Trinity 13 10 September 2017 Jesus A Neighbor to Us Luke 10:23-37 by Rev. Michael G. Lilienthal Hymn: Lord of Glory, Who Hast Bought Us, ELH #459 Let us pray: Lord, make us more like you, so that we may grow in faith and in love and charity for our neighbor. May people see you in our actions as we reach out to them in your love. Amen. Dear heirs of God s promises, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord (2 Pet. 2:2). Amen. Your ears have been opened, your eyes enlightened, so that you may see the fulfillment of all things in Jesus Christ our Lord. The Word of God that is preached to you regularly, daily, opens this truth to you. The Law, with its impossible demands, condemned us. Because of the first sin of our parents, Adam and Eve, we are bound and dead in sin. Because of our constant sins, both what we do and what we do not do, we affirm our position as sinners. But in Jesus all has come to fruition, the Law is fulfilled and can no longer condemn us, and so we are blessed with a glorious and eternal inheritance. Jesus teaches this blessed message: Luke 10:23 37 23 Turning to the disciples, he said privately, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 Indeed, I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see the things that you are seeing, yet did not see them, and to hear the things that you are hearing, yet did not hear them. 25 Just then, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 26 What is written in the law? he asked him. What do you read there? 27 He replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all
2 Luke 10:23-37 your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself. 28 He said to him, You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live. 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, And who is my neighbor? 30 Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among robbers who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 It just so happened that a priest was going down that way. But when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite also happened to go there, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 33 A Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where the man was. When he saw him, he felt sorry for the man. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He put him on his own animal, took him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day, when he left, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend, I will repay you when I return. 36 Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers? 37 The one who showed mercy to him, he replied. Then Jesus told him, Go and do likewise. These are your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us in the truth. Your Word is truth. Amen. We are indeed commanded by the Law to be a neighbor to our fellow man, showing selfless love and charity with no concern for our own well-being. But we failed in this. Nevertheless Jesus came as the fulfillment, the perfect neighbor to us. I. Only Mercy Saves First let us see ourselves as the man beset by robbers in the parable. This is our state because of our sins: The Law makes such demand that we could never fulfill them all: if we would be saved by works in keeping with the Law, we must be honest: have you had other gods? I don t mean, have you carved an idol out of wood or stone and bowed down to it; I mean, have you ever valued anything more than God, by which: have you ever thought you d rather focus your time on anything, anything, other than
Jesus A Neighbor to Us 3 church, or valued a church for something other than the pure teaching of God s Word? I m not even going to bother going over the rest of God s commandments, you can examine yourself on their account, because you have them memorized, right? Imagine what sins do to you: they take away all your good qualities, removing anything of worth within you, leaving you bankrupt, not to mention Jesus urging for our mercy: If anyone wants to sue you to take away your shirt, give him your coat too (Matt. 5:40). How quickly our sins, those robbers, strip us and leave us naked. But more than that, they harm our being as well! Jesus said, If your right eye causes you to fall into sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you. If your right hand causes you to fall into sin, cut it off and throw it away from you (Matt. 5:29, 30). Catholic monks used to (and I m sure in some places still do) beat their flesh for their sins. Just skim the book of Leviticus to see what punishments result from sin. Count how many times the punishment is death. Again, those robbers, our sin, leave us beaten and half dead. In fact, St. Paul writes of us all: You were dead in your trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). In another place he said, So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned (Rom. 5:12). For the wages of sin is death, says Scripture (Rom. 6:23); and, Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them (Deut. 27:26, ESV). We, like that unfortunate man on his journey, lie stripped and bruised and dead because of our sin, both that which we inherited from Adam who committed the first sin, and that which we ourselves commit continually, every day. Ah, but hope is on the
4 Luke 10:23-37 horizon! Here comes a priest! He can make atonement for me, make sacrifices, pay for my sin! But no, he passes by on the other side. The writer to the Hebrews has some insight into why this priest cannot help: In fact, the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the actual realization of those things. It will never be able to make perfect those who continually offer the same sacrifices year after year. If it could do this, would they not have stopped bringing sacrifices, because the worshippers, once they were cleansed, would no longer have a bad conscience about sins? Instead, these sacrifices reminded them of their sins year after year. The fact is that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. (Heb. 10:1-4) Yes, indeed, the priest, a representative of the Old Covenant, can only point out the need for the New Covenant, which is precisely what he does in this story: he walks by on the other side, demonstrating the deep need of this poor beaten man for someone, anyone, to have mercy upon him. In fact, as Jesus said just before this story, many prophets and kings wanted to see the things that you are seeing, yet did not see them, and to hear the things that you are hearing, yet did not hear them. Yes, indeed, prophets, priests, and kings all looked forward to the fulfillment of mercy, but none of them saw it. They held only to the promise. And the priests, and the whole clan of the Levites, seemed to have lost sight of the promise, and instead held only to the commands. Do this, and you will live. They took it as an if-then: If we keep the Law, then we will live and merit salvation. The problem is the misapprehension of what the Old Covenant actually meant. Jesus reminded the people of an utterance by the prophet Hosea: Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. In fact, he went on to say, I did not come to
Jesus A Neighbor to Us 5 call the righteous, but sinners (Matt. 9:13). This gets at the meaning of the Old Covenant: those sacrifices ones which God demanded, never mistake that they were only a shadow of what was to come. Once again, the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the actual realization of those things (Heb. 10:1). St. Paul also said, Therefore, do not let anyone judge you in regard to food or drink, or in regard to a festival or a New Moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were coming, but the body belongs to Christ (Col. 2:16-17). The Law, the Old Covenant, all its rules and regulations, they were merely shadows, pictures, of the fulfillment to come. This is why the priest and Levite could not help. They did not have the fulfillment of mercy. They were lost and wrapped up in the Law, the letter of the Law, as we saw in last week s Epistle: For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6). The letter of the Law: Do this, and you will live, means that we all die. But the spirit of the Law, by which I mean that its main purpose is to point us to the Gospel, to point us to Christ, to demonstrate how those commands were fulfilled on our behalf, how we, who are sinners according to the letter, are called by our Savior and declared righteous by him, for he came to call sinners. That Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law: this is what the Old Testament prophets, priests, and kings wished to see, and is what the disciples are now blessed to see what we are now blessed to see. This is the fulfillment of our salvation. Because while we were dead in our trespasses and sins, with no Law able to help us, to bring us out, along came one from whom we could expect no help: a Samaritan.
6 Luke 10:23-37 Just like the Jews hated the Samaritans, rejected them, cast them out from their land, we hated God, rejected him, cast him out from our hearts. Jesus, specifically, that one who came but was not received among his own people, but was hated by them, nevertheless, Jesus, God himself, descended into the pit of death, the deepest depths of Sheol (the land of the dead) where we lay God came down to us, although we did not deserve his help; God indeed died for us Jesus died on the cross, putting himself into our death and punishment so that we could have his life. God, because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! (Eph. 2:4-5). See what the Samaritan did for that man, and learn also what Jesus did for you: He went to him and bandaged his wounds, as God had promised that he would in the Old Covenant: your wounds I will heal, declares the LORD (Jer. 30:17, ESV). He pour[ed] oil and wine on those wounds. Oil, which was connected with anointing, as prophets, priests, and kings were anointed, demonstrating the presence of the Holy Spirit upon them (as Jesus was anointed literally with the Holy Spirit at his baptism into his role as prophet, priest, and king), was used also by the early Christian Church in connection with Baptism to demonstrate that we, when we are baptized, receive the Holy Spirit. Wine, of course, has been used by the Christian Church at Christ s command in the Lord s Supper, which is also a life-giving medicine that heals our sin-sick wounds. The Samaritan put him on his own animal, just as Christ bore our burdens, to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: He took up our weaknesses and
Jesus A Neighbor to Us 7 carried away our diseases (Matt. 8:17). Likewise, just as Jesus rode as king into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, God sent his son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons (Gal. 4:4-5). Yes, we received the crown that was Jesus. You see, in this story, Jesus is the Samaritan, the one who had compassion on us, who came and had mercy on us, healed us, and saved us out of death into life. II. Jesus Fulfilled the Law But still we must see how Jesus says at the end of this story, Go and do likewise. On the surface of it, in fact, the plain meaning of this story is that we should be the Samaritan. This is why you see so many hospitals or charitable organizations bearing the name Good Samaritan, if only they knew how ironic a name that was. You see, in Jesus day, a Good Samaritan was an oxymoron. This should give you some insight into just how impossible it is to fulfill the Law yourself. To fulfill the Law, you must be a thing that does not exist: you must be a Good Samaritan. Think of it this way. If we translate the ideas of this story into today s terms in the United States it might be not about a Good Samaritan, but about a Good Nazi. Maybe that s an exaggeration, but making a Samaritan the good guy in the story would have been a similar shock. The point is that it s impossible to conceive of such a person being good. Trace the lawyer s questions again: first he asked, Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus, of course, knew that God has already answered the lawyer s question in the Torah, the Old Testament, the Law, so he points him
8 Luke 10:23-37 there. 1 What is written in the law? he asked him. What do you read there? or better, How do you read it? If the lawyer would only have read it right, he would have read that part that says, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and understood the law to be pointing to the Messiah. But instead he read the letter of the law, not the spirit: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself. Of course, this is correct, but its rightful position is as sanctification: what comes after salvation. Once one is justified, declared righteous in Jesus name, then one keeps these laws, loving God and your neighbor, all out of thanks, showing the evidence of salvation. But again, the lawyer misunderstood and thought, If I do this, then I will live. But of course he saw how impossible it was. If I have to love my neighbor as myself, how impossible isn t that? Not only are there too many people in need, but we are selfish, we are self-seeking, we are sinful and dead in those sins. We cannot keep the Law. For this reason, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by works of the law, for through the law we become aware of sin (Rom. 3:20). So, because this task was too great, the lawyer still wanted salvation, so, he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, And who is my neighbor? You see, our natural inclination when we come to the Law is to see an impossible hurdle to scale. We can t get as infinitely high as it is, but by nature we understand that if we are to be 1 Just, Luke 9:51-24:53, 451.
Jesus A Neighbor to Us 9 saved, we must get over it. So we seek to have it lowered, we want it to be more manageable. This question really becomes key, therefore: And who is my neighbor. Jesus answers the question by way of the parable, and then turns the lawyer s question around: Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers? You see how it is turned around? It s not, Who is my neighbor? but, To whom may I be a neighbor? Jesus answer is brilliant. As if that should surprise us. But his answer accomplishes two things: First, the lawyer, I said, was trying to lower the bar so that he could prove that he could get over it. But by Jesus answer, he prevented that from happening. It s as though he said, You re asking the wrong question: don t worry about who is your neighbor. Worry about yourself being a neighbor. If a Samaritan, an enemy, can be a neighbor to this man, then to whom do you think you should be a neighbor? Jesus keeps the bar in its infinite heights, and will not allow it to come closer to the earth where the lawyer, or we, can cross. Jesus answer proves that our salvation is impossible by the keeping of the law. Second, because it is so impossible, Jesus answer was designed to show the lawyer, and us, that we are the man who fell among robbers. We are dead, because we are incapable of keeping the Law, and so we ourselves needed someone to be a neighbor to us. And Jesus himself is that neighbor, that one who kept the Law where we could not. He, because he is perfect God, and because he was perfect Man born under the Law, could keep it perfectly and bear us over it. Yes, he came among us,
10 Luke 10:23-37 made himself a neighbor to us, and put himself into our place, giving us his merits so that, as God sees it, we have kept the Law. Look at the last thing that Samaritan did for the man: He took him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, when he left, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend, I will repay you when I return. The innkeeper was supposed to take care of the man in the exact same way as the Samaritan had done, while the Samaritan was absent for he had work to do. But the Samaritan would return for the man, to provide a full reward for the innkeeper. This, too, has a parallel in our Christian lives. Jesus, after saving us, ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us. He will return. In the meantime, broken, lost, and dead souls are not left helpless. Their sins have been paid for by Christ Jesus, and he has placed them into the care of this waystation on this earth, this inn: his church. Here, where God s Word is preached and his Sacraments are administered, needy souls are healed, fed, and cared for by the same means that Jesus cared for souls: he assigned the means by which souls will be saved here in the Church: Whenever you forgive people s sins, he said, they are forgiven (John 20:23). Therefore go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, through the same anointing oil that he used to save us, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you, so that the Word is powerful to bring us to salvation (Matt 28:19-20). He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same
Jesus A Neighbor to Us 11 way, he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is being poured out for you (Luke 22:19-20). In this earth, because we have been saved by Christ and brought into the inn by Baptism, justified by the Word, healed by the Lord s Supper, we are assigned those same healing medicines to give to others. It is in this context that we should take Jesus urging: Go and do likewise. We may now be Good Samaritans to our neighbors because Jesus was a Good Samaritan to us. We may share Jesus with others. We may save them by the same medicine. The lawyer s error was turning this into a question of deserving. Whether or not one deserves anything does not factor into this in fact, we should see that we deserve nothing. Instead, Jesus was a neighbor to us, saving us out of pure, undeserved mercy and grace. We therefore respond to God s love in faith, showing the same mercy to others, which is nothing but sharing Jesus mercy with them. We may be a neighbor, because we are in Christ: Jesus is the neighbor to all, and he uses us and these means of grace the Word, Baptism, the Lord s Supper to bring his salvation to all. Amen. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV ) 2017 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.