man says he reads that to do it, you have to love God and your neighbor, Jesus doesn’t argue. So the man asks, who is his neighbor. To which Jesus tells a parable, asserting that the man’s neighbor is the one who showed him mercy(!).
Did you catch that?!?
There’s a shift. A shift that those of us who are worried and distracted by many things nearly always miss.
So let me be as subtle as a train wreck. Jesus does not tell the parable as if the lawyer were the Samaritan. Jesus tells the parable as if the lawyer were the man on the side of the road. This parable isn't telling the lawyer how to behave. The parable is telling the lawyer who he is.
In Jesus’ parable the lawyer isn’t the merciful samaritan, but the man lying helplessly on the side of the road! The neighbor isn't the one who needs help, but the one who gives it!
Who is his neighbor? The one who shows him mercy. Not vice-versa!
In our rush to do the right thing. To get to the moral, we like the lawyer and Martha, miss the point! Or better put, the punchline.
Either way, it’s the good stuff.
Jesus asks who was the neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers. And while the answer may be “the one who showed him mercy.” The punchline most certainly is, “Go and do likewise.”
Because in the parable, the lawyer isn’t the samaritan. The lawyer is the man on the side of the road. The man who can’t do anything. The man who needs mercy!
And let’s be honest, when you’re in the ditch, helpless, there’s nowhere to go. There’s nothing to do. There’s just hoping someone will see you there, and show you a little mercy.
Here Jesus is, talking about those times when we need God, and we try to make the parable into some theoretical moral! That’s why the church doesn’t seem like it has anything to do with the rest of our lives!
Beloved, this parable is not another thing to add to your religious to-do list. This parable is a picture of what it means to be fully human.
After all, who among us hasn’t been beaten up by life? Sidelined? Helpless?
After all, who among us hasn’t been beaten up by life? Sidelined? Helpless?
On this side of eternity, we’re all going to find ourselves in the ditch a time or two, aren’t we?
And when that happens, our greatest fear is that no one will see us. That no one will show us mercy. That we’ll be stuck there, all alone, forever.
But Jesus tells a parable about someone we would never expect, refusing to leave us in such dire straights. Someone who sees us at our most helpless, and refuses to leave our side. Someone who sees us when we can’t do a thing for ourselves, and extravagantly shows us love.
Folks, this parable isn’t about what you have to do. This parable is about God. The kind of God you have.
The God who won’t ignore those parts of our lives we’re afraid of. The God who comes near to us when we can’t do a thing for ourselves, and shows us mercy.
Jesus, when we actually sit at his feet and listen, has a way of being more honest about our lives than we are.
And today’s parable is one such moment.
In this so-called parable of the “Good Samaritan;” Jesus doesn’t tell you how to be more religious. Jesus tells of those times and places in all our lives when we can’t be more religious. Or anything else for that matter, because we’re helpless.
And Jesus says something we’d never expect, that God meets us in those places.
God doesn’t despise our humanity. God isn’t afraid of it. God even comes near it.
When we can’t save ourselves, God comes to us and shows us mercy. Saves us.
If you want to be fully human, stop trying to control your life. Stop trying to save yourself. Stop trying to be God.
Because God does that better than we ever would.
That’s what this parable promises.
Not that you have to be a “good samaritan.” But that when you’re helpless and all alone; God will be there. That you don’t have to be afraid of life, because you have the kind of God who isn’t afraid of you. Not your highs, or your lows. None of it. There’s no part of you, your your savior won’t come near, have mercy on.
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