The 13th Sunday after Trinity – August 25th, 2024
Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: Luke 10:23–37
“Who Is My Neighbor?”
Theme: Your neighbor—the one God puts in your path—needs your grace and mercy as much as you need Jesus’s grace and mercy for yourself.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
A lawyer asked Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (25). The lawyer didn’t ask this question because he was curious. He didn’t ask this question in order to find the truth. Instead, this question was designed to test Jesus. The lawyer saw Jesus as a fraud and not the Son of God. He was out to trap or to prove Jesus wrong. He believed that Jesus had failed in what the law demands because Jesus associates Himself with the so-called sinners and tax collectors.
Before Jesus answered the lawyer’s question, he asked this question, “What is written in the law?” The lawyer was no dummy; he knew his Bible. So he answered by quoting Deuteronomy 6: “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.” “Bravo,” says Jesus. “You’ve paid attention in synagogue school. You’ve learned your law lessons well. Do this, and you will live.” The lawyer asked a law question and Jesus gave him a law answer.
But could the lawyer fulfill the law perfectly? Can we fulfill the law perfectly? Who can love the Lord God with the complete and utter totality of all the heart, soul, strength, and mind? The law demands that we do what it says. It never deals in fractions. It is not enough to say, “I love God with 90% of my heart, soul, strength, and mind” Or, “God can have my heart, but not my strength.” The law is never satisfied with anything less than perfection. Fulfill the law and you will live. But if you do not, then you will die.
Jesus’ answer left the lawyer uncomfortable. He was caught in his own legal trap. And so, the lawyer asks another question, this time a self-justifying question. He asked, “And who then is my neighbor?” The lawyer was hoping that Jesus would exclude certain people from being a neighbor, such as sinners, Gentiles, Samaritans, and tax collectors. He hoped that love toward the neighbor would only include those who are pure and holy. The lawyer was hoping that Jesus would give a list of people who are excluded from being loved. You see, the lawyer was simply looking for a loophole in the law.
We do the same thing. We look for loopholes or exceptions in the law in order to justify ourselves. You may not have killed anyone, but you’ve broken the fifth commandment by simply having anger in your heart. You may not have committed physical adultery, but you’ve broken the sixth commandment by having lust in your heart. Have you stolen anything from your neighbor? Have you gossiped about them? Have you coveted people or things?
Maybe our thoughts could be similar to the lawyer’s loophole question, “What do you mean by ‘neighbor’? Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus then told the story of the Good Samaritan: A man travels from Jerusalem to Jericho. He is overtaken by robbers who beat him, strip him of his clothes, wound him, and leave him bleeding in the ditch next to the road. The man is almost dead. It’s the kind of stuff we hear about in the news or read about in the newspaper.
A priest saw the man lying in the ditch at the side of the road and went on the other side. He didn’t want to get anywhere near the man. The Levite came a bit closer, right up to the place, but he too passed by on the other side of the road. Neither of them bothered to help the poor man.
Now, the law said that if they touched a dead body that they would be ceremonially unclean and therefore unable to fulfill their duties in the temple. They were in a predicament. On the one hand, the law commanded that they love their neighbor if he was alive. On the other hand, the law declared them unclean if this man turned out to be dead. What do they do? They should take the chance that the guy isn’t dead and help him. Even if they become ceremonially unclean, let someone else serve in the temple that day. The guy’s life is more important.
We’ve all walked in the shoes of the priest and the Levite. We’ve turned our heads so as not to see the need of our neighbor. We’ve tried to avoid situations that demand our help. We see someone in need and we say, “We can’t afford it” or “I don’t have time.”
But the Samaritan was different. He had compassion on the man. The Samaritan cleaned the wounds with oil and wine. He then wrapped the wounds with bandages and transported him to a local inn. When they got there, the Samaritan paid enough money for the motel manager to take care of the man. To top it off, he gave the manager some extra money to cover any additional expenses.
Jesus then turns to the lawyer with a final question: “So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” The answer is obvious, isn’t it? The Samaritan.
Who is my neighbor? Who is your neighbor? It is whoever happens to need help at any particular moment. It might be a spouse or family member, an employee, a classmate, or a member of this congregation. Anyone who is in need of mercy is our neighbor. Many times the person at our door step was put there by God Himself.
If you, like the Pharisee or Levite, are trying to get out of helping someone, then think twice. At the same time, we must recognize that while this law is good, it will not save us. This is the problem of the lawyer, who thought he could keep the law of God. That is also message that Jesus is sending. Help your neighbor in need, but recognize that you are unable to save yourself by doing these things.
If loving God and our neighbor perfectly is the way to eternal life, then we are all doomed. If eternal life depends on our performance of the law, then none of us have measured up. Because of our sin, we are like the man in the parable who is half-dead. Satan has stripped us of our righteousness in the Garden of Eden, leaving us naked in sin. He has wounded us with death leaving us unable to find our way back to the fold. He has left us spiritually blind, dead, and an enemy of God. We need a good Samaritan.
And that’s where Jesus comes on the scene. Jesus came down from heaven in order to bring us salvation. He came to be our neighbor with flesh and blood like us. Jesus had mercy upon the hurting, so He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and He raised the dead. Jesus fulfilled the law in our place. He truly loved His Father in heaven, and Jesus also loved His neighbor—even those who hated Him. Jesus also died upon the cross in our place. He was the perfect Priest. He did not walk by on the other side, but He willingly offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin. Three days later, our Good Shepherd rose from the dead and is still alive.
Dearly beloved, Jesus came to you, a lost lamb, and picked you up. You were stripped of your righteousness, beaten, and wounded in transgression and sin. Jesus had compassion on you. He poured the healing balm of His forgiveness into your wound. He brought you to the Church. Your sins were washed away in the waters of Holy Baptism. Your sins are pardoned and forgiven because of Christ’s death and resurrection.
You hear God’s absolving Word. You hear His Gospel preached. Blessed are you, for your eyes of faith see Jesus as your Savior. Blessed are you, because your hearts hear the life-giving Words of our Lord. Blessed are you, because you partake of Christ’s true body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sin. Jesus has given you the riches of His grace. He takes care of you. If there was ever one who was truly neighbor for you, it was Jesus, who laid down his life in order to save you.
And now loving our neighbor is done freely. It flows naturally from the heart of faith. We receive love and forgiveness from God and then it freely flows into the neighbor. We don’t love the neighbor in order to earn heaven. Our goodness is done for our neighbor because of the goodness God has done for us. We pray that the Word of God would not only strengthen us in faith toward God, but also in fervent love toward one another.
Who is my neighbor? Who is your neighbor? Anyone who needs help, anyone who the Lord has put in your path—especially the person in your family or at work.
What must I do to inherit eternal life? Heaven is not earned by works. Rather, heaven is an inheritance. Because of Christ’s atoning death on the cross, God has given you the inheritance of eternal life. By grace you have been saved through faith in Christ. Thanks be to God.
The peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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