Bible Text:

“Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”          (Luke 10:36)

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is probably the most familiar parable of the approximately three dozen that Jesus told. We have adapted the phrase, “Good Samaritan” into our language without always even fully understanding what it means. Good Samaritan awards are passed out annually for unusual, lifesaving helpfulness. A number of cities around the United States have “Good Samaritan” hospitals. Many churches have “Good Samaritan” counseling centers. I don’t know such still exists or not, but years ago there were “Good Sam” campgrounds—ostensibly campgrounds where people really did help each other. So the parable of the Good Samaritan is not only well known but also a part of our common language. 

The story of this parable begins as a lawyer story. The lawyer asks Jesus a question. Lawyers get ribbed a lot. They get a bad rap. The temptation might be to do that here. However, I would have you note that Jesus does not even hint at this. Luke implies that the lawyer tried to entrap Jesus or test him. Jesus hears the lawyer’s cry as a cry from the heart: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (There’s one other place in the New Testament where the same question is asked. Do you remember where it is? It is the story of the rich young ruler as told in several of the Gospels. His question is the same: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”) Here is a man—a lawyer—who wants to make sure he is right on track. What must I do to inherit eternal life?

 A little boy asked his mother one day, “Mommy, do men get into Heaven?” The mother was puzzled by her son’s question. “Of course they do, son. Why do you ask?” Replied the boy, “Well, when I see pictures of angels, there are never any of them that have beards.” The mother being a quick-witted sort, replied, “Well, that’s because men only get into Heaven by a close shave.” 

This lawyer did not want to miss the cut. He wanted to make sure he had the right answer. What must I do to inherit eternal life?

 Jesus invites the lawyer to answer his own question. The lawyer does so, dutifully. He responds with the obvious answer—the familiar guidelines: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Here is the original inreach/outreach theme of the New Testament. Put another way, here is the crucial balance between the vertical dimension and the horizontal dimension to life.

 Remember those old style television sets that had little knobs on them to adjust the horizontal and the vertical? For some strange reason the knobs were always on the back. You needed to be an acrobatic contortionist in order to reach them and still see what was going on on the screen. However, it was absolutely crucial that those two knobs be set right. In a sense, the lawyer is saying to Jesus, “I guess I have to get my vertical and my horizontal in good balance.”

 Jesus affirms, “You are exactly right. Do this and you will live.”

 But the lawyer is not sure he understands. One word they heard him speak still bothers him. The word is “neighbor.” So he comes back to Jesus with a second question, “Who is my neighbor?” In other words, “I think I have the vertical okay, but what is this neighbor bit?

 Jesus hears the question. He knows the depth of the question. And he replies to the lawyer’s second question by telling a very descriptive story.

 This is a story which very well could have been true. The road Jesus described was real. It still is. It is a winding road from Jerusalem to Jericho. There are many huge rocks along the road, behind which any thief could hide and then pounce upon an unsuspecting victim. Very few of the parables that Jesus told are this specific.

 When Jesus finishes the story, he asks a very masterful question: “Which man proved neighbor to the injured traveler?” Some translations of the New Testament make this a passive verb. Which one was neighbor, or which one is neighbor? However, I think the force of the question is an active verb. Which man proved neighbor to the injured traveler?

 Let’s go back to the story. What do we learn here about discipleship?

DO SOMETHING 

First, Jesus says you must do something in order to be his disciple. Following Jesus means to do something. There is no such thing as a “couch potato” Christian.

A few years ago I saw an advertisement for a very popular model of an overstuffed chair. It was one of those chairs you could easily fall asleep in, with leg support and everything. However, I noticed that it was very pricey. Then I found out why. You could lift up one arm of the chair and expose a compartment. The compartment held a universal remote for any television, a telephone with an answering machine, a modem plug for your computer, and controls for the chair’s vibrating system. You could literally live in that chair.

 Jesus said you need to do something on behalf of another. Turn your attention for a moment to the story of the two men who passed by on the other side—the priest and the Levite. What does that story mean? Is it a story of callous religious leadership? Does it have the force of anti-clericalism? More likely it is a symbol for those who served the temple. Priests and Levites served the temple and performed a very important function for the people of the Jewish faith. These two might have been commuters. They walked to the temple once each day or once each week from Jericho to Jerusalem. However, the essential thing was that they had to remain pure for their task. The Old Testament law said that before they served God in the temple they were not allowed to touch an injured or dead human body. In other words, if they were waiting on God (the vertical), they could not do the horizontal. 

Jesus is saying, don’t neglect doing something while serving God.

There’s a wonderful story about a youth group that was planning their Youth Sunday in worship leadership. The week before their designated Sunday, they planned a little video experiment. One of their members dressed up in some old tattered clothing, put on a floppy hat, and lay down outside the door to the main entrance of the church. He lay in such a way that the hat covered his face and no one could see who it really was. Then the youth set up a video camera in an obscure place and filmed what happened. Several people stopped to let somebody off at the door, saw the figure lying in front of the door, and drove on away. Perhaps they never came to church at all. A few people came, saw the figure at the door, and drove around to another entrance so that they didn’t have to be bothered. A few other people actually used that entrance, but they walked as far away from the unknown figure as they possibly could and still get in the door of the church. Not a single person ever stopped to find out whether this individual lying at the doorway was dead or alive.

 The next Sunday, as a part of the youth service, the youth showed an edited version of the videotape to the congregation. It was a lesson they never forgot. 

The letter of James in the New Testament says much the same thing. James could almost be teaching the message of the parable. Listen to his words.

 What good is it for someone to say, “I have faith”, if his actions do not prove it? Can that faith save him? Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don’t have enough to eat? What good is there in your saying to them, “God bless you, keep warm, and eat well”, if you don’t give them the necessities of life? So it is with faith. If it is alone and has no actions with it, then it is dead. (James 2:14-17, TEV)

 Today 40 junior high youth and their counselors are on a weekend work camp in a town in West Virginia which is now an old abandoned coal camp. One third of the youth are painting the church in that town. Another third are leading a Vacation Bible School with children. A final third are helping to repair a private home. What is the point? The point is to teach our youth from the very beginning days of their adolescence to do something as a believer. It’s an important part of Christian discipleship.

 A colleague in another church was interviewing a couple in preparation for marriage. They were not members of his church. He asked them, “Are you church members? Are you believers?” The woman responded, “I guess I’m sort of a Christian, like everybody else.” My friend asked what that meant. Her response was less than satisfying. So he said to them, “Let me offer you an upgrade today.”[i] 

Jesus is saying to the lawyer, “Let me offer you an upgrade.” Jesus is saying to you and me as we hear this parable today, “Let me offer you an upgrade.”

DO SOMETHING UNEXPECTED

 Secondly, the parable says that we are to do something unexpected. There’s a story about two men who were in the forest and were challenged by a large grizzly bear. One of the two men was an expert climber. He climbed a tree as high as he could possibly go. The second man was unable to climb. Remembering something he thought he had learned in school, he lay down very still. He thought he had heard that if a bear thinks some prospective prey is dead, the bear would not touch it. The bear sniffed around his head for a while, finally gave up, and lumbered away.

 After the bear was out of sight, the first man came down from the tree. “Wow,” he said, “that bear was really close to you. It almost looked like he was whispering in your ear.” Said the second man, “He was. He said to me, ‘Never take somebody for a friend who abandons you in a time of need.’”

 Jesus says, do the unexpected. The Samaritan is unexpectedly good. God expects us to be unexpectedly good.

 This was really a startling parable to hear. The Jewish people knew the plight of victims. They themselves had been victims over many centuries. They had been beaten up and robbed by many nations, time and time again. What they did not expect to hear was the person who stopped to help the man in need. He was a Samaritan. He was the least likely person to stop.

 Jesus simply says, be ready to do the least likely thing. Do the least expected thing. Be ready to have your life interrupted on behalf of a human being in need.

 This is more than simply the kind of slogan that reads “random acts of mercy.” This is not random at all. There is a creative edge to your journey. That’s what Jesus is saying.

 There is a story about a woman who was shopping one day on a cold, wintry afternoon. As she walked into a store she noticed a 9 or 10 year old boy standing on one of those sidewalk grates from which heat is emitted. She noticed that he didn’t have a coat, that he had no gloves, and that he had shoes on but no socks. She walked over to him and said, “Son, where is your coat?” “I don’t have one,” he replied. “What about your socks or your gloves?” “I don’t have any of those either.” “Come with me,” she said. They went into the store and she purchased for the boy a winter coat, several pairs of socks, some new shoes, and some gloves. 

They walked out of the store together and the boy took off like a shot—perhaps going to tell his family of his good fortune. He got about 50 or 60 feet away and he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned around and came back to the woman. “Ma’am,” he said, “are you God’s wife?” “No,” she laughed. “I’m just one of God’s children.” “I knew it,” he said. “I knew you were some kin to God.”

 Jesus simply says, do the unexpected.

DO THE EXTRAORDINARILY GENEROUS THING

 There is one other piece of this story that I really just noticed for the first time as I was reading it this past week. Jesus is also inviting us to do the extraordinarily generous thing.

 Some children were once asked. “What is love?” One little girl said, “Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your french fries without making them give you some of theirs.” Another child said, “Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”

 Jesus is saying, do the extraordinarily generous thing. This component is clearly present in the parable. The Samaritan binds up the man’s wounds. He pours on expensive oil and wine. He walks the rest of the way to Jericho so that the injured man can ride his donkey. Then when he gets into town, he gives the innkeeper money to cover all of the man’s expenses.

 But there is even more. This is the incredible part. The Samaritan says, “I’ll be back this way in six or seven days. When I return I will pay all added costs. Whatever is still owed on his bill, I will gladly pay it.”

 I thought this week about some of the people the Pastor’s Fund has helped over the years because of your generosity. I have some pretty strict guidelines about the Pastor’s Fund. If someone needs a room for a night, we will arrange for them to get a room over here at the Ramada Inn, and perhaps an $8 credit toward breakfast. It must be the simplest room available, and there are no other charges that may be added to the bill. If someone wants a tank of gas, I have a Christian service station operator that I call who will put in a tank of regular gasoline—not premium gas, only regular. And he’s only to fill the tank once. He’s not to add anything to a container on the side. If someone needs a meal I’ll pull out a gift certificate to Eat ‘n Park and give them that gift certificate, amounting to perhaps $10. No more, just the $10. 

Not so for Jesus in this story. “Whatever bill he rings up, I’ll pay it.” It really is an incredible statement. It is not a call to be reckless, but it is a call to be extraordinarily generous.

 “Who is my neighbor?” the lawyer asks. Jesus ends up asking, “Which man proved neighbor to the traveler who fell among thieves?” The answer and the subsequent question were probably a lot more than the lawyer bargained for. Jesus said you must do something. You must do something unexpected and imaginative. You must do something extraordinarily generous. In a sense Jesus is saying, “If you have a choice, make this kind of choice. Make this kind of choice, and you will live.”

 And the story still plays. The story still addresses you and me as if we had asked the question today. We have to continue to play with the controls on life’s TV for a while. We have to continue to work to get both the vertical and the horizontal components in good balance.

 Jesus question is a Master-full question: which man proved neighbor to the injured traveler? You and I must prayerfully discern what that means for each of us.