Lent 1 (NL3) John B. Valentine
Luke 10:25-37 February 21, 2021

“PERHAPS NOT BE THE STORY WE THINK IT IS”

This could have been such an easy story ...

If only the Samaritan ... the loser ... the half breed ...

• the traitor from the one true religion ...

• the fellow who came from the wrong side of the tracks and who worshipped in the wrong church and did so in the wrong way ...

• the one who didn’t count for anything ...

If only the outsider had been the one set upon by robbers ... and beaten ... and stripped ... and left for dead in a ditch beside the road .......

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It could have been such an easy story ...

If only the normal, everyday person ... the so-called ‘good’ person ... the religious person ... the reputable person ... the upstanding person ....

like the lawyer who had first asked the question of Jesus ...

If only the insider like that had been the one who had come along ... seen that victim ... knelt by his side ... given him wine to drink ... poured oil into his wounds ... taken him to an inn ... provided for his care ... and promised to return and pay any additional expenses that might be incurred.

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If THAT was the story which Jesus told ... it would have been such a nice, neat story ...

The way a story ought to be, simple ... clear-cut ... and with an obvious moral lesson:

A neighbor is someone ... anyone ... even a despised Samaritan ... who happens to be in need.

If THAT was the story which Jesus told ... it would have been the perfect example about that potent kind of love

• that colors outside the lines ...

• that crosses the lines of religious separation ...

• that steps over the boundaries of race and class ...

• that tears down every last wall which divides.

If THAT was the story which Jesus told ... it would have provided an straight-forward answer to the inquisitive lawyer’s urgent question .... “What shall I DO to inherit eternal life?”

• “Be charitable” ...

• “Embody hospitality” ...

• “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

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Problem is .... that’s not Jesus’ story. That’s not the way HE tells it.

• That might be the way that we usually hear it ...

• That might be the way we’ve traditionally used it ...

• That might be the way that we want it ...

But that’s NOT the way Jesus intended it!!

You see ... we WANT to just read the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example story ...

AN EXAMPLE OF HOW WE ARE TO BE NEIGHBORS TO OTHERS ... about how we are to serve and assist and care for others who are in need.

But I’m not quite sure that is the way that JESUS intended this story to be heard!

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Think about it this way:

If Jesus had wanted to cite an example of the way relationships should be between neighbors ... he certainly didn’t have to make up a story to get his point across.

Instead ... he could have just opened his Bible to 2nd Chronicles 28 and read the inquisitive lawyer a truly amazing tale about Samaritans and Jews.

You see ... according to Second Chronicles ... long before the days of Jesus ... there was this huge battle between a Samaritan army and an army of Jews.

And the Samaritans thoroughly trounced the Jewish army and hauled thousands of Jewish captives into Samaria.

But then ... in a tremendous act of graciousness and mercy ... the Samaritans clothed and fed and anointed all of those Jewish prisoners ... and let them go free so that they could return to their homes!

That’s a story that is truly incredible ... and incredibly true!

If Jesus were looking for a example about how one should treat enemies, it would have been pretty tough for him to top that tale ... wouldn’t it???

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But maybe Jesus wasn’t looking for an example story.

Maybe he didn’t tell the parable of the Good Samaritan so much as an EXAMPLE FOR US TO HEAR as he told it as a TRUTH FOR US TO EXPERIENCE!

Maybe Jesus isn’t so much asking that lawyer to consider behaving in a new way as much as he is wanting him to see things in a new way.

∙ Could it be that this is his way of cracking the shell of selfish sinfulness that surrounds our lives so that he can free us from some assumptions on which our lives have been based???

∙ Could it be that he is doing much MUCH more than simply giving us an example of how we “ought” to be treating our neighbors???

∙ Could it be that he is telling us the story of a clash between two very different - two very conflicting - ways of understanding the world???

You see ... the way Jesus tells the story ... the key question is not: “HOW CAN I BE A NEIGHBOR TO OTHERS?”

∙ Be they the wearers of a red MAGA hat or a “Black Lives Matter” shirt ...

∙ Be they the one who uses their power and privilege to cut in line for a scarce vaccine shot ... or the anti-vaxxer who belittles those who’ve waited patiently for hours to get a shot for a loved one ...

∙ Be they the public official who flies off to Cancun ... or goes to dinner at the French Laundry ... or whomever!

To be sure ... that question: “HOW CAN I BE A NEIGHBOR TO OTHERS?” is a difficult question and it’s a question that needs answering .....

But I’m not sure that’s the question that Jesus seems to be addressing in this parable.

Rather ... it seems to me that the question that seems to be truly at the heart of the Good Samaritan story is this .... "WHO IS A NEIGHBOR TO ME?"

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But before we answer that question .... consider this ...

You know how we’ve been doing those “Zoom Adult Ed” events on Tuesday nights ... wherein we talk about the biblical text and the sermon from the weekend prior???

One of you pointed out to me a couple of weeks ago that ... in a whole number of the Bible lessons we've read in worship since the first of the year ... Jesus has been disregarded or despised by those. who were in earshot.

• "And they got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff .... "

• "But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus .... "

Stuff like that ....

In other words ... Jesus has been treated ... well ... “like a Samaritan."

• Jesus ... a traitor to the one true religion ...

• Jesus ... who worships in the wrong church and does so in the wrong way ...

• Jesus ... who is going to be treated as if he doesn’t count for anything at all.

So. when he goes and asks the question that is truly at the heart of the Good Samaritan story is this .... “WHO IS A NEIGHBOR TO YOU?”

∙ Who is it that comes to your side when you’re lying in a roadside ditch, beaten and bleeding?

∙ Who is it that cradles and comforts you when the pains of life become so overwhelming they threaten to “do” you in?

∙ Who is it that offers you aid when you don’t know what to do, or which way to turn?

∙ Who is it that is there for you when you’ve received some really bad news?

Maybe the answer is Jesus ... is it not???

I mean ... let’s face it ... folks ...

• It’s probably not going to your fellow liberals or the conservatives or the moderates or whatever.

• It’s probably not going to be the gal next door ... or the friend across town.

• It’s certainly not going to be the government ...

• And it’s .... lamentably ... not even the churches!

No ... the only one ... THE ONLY ONE ... who TRULY “neighbors” us all the time is JESUS!

THE GOOD SAMARITAN IS ... ALWAYS AND ONLY .... JESUS.

Jesus is the One who comes to us from outside ourselves and loves us ... as we are ... where we are ... however we are.

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The primary point of this parable of the Good Samaritan is that JUST AS THE GOOD SAMARITAN CAME AND HAD COMPASSION ... with no thought of receiving anything in return ... AND BY SO DOING PROVED HIMSELF TO BE A REAL NEIGHBOR ...

SO GOD COMES TO US IN JESUS AND PROVES TO BE A REAL NEIGHBOR TO US.

“Just as the Samaritan does for the beaten fellow lying by the roadside ... so God does for you.”

JESUS is the Good Samaritan.

Again and again .... expecting nothing in return and with no thought of self ... JESUS has proven to be our true neighbor as we have fallen among the robbers of life.

This is the truth that Jesus ... first and foremost ... wants you to know ... THAT HE IS THERE ... NEIGHBORING YOU!!

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And then ... and only then ... when you’ve let that Good News do a deep root watering of your soul ...

May you hear his call to “Go and do likewise” ... to be “little Christs” to your neighbors.