Good Samaritan 2013

Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians (1:1-12), ‘May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from God’s glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.’

I wonder whether when Paul wrote these words his mind was on things such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). He had certainly seen plenty of suffering himself and even, prior to his conversion, caused a fair bit of that suffering for Christians, but it is the parable of the Good Samaritan that perhaps more than any other passage highlights the command of Jesus not just to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, but also to love our neighbour, whoever that neighbour may be.

One afternoon a lawyer was riding in his limousine when he saw two men along the road- side eating grass.  Disturbed, he ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.  He asked one man, "Why are you eating grass?"  "We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied.  "We have to eat grass." 

"Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you," the lawyer said.  "But sir, I have a wife and two children with me. They are over there, under that tree." 

"Bring them along," the lawyer replied.  Turning to the other poor man he stated, "You come with us, also."  The second man, in a pitiful voice, then said, "But sir, I also have a wife and SIX children with me!" 

"Bring them all, as well," the lawyer answered.  They all entered the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limousine was.  Once under way, one of the poor men turned to the lawyer and said, "Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you."  The lawyer replied, "Glad to do it.  You'll really love my place.  The grass is almost a foot high!"

Sometimes people do great works which benefit others and it’s not for us to judge their motives but there will be some almost certainly who do things for the wrong reasons – who do things to get attention or praise, or to get something in return, but in the parable of the Good Samaritan there really wasn’t any benefit to the Samaritan other than knowing he had done the right thing.

We can look at the story from different angles – the victim who was walking a dangerous road was attacked and left for dead. Maybe he was conscious enough to see the Priest coming, and thought he would get help, but the Priest passed by. Maybe he was too busy, but then the victim saw the Levite – surely he would help one of his own people, but no, he too walked by.

And so the victim lay dying having watched people ignore him… And then came the Samaritan. You can imagine the victims thoughts if he could see him – this man is going to put the final boot in and finish me off ! But then the astonishing thing happens – the Samaritan cares for the victim. He doesn’t worry about the risks he might take, he doesn’t worry about the man seeming to be an enemy of his people – all he sees is the need and he responds to it.

In life each one of us is sometimes called to walk on a dangerous path – whether it be by taking risks with a job or a relationship, or when suffering illness, either of our own or of a loved one. And along the journey of life we will have times almost certainly, when we feel a bit crushed, and it is often at times like that when we can find people to help us – true neighbours who are willing to pick us up and help to put us together again.  Sometimes those people may not be the ones we expect…

But what about the view from the Samaritan – he didn’t need to stop. Of the three people who walked by he was the least likely, but he was the one who did. Perhaps he too feared stopping and risking being attacked himself. Perhaps he was busy too and didn’t really have the time – he could do without the inconvenience. Or maybe he thought he would do the bare minimum and bandage the man up and hope someone else would come and help him later.

He didn’t do anything of this as we know. He saw the man needed help and he gave it. Whatever else he had in mind or whatever else he had to do, he saw the victim needed urgent help and gave it. And he did so with incredible generosity – he bandaged his wounds, he poured oil and wine on them and then he carried the man to an inn and paid for his care.

And he didn’t even stop then – he promised to come back to check the man was ok, and to pay the rest of the bill if it cost more.

We walk, as I said, a rocky path in our lives at times and we rely on relationships to get us through sometimes, but we are also to recognise others on their journey, and to be a neighbour to them. We are to recognise need and to go the extra mile for people because that’s what being a true neighbour is about.

And this parable reminds us very clearly that our neighbours are everywhere – they are not just the people who look like us or act like us or who belong to the same church or club – they are the people who we find a bit different as well – the people we find it hard to like, the people who may well not thank us if we are able to help them. It doesn’t matter whether they do or not because in caring for another person we have shown them something of the love of God.

The third angle to look at this story from is the angle of the priest and Levite. They are seemingly the guilty ones in this story, but maybe they were too busy, or maybe they were afraid of being attacked, or maybe they were obeying some of the Jewish laws which may have rendered them unclean if they’d gone to close the injured man.

It’s easy to read the story and point to them as the guilty, but maybe it’s more realistic and honest not to judge them but to consider what we would do in the circumstances, because whether we mean to do it or not, there are almost certainly people who we pass by and do nothing for, and there may be all kinds of reasons for that. It doesn’t make us a horrible person, but it does mean we’re not living out the love of Jesus properly in our lives.

Because we’ve thought of the story from the angle of the victim, the Good Samaritan and the priest and Levite, but what about God. He is in every part of this story. He is there grieving for the robbers – we don’t know their story. He is there grieving for the priest and Levite who for whatever reason didn’t feel able to help.

He is with the victim – knowing his pain and fear, understanding his need. Like the victim he is so often battered by insults and hatred, and so often simply ignored… But like the Good Samaritan, he is also there to help anyone.

When God is called on to help he doesn’t ask us to fill in a form to check we’re suitable. He doesn’t ask what we believe in any great detail about Christian doctrine or about church politics. He doesn’t even ask us to promise to be wonderful people.

He asks us to come to Him and allow Him to work with us to change us through his incredible immeasurable love… And then as we respond to this love he asks us to live out that love to others – to show them something of his love for us and for them, whoever they are.

We will walk through the journey of life with ups and downs, and we will need people and they will need us – maybe different people at different times, but the constant is God because he is always the constant. His love doesn’t change, His welcome to all people doesn’t change, His ability to transform lives for the better remains strong.

And as we recognise that fact in our lives, we think back to those verses from Paul’s letter to the Colossians in the verses I mentioned at the start, but this time taken from the Message translation of the Bible, ‘We pray that you will have the strength to stick it out over the long haul – not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us… God rescued us… He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much…’

In the world today there is need for people committed to living out the life of Christ, reaching out to others to help them in any way we can, not by judging or criticising but by offering love and an example of a better life and an unconditional love offered by an incredible Saviour. Why shouldn’t those people be us ? AMEN