The Good Samaritan Is Not Biden Or Trump, But Your Jesus
Text: Luke 10:23-37
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
A
Trump-supporter was going up from Texas to Portland, Oregon, when he fell into
the hands of rioters. They stripped him
of his “Make America Great Again” hat, beat him, and left him half dead on the
sidewalk. Moments later, a Never-Trumper
Republican, going down the same sidewalk, saw the half-dead man but crossed the
street to pass by on the other side.
Luckily, several minutes later, a Socialist Democrat, came to the same
place and saw the half-dead Trump-supporter, but then angled across the street
to the other side. Towards evening, a Biden-supporter
saw the half-dead man, and unlike the other two previous individuals, he did
not go to the other side of the road.
Instead, his heart went out to the Trump-supporter. And so, the Biden-supporter quickly kneeled
down and gave first aid by disinfecting and bandaging the wounds. He then lifted the Trump-supporter up, led
him to a Democratic National Convention Office in Portland, and made him
comfortable. He told his fellow DNC
staffers, “Take good care of this Trump-supporter. Here is $400 to help him with his needs. If it costs more money, take it out of Joe
Biden’s campaign fund, and I will pay it back.”
Now,
what do you think? Which of the three
became a neighbor to the Trump-supporter who was attacked by the rioters? The answer: the one who treated him kindly –
the Joe Biden supporter.
Now,
you, dear friends, go and do the same!
…
But isn’t
that the problem? We don’t want to do the same.
Nobody does! It is just easier to
write the story off saying,
“Well, the Trump-supporter probably deserved to be beat up! Besides, he didn’t die. Enough of the story.”
Or, to say,
“Everyone knows that a
Biden-supporter would never be that compassionate! Case closed.”
The
point being, each and every one of us is just like that lawyer who challenged
Jesus in the reading from the Gospel of Luke.
We like to pick and choose who our neighbors are in order to decide who
is deserving of our love. And so, like a bunch of high school mean girls or
arrogant jocks, we go about segmenting people into groups. Those who agree with
us and are like us, they become our neighbors. Those who do not agree with us
and are not like us, they are ‘not’ our neighbors but our enemies. And then in order to feel good about
ourselves, we only support, help, serve, and love those who agree with us and
are most like us. Those who are not like
us and don’t agree with us? Well, they
don’t get our support, help, service, and love.
But instead, we write them off; we dehumanize them. We make them into monsters, which justifies
us in writing them off as not being one of our neighbors, and not deserving of
our mercy and love.
But
this is not how all of this works - you and I cannot choose who our neighbors are while trying to convince ourselves that we are morally-good-loving-citizens.
And
that is the second problem that you and I have.
We not only pick and choose who our neighbors are but like that Lawyer,
we prop ourselves up as being morally good and righteous. We think better of ourselves than we ought
to.
Consider
our parable in our reading from the Gospel of Luke for a moment. The Priest and the Levite were traveling on
the road, and when they came upon a neighbor ‘in need’ they did what? They passed by on ‘the other side.’ Do not let these small details pass by
you. Notice the actions of the Priest
and Levite: they went to the other side of the road – they avoided their
neighbor. They failed to properly ‘love’
a neighbor who was in need.
Now, we
hear a lot about ‘love’ these days.
People take pictures of themselves making a heart symbols of so-called
love with their hands, they make social media hashtags on the internet,
“LOVEWINS,” and they cry over so-called stories of love. But, dear friends, the majority of what sells
as love these days, is not really love at all.
For example, consider what we hear about love these days and compare it
to how the Apostle Paul defines ‘love’ in his letter to the church in Corinth. Let me paraphrase how the Apostle Paul
defines love:
Love
never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want
what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut; it doesn’t have a swelled head
showing off to others. Love doesn’t
force itself on others. It isn’t always
“me first.” Love doesn’t fly off the handle, or keep score of other people’s
sins. Love does not party when others
scrape by. Love takes pleasure in truth,
and looks for the best. Love never holds
back, but acts for one’s neighbor.
So,
two things should be abundantly clear.
First, all of the chatter about love in our culture is empty chatter –
it isn’t love. It isn’t even close. And second, it should be abundantly clear
that no one properly loves their neighbor.
Do you
love your neighbor – putting them first, looking for the best in them, speaking
the truth in love to them, without having a swelled head showing off to
others? When is the last time that you
have had a gut-wrenching compassion for your neighbor? Oh, and let me remind you, as you answer these
questions, you can’t pick and choose who your neighbor is. You can’t think of those whom you agree with
and have allowed into your own small group, saying, “Why, yes, I am loving my neighbor,” while at the same time
distancing yourself from your enemies with hatred in your heart.
God’s Word
does not allow you to pick and choose what commandments you follow, and God’s Command
to love your neighbors does not allow you to choose your neighbor. God’s calls you and me to love ‘all people’
around us who are in need, for anyone that we encounter in our vocations that
is in need, is our neighbor.
Shame
on you and me, when we think that we properly love, while reserving our love
for only those select few in our own little groups! This is not perfect love. Shame on our culture for gushing about love,
while playing political games - rejoicing in the pain and misfortunes of those
on the opposite side of the political spectrum! This is not perfect love.
The
parable that Jesus teaches us today from the Gospel of Luke, and the parable
that was presented at the beginning of this sermon stand as bold pictures of
what we should ‘all’ be doing for our
neighbors, regardless if they are like us or not, and regardless if they are in
our small little groups or not.
But
again, who can do this perfectly? Who
can love perfectly? Do you do this
perfectly? I certainly can’t and
don’t.
In
Jesus’ parable the Good Samaritan, though, does loves perfectly. The Good Samaritan
does not cross to the other side of the road at the sight of the half-dying
man. The Good Samaritan does not expect
the half-dead man to come to him.
Instead, the Samaritan ‘draws near’
the half-dead man because of gut-wrenching-compassion. He draws near and binds up his wounds, pours
oil and wine on him, and brings him to safety.
Dear
friends, behold the Good Samaritan!
Cling firmly to this Good Samaritan in the parable!
But
who is this Good Samaritan?
Well,
the Good Samaritan is certainly not Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or you, for there
is only One who is truly good. The Good
Samaritan is your Jesus!
Learn
to understand this dear friends, no one on the road of life will consistently
and compassionately draw near to you with gut-wrenching-compassion to help you,
except your Jesus. Any politician,
family member, or friend that claims to be the Good Samaritan to you is lying
because they will fail you. Again, mark
this! Nothing else in heaven or on earth
can be that Good Samaritan to you, except Jesus. And the reason why? Nobody has a compassionate gut-wrenching-love
for sinful humanity like Jesus.
If
Jesus was like that Lawyer, he would’ve been picky with who he died for. Perhaps it would’ve been 50/50 if you were
included in His sacrificial death on the cross.
And if Jesus was like that Priest or Levite on the road, well… He would
have not gone to the cross but would have left you and me in our sins. And if we were left in our sins, we would be
left with damnation – certain death. But
because of His great love for you and me – and this entire world – Jesus could
not pass by on the other side of the road avoiding Calvary’s cross. Indeed, the Son of God could not avoid the
cross and died for ’all’ of humanity because He has a gut-wrenching-compassion
for humanity – for you. He bled, died,
and rose for your justification.
And
so, today, as recipients of the Good Samaritan’s oil and water upon our wounds,
which is Christ’s Word and Sacraments applied to our guilt, we pray that the
Holy Spirit would strengthen our faith to God and strengthen our love to our
neighbors.
But please
keep in mind that what Jesus teaches us today is not some watered down view of
tolerance where we agree to disagree becoming emotionally mushy and
theologically gushy. Absolutely not! Do not forget that love indeed covers a
multitude of sins but it also speaks the Truth, as it quietly gives
sacrificially according to righteousness, not sin.
So, love
your neighbors, Baptized Saints – everyone around you – because you have been
properly loved by the Good Samaritan - Christ.
And as you love, know that Christ is the one who continually serves you,
purifies you, and pours grace upon you, so that day by day you might give a
small glimpse of true love to your neighbor (as imperfect as you are), until
that great day when the Great Good Samaritan approaches us and carries all of
us upon His shoulders unto glory.
You
have a Good Samaritan – He hasn’t drawn back but draws near to you.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
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