29But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Too often, after I have arrived at my destination driving in my car – I can’t exactly tell you how I got there.
I don’t particularly remember taking that exit, making that turn, or stopping at that stop light.
I must have kind of went on auto-pilot.
I say this, not specifically to warn you if you see my bright orange car on the road. (You might want to pay attention to me, because I might not be paying attention to you). But, it’s really to begin to illustrate a temptation for us all to go on auto-pilot for all sorts of things.
Our Lord gives us a parable of two men who were on their way and walked right past a man who needed their help.
They weren’t spacing out – both the priest and the Levite came to the place and saw the man and then passed by on the other side of the road.
Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan is in response to the man who wants to justify himself asking, “Who is my neighbor,” and has us considering the good works we can walk in, of the places we come to, of the people we see. There is no such thing as “by chance.”
As we are on our way, in our homes, in our church, in our places of work, and everywhere, ask “Who is my neighbor?” and in that neighbor is an opportunity to show mercy.
Perhaps it is the ones we know and love most that we are tempted to not see as opportunities to show mercy, to spacing out and going on autopilot in what should be obvious opportunities to walk in good works because we are walking right next to those neighbors every day or every week. They aren’t there by chance, but put there as God’s good and gracious will.
Perhaps there are others that we see and intentionally pass by on the other side. But even the ones we are closest to us in our walking, seeing, places and “by chances,” are not immune from us intentionally ignoring the good we could do for them
Our sinful nature’s auto-pilot is curved inward – quite distracted by ourselves and what is happening inside of us. Quite motivated by what we want or think we need to do.
Jesus curves us outward in telling the story of the Good Samaritan in response to the story of “and who is my neighbor?”
Our Lord’s Word that the man seeking to justify himself rightly gets,
27…“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,”
pulls us outward both out of our autopilot and out of selfishness.
But that seems that’s only a secondary purpose for this story. Because Jesus tells this story quite specifically in response to a man seeking to justify himself – seeking to think he’s completed and doing quite perfect in the “loving your neighbor as yourself” department.
Do you know the story, “If you give a mouse a cookie?”
It’s there never be an end to the good we could do – even the demands of us.
“If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s ask for some milk. If you give him some milk, he’s probably gonna ask for a straw. When he’s finished, he’s gonna probably want a mirror to see if he has a milk moustache and then he’ll ask for a napkin.
Eventually to where you’re giving him a pair of scissors and a pillow and some Scotch tape. He’ll eventually want another in the cookie in the end, by the way.
I think the same is true of the story “If you give a Christian some good works to walk in the place we are and the people we see and the “by chances” we encounter.
If you work hard, you might get some money and someone might need that money.
If you love and serve your family in this way and that, you’ll see how quickly you aren’t loving and serving them in that way and this.
If you are busy doing that good work, you can’t be busy doing this good work.
If the priest or Levite would have stopped to help the man who was stripped and beaten up and robbed, they couldn’t have been in their regular neighborhood to walk in good works there.
This parable has a way of stretching us thin to the point of exhaustion. Who is my neighbor?
There’s too many. I’m not even doing enough for my neighbor that is closest to me.
It’s so good to be pulled out of the autopilot of thinking about us.
It’s good to hear again that we ought “go and do likewise” in showing mercy to our neighbor – so open your eyes to who they all are.
It’s good to be kind, even if your kindness is misused,
to show mercy even if it’s repaid with unthankfulness,
to forgive and desire reconciliation, even if it results in insult and injury.
There are so many opportunities to begin to heal and be kind and generous to the bodies and souls of our neighbors that are beaten up, stripped, robbed and left all alone – feeling scared and unloved.
But there’s always great good to feeling exhausted and beaten up by this parable – to be stripped and robbed of any thought that we are doing enough to justify ourselves.
There’s too much to do and too much left undone.
This story is followed up by the story of Mary and Martha – a Martha who was distracted with much serving and Mary who was simply sitting at the feet of Jesus.
When it comes to justification and doing enough or being enough,
to receiving healing and being cared for and carried on,
and in receiving mercy and in being looked at in compassion,
and in not feeling alone and unloved or inadequate – there is only one thing needful.
Let’s not be distracted by much serving, but in sitting at the feet of our Lord Jesus.
And in sitting at His feet, we are reminded of this:
He has feet!
He made Himself our neighbor, so He can love us.
He walked to us.
He found us, not half dead, but dead in our sins and trespasses.
He found us, not only beat up and stripped, but condemned and deserving wrath –
and He bound up our wounds with the healing that is His wounds,
and the life that was His death,
and the acceptance that was His forsakenness,
and the rest that is His completed work where the only thing left is for you to receive.
God help us when feeling stretched this receive the strong and loving embrace of stretched out arms of Jesus.
Who is your neighbor? Jesus is!
The Son of God has brought you here today, whether you were or are on autopilot or note.
God open your eyes to see your Jesus here, as your neighbor to have mercy on you, and how He sees you in compassion.
We may sometimes space out on our way to our destinations – but Jesus is never on autopilot.
We may not always know how we got to where we’re going or the “by chances” we are encountering, but we always know who brought us there and here.
He is here to have mercy on you.
And wherever you go from here, He calls you to walk in good works to whoever neighbors you encounter.
Those neighbors and opportunities change, but our Good Samaritan and Savior is the same yesterday, today and forevermore.