Sermon for Pentecost 5: "The Good Neighbor" (Luke 10:25-37)

 

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

 

[Intro]

 

“Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25b)

 

This is the question at the heart of today’s Gospel lesson.

 

The man who asked this question was a lawyer. To us today when we read this, we may think of a defense attorney or a prosecuting attorney. We may think of those class action lawsuit commercials about what we deserve. But this isn’t the occupation of this lawyer. The lawyer in our gospel lesson is an expert on the Torah. He is an expert on the Old Testament.

 

In fact, he knows the answer to his own question. So, when he asks Jesus, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life,” this lawyer is just trying to see if Jesus really knows what He is talking about.

 

Shockingly to the lawyer, Jesus returns his question with a question from Himself: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” (Luke 10:26)

 

This is not what the lawyer was expecting. He was expecting to stump Jesus, but now he is the one who has to say the answer to his own question.

 

The lawyer responds saying: “You shall 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” (Luke 10:27). Jesus then says to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live” (Luke 10:28).

 

But, this lawyer wasn’t finished. He wanted some retribution. He wanted to justify himself. So, he says: “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29)

 

But, the lawyer’s real question is this: “Who isn’t my neighbor?”

[The Parable]

 

For this lawyer, he had many friends. Chief among his friends would be priests and Levites.

 

So it was quite a shock to him when Jesus responds to his latest question with a story. It was a story about neighborly compassion. It was a story about friends and enemies. It was a story that was unexpected to a high class Jew.

 

Jesus then speaks of a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho on a road that would have been familiar to the lawyer. This road would have been familiar to everyone. You see, this road was dangerous. It was like driving in a bad neighborhood today, everyone knew to keep their windows shut and to keep moving.

 

So, running into robbers wasn’t a shock, but what happened after the robbers was shocking.

 

One might expect a man of God to have compassion upon a man who was stripped, beaten up and left half-dead on the side of the road, but the priest just passed by. The priest ignored a fellow man.

 

Then a Levite – an assistant at the temple – did the same.

 

Why didn’t they help their neighbor in need? Well, it is likely they were walking to the Temple in Jerusalem and they wanted to remain ritually clean. You see, if a Jew touched a dead man, that person wouldn’t be able to set foot inside the temple for days or months.

 

These men were more concerned with ceremonial law, rather than God’s moral law. They were more concerned with being ritually clean, than caring for their neighbor.

 

But, then the shocker of shockers, a Samaritan man showed compassion. This Samaritan stopped and went to this man in desperate need. He bound up his wounds. He poured oil and wine upon him. Then he brought this half-dead man to an inn so he could heal from his injuries.

 

For this lawyer, this was blasphemy. How could a dirty, sinful Samaritan do such a good thing? How is it that he is the one who cared? After all, Samaritans worship God at the wrong place. Samaritans are outcasts from Jewish society.

 

Then Jesus asks the question: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:36)

The lawyer thought a moment and said: “The one who showed mercy” (Luke 10:37a). Jesus said, “You go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37b).

 

[We are Dead in our Trespasses]

Now, don’t forget the question that ultimately led to the story of the Good Samaritan. Remember, the question was: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25b)

 

This is what the Parable of the Good Samaritan is all about. It is all about how we inherit eternal life.

 

So, what in this parable is about inheriting eternal life?

 

Well, we have this half-dead man lying on the side of the road. He is hopeless. He is stripped. He is beaten. He is bruised. He is bleeding. He is near death. He is us.

 

This is the point of the parable. We are the half-dead man.

 

Ever since Adam and Eve sinned against God by eating the forbidden fruit, we have been beaten up constantly by Satan by giving in to our sinful desires. Satan bombards us on all sides. We are dead in our sins. We are dead in our trespasses. We are on the side of the road bruised, beaten and dying. We can’t get up to help ourselves.

 

But then Jesus shows up. This Jesus who was promised right after the Fall of Adam and Eve. God the Father showed compassion by sending prophet after prophet to tell of the coming Messiah. The Messiah who would rescue us from our foes: sin, death and Satan. The Messiah who remembered us all in our low estate.

 

We were all destined to hell. That was our inheritance.

 

But then Jesus came. Jesus fulfilled the Law. He showed us how to truly love our neighbors by taking on the wounds of our sin upon the cross. He died so that we could live. He rose from the dead to show that we, too, would rise from the dead.

 

Jesus picked us up from the side of the road. He bound our wounds and gave us eternal life. It is only by God’s grace that anyone could ever inherit eternal life.

 

You see, eternal life is a gift. Eternal life is not something that we can earn. Eternal life is given by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[Carried Home]

 

Some years ago, the Western Oregon’s women’s softball team played against Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington.

 

During the course of the game, Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky hit the first homerun of her college career. She dropped her bat and started to make her way around the bases.

 

In the midst of her excitement, she forgot to tag first base. Immediately the first base coach brought the mistake to her attention and she quickly turned around.

 

To everyone’s horror, her right knee buckled. Crying, she tried her best to crawl back to first base.

 

To make matters worse, Tucholsky’s teammates were warned by the umpire that if they touched her, she would be called out. The umpire also said that if her team put in a pinch runner, the homerun would be changed to a single.

 

Then Mallory Holtman, the opposing team’s first baseman, turned to the umpire and asked, “Would it be okay if we carried her around the bases, and she touched each bag?”

 

The umpire gave the approval. Then Holtman and her teammate Liz Wallace picked up Tucholsky and carried her to second base. Once there, they lowered the injured player and gently touched her foot to the bag. They did the same for third base and home plate.

 

The Central Washington softball team displayed compassion. They may not have been thinking about Jesus, but they carried their softball enemy home.

Western Oregon went on to win the game, eliminating Central Washington from the playoffs.

 

[Enemies of God]

 

Each one of us was born as an enemy of God. But then God showed us compassion by bringing us into His kingdom. He brought us home. We didn’t deserve it. In fact, we only deserve eternal damnation, because of our sin.

 

You see, when we remain in our sin, we die in our sin. We are without hope.

 

But the Triune God loves each and every one of us for His steadfast love endures forever. Out of God’s steadfast love, whenever we repent of our sin of thought, word and deed against God, that sin is forgiven.

 

We were in the domain of darkness, but through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, He has brought us out of that darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14).

 

In fact, it was at our baptism when God rescued us from that ditch on the side of the road. It was then that all of our sin was wrapped in the righteousness of Christ. We have been given the gift of eternal life.

 

We are now in Christ’s righteousness. In Christ alone, we are sinless. We are reconciled; we are brought back into the Father’s love.

 

It is only you and me that can deny God’s love by not following God’s just decrees and His statutes (Leviticus 18-19). If we do not obey God’s will for our lives, we are choosing not to love God and choosing not to love our neighbor.

 

But, all the while God loves each and every sinner. He only desires that we repent and thus, love Him in return.

 

[Do Likewise]

 

At the end of the story, Jesus asks the lawyer: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers.” The lawyer responds: “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus says: “You go, and do likewise.”

Jesus is the Good Neighbor. Jesus saved us from sin, eternal death and Satan. Through Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave, He has created us anew. We are now in Jesus. We live in His grace!

 

So, as Jesus showed compassion upon us. We are to show compassion upon all people. This is our calling. This is our vocation. God doesn’t need our good works, but our neighbor does.

 

Now, there are no limits to who our neighbor is. Our neighbor is everyone we meet day in and day out.

 

The culture would say that compassion is accepting every person’s faults. The culture would say that each person is fine in their sin. But that is not compassion, true compassion is caring for one another, lifting each other up and guiding each other to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).

 

This is what a true neighbor is. As Christians, we follow the footsteps of Jesus who saved us from death to bring us to His marvelous light. He has picked us up purely out of His grace to freely give all who trust in Him eternal life. Amen.

 

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

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T

 

Sermon for Pentecost 4: "Send Out to Harvest" (Luke 10:1-20)

 

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

 

[Intro]

 

One of the most enduring questions asked by human beings concerns the purpose of our existence: “Why are we here?” What are we supposed to do in life?

 

As Christians, we know that we are here because God loves us and wants us to be His own.

 

Our chief purpose is to be loved by the Triune God and, in response, to believe in Him and love Him. Yet, this is not the complete purpose of human existence. We are also here to love and serve other people.

 

Jesus continually reminds us in His Word that we are to serve other people in love. As Christians, we serve other people through our vocation.

 

So, do we serve people through our employment? What if we’re not employed? Well, that is not exactly how God uses the word “vocation.”

 

You see, although many people think of “vocation” only as a synonym for a job, this word actually has a much broader concept. According to God, the word vocation means “a calling.” As followers of Christ, we are called to do certain things, and not just your job.

 

God calls us to various tasks, relationships, and responsibilities. Some vocations come at different stages of life. For a time, a person may have the vocation of student, but later an employee, or even perhaps later the employer.

 

At the very least, our vocation is son, daughter or brother, sister or father, mother. We serve each other and we forgive each other. We do this because Christ served and forgave us. So, this is our vocation.

 

God calls each and every one of us to love Him and to serve our neighbor. God works through all the various vocations we each have. Each vocation is an opportunity to serve.

 

[Sending Out the 72]

 

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus calls an additional 72 men to be sent out ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He was about to go. He called them out to tell the people that the kingdom of God has come near. He sent them out to harvest.

 

Jesus said to them: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Luke 10:2a).

 

So what is this plentiful harvest? This harvest is all people who have not heard about Jesus. You see, Jesus came to save all people and not just a select few. The Apostle Paul through inspiration asks these questions in Romans 10: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15).

 

Here, Jesus is doing just that. He is sending out these 72 men to teach that the kingdom of God has come near. He is sending out these 72 men in addition to His 12 apostles.

 

Now, we don’t know very much about these 72 men, but what we do know is vitally important: They have been called and sent by Jesus, and they are given the task of sharing a message in His stead and by His command. And that message given can be summarized: “The kingdom of God has come near you” (Luke 10:9) and “Peace be to this house” (Luke 10:5).

 

This is their objective. This is their task. They are to proclaim that the kingdom of God is near because the King is near. Jesus is on His way.

 

These 72 men were trained by Jesus to tell of the kingdom of God. Jesus also prepared them to be urgent in their telling. These 72 were to have a single-mindedness of discipline on their mission to tell everyone “the kingdom of God has come near you” and “peace be to this house.”

 

The long-awaited Messiah is on His way. He is coming to bring peace. This peace is not an emotional sort of calm, but is peace that this world cannot give. This peace is the removal of hostility and hatred between God and man.

 

You see, by nature, were all born as enemies of God. We want it our way. We want to look out for our own self-interests, before we ever think about others. We were born lost and dead in our trespasses –our sin – that we could not do anything to save ourselves.

 

This is what the 72 are sent out to do. They are sent out to proclaim that true peace is coming. True peace is coming in Jesus!

 

[The Power of Jesus’ Words]

 

As Jesus sent out the 72, He also told them this: “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16).

 

These words from Jesus likely gave these 72 comfort. So, whatever reaction they received from the people, their reaction was to Jesus and not to them, good or bad.

 

Now, hearing such good news of peace, no doubt many of those who heard this message then shared it with others. We could say, they were gossiping the Good News.

 

When you hear good news, do you keep it to yourself? No, we want to tell as many people as we can!

 

The kingdom is near because the King is near, and the King is near to bring peace with God and man.

 

For those who embraced this message, they were embracing the Prince of Peace Himself. But for those who rejected this message, they were rejecting Jesus and the Father who sent Him.

 

These men certainly faced much rejection along the way, but remember they returned to Jesus with much joy saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17).

 

The Word of Jesus had been effective that many who heard these men were healed and delivered.

 

[Jesus is Present and Promises to Return]

 

Today, the Triune God is indeed still present through His Word. We give thanks that Jesus brings us peace that is so desperately needed.

 

We all struggle with the sickness of a troubled conscience because of past sins. We experience restlessness and anxiety. We may worry about the troubled world we live in. But, it is Jesus who comes to rescue us from sins and worry. He brings us the peace that this world cannot give.

 

At the time of the sending of the 72, Jesus was ushering in the hope of peace. He accomplished that peace between God and man when He was nailed to the cross, suffered and died for you and me. He accomplished that peace between God and man when He rose from the dead three days later.

 

Through Christ’s death and resurrection, He has carried our sin to the cross and there He has paid our debt. There is no longer any division between God and man for all who trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That division is gone, all that remains is peace.

 

We were brought into this peace through the waters of Holy Baptism. There, we became a child and heir of His kingdom.

 

Christ continually comes to us to remind us of this peace we have been given. He does this through the office of the Holy Ministry and other church-work vocations. Christ speaks to us each Lord’s Day through pastors as He proclaims the Good News of forgiveness of sins, life everlasting and salvation.

 

We each receive this grace through the Means of Grace in hearing His Word and receiving His Sacrament.

 

We also know that Christ will come again. So, in the meantime, we ought to proclaim Christ’s coming in our various vocations as we love and serve our neighbor. We also pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest to tell of God’s peace with man through His Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

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

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T