Trinity 13

Text: Luke 10:23-37
September 10, 2022

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Think back to when you were a child. Were you brought up in the Christian faith? How were you taught to treat others? How about those who hurt or harmed you either physically or emotionally? Those who deserted you and left you in times of greatest need? 

In line with the words of the lawyer in today’s Gospel, you were likely brought up to, “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.” Even those who meant harm to you. And this is a good and correct response. It reveals a complete fear, love, and trust in God, as we learned the meaning of the First Commandment this past week in our memory work. It is also a reflection of how the Proverb says a parent is to raise their child as we hear, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

But like the lawyer, we are interested in loopholes as we grow and mature in this life to adulthood. That is what the lawyer's following question to Jesus is all about, finding a loophole. The lawyer asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

The lawyer's question implies that there are people who are not his neighbor or his enemy. There are people he should be kind to, care for in this life, and give to in their times of need, and there are other people he doesn't need to be concerned with. He acts as if the law is unclear regarding his neighbors' true identity. This attempts to deflect the argument from himself and justify himself by his deeds and actions. 

If you read the newsletter article for the week, you're already familiar with this quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He says:

The Christian cannot simply take for granted the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. In the end all his disciples abandoned him. On the cross he was all alone, surrounded by criminals and the jeering crowds. He had come for the express purpose of bringing peace to the enemies of God. So Christians, too, belong not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the midst of enemies. There they find their mission, their work. 

I believe this quote is powerful and important because it begs the question, who has Jesus excluded from His love and mercy? Who has Jesus avoided or turned away in their time of need? Absolutely no one. But, who have you withheld your love and compassion? Who have you avoided in their time of need? 

In the end, the dispute between the lawyer and Jesus boils down to a dispute over the Torah. “Jesus sees the Torah as part of the God-given means to eternal life, and this life comes purely by grace through faith, which is as the apostle Paul says, ‘active in love.’ (Galatians 5:6) Conversely, the lawyer attempts (and fails) to justify himself by twisting the Torah into a legalistic system that would excuse him from showing love to others.” (Just, 450)

Here's the thing, the Law demands your perfection. There are no loopholes. It says, “do this,” and you can never do it. At least not as God has demanded. And still, while your fallen mind believes you can fulfill the holy commands of God, in the end, your endeavors for perfection sadly reveal how you are in love with yourself more than any neighbor. 

The Epistle today makes a distinction between the Law and Gospel promises. It says, “If a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” This passage flushes things out for us. If our kindness could save us, then the law would be our righteousness. But that’s not what the epistle says. Instead, what saves us is faith in Jesus. He is our righteousness. 

The reality is that we really do love ourselves too much and our neighbors and especially our enemies too little. Therefore, we are inclined to justify ourselves and desire to show ourselves as righteous. We look to our deeds and works in the community, church, and homes as lawyers. We look for them to justify us before God. For this reason, the parable Jesus tells the lawyer is also for you.

A man is beaten to the edge of death, stripped naked of his clothes, robbed, and thrown into a ditch to die. The priest goes down the road and passes on the other side of the man. The Levite followed the priest, came to the place, and then passed on the other side of the injured man. Maybe the Levite took the lead of the priest, imitating his example, not desiring to challenge the priest's decision or ranking to pass by the injured man. Likewise, isn't it interesting if we look at how children react to situations similar to this, how their pattern of actions most closely follows their parents and people of authority in their lives? You see, children most often react to the events of life in how they are trained and raised by observing their parents' lead. It’s no different for any of us adults, who follow the patterns laid out first by our parents and now by our leaders.

But the man, who stops to give aid, does so with no regard for himself but unconditional love for his neighbor. After all, there is a chance the robbers and thieves are still around, awaiting a second person to jump. But he stops and carries the man lying in the ditch to safety. He pays for his medical care and promises to pay for future medical expenses. This man is a Samaritan. You see, however, Samaritans and Jews hate each other. They don’t get along and don't associate with one another. They are what the east is to the west; the divide is too large among their people. This story would simply never happen. 

Except it did. Jesus isn't telling a story of what you need to do. That is not it. Instead, He is telling a story of what He does. Christ is the Good Samaritan. He saw the wretched state of mankind. He saw what we had become through our sin and had compassion. He entered this world as a child. He assumed our human nature, breathed our worldly air, followed His Father’s will, and took the lowliest of places among sinners and thieves. He was stripped of His clothes and hung to die a sinner's death, a criminal's death on the cross. 

Jesus does this for you. He comes to the most fallen of man, He comes to the sinner, the helpless, the ones who hate Him with all their strength, and He has mercy on them. It’s not that we loved, but that He loved us. 

So you are in this parable too. You are the man in the ditch. 

God sees mankind collectively in the ditch, groaning in pain and crying out for help. And it's easy for us to cast off, to turn aside from the help He brings. You may still suffer from disease or illness, you may suffer emotionally or physically from the harm of others, and you may feel that you have been left by your fellow man, disserted. But this is why Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, became man. He became a man to rescue you from the misery and grief of this fallen world. On the cross, Jesus pours out His blood so that you would not be cast off forever but restored. 

The lawyer’s desire in today’s Gospel to be justified by His works will never happen. No mere mortal can or ever will do what the Law demands of them. Yet, there is always a place for good works in the Christian life. There is a place for mercy among our enemies and compassion for those who suffer and are in despair, just as Christ has for us. 

Throughout this Gospel, there is a theme of reversal. The lawyer is supposed to be one of the wise of the world, and yet, he doesn’t see Jesus with the childlike faith of the disciples. 

As children have returned to school, we must remind ourselves that we are all children of God - in need of His gifts of mercy and forgiveness. So continue to regularly come to the Divine Service to receive Christ's Word into your ears, be fed with His flesh and blood for the forgiveness of sin, and be eternally clothed by Him in the garments of salvation. For here, He is present for you.

My friends, everyone is wounded. Everyone is dying. All of our lives are broken, messed up, and troubled – we all experience times of being in the ditch. But praise God, Jesus brings you healing, compassion, and eternal life. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA