The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity – August 25, 2024Psalm 74; Leviticus 19:9-18; Galatians 3:16-22St. Luke 10:23-37
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The certain man going down from
Jerusalem to Jericho is representative of mankind. He is every man. He is you
in this parable. He is going the wrong way. He is leaving Jerusalem, the city
of peace which God has appointed for His holy habitation.[1]
He is going to Jericho, the city that God commanded never to be rebuilt. In
fact, God said that should Jericho be rebuilt, it would be built in the blood
of the firstborn and youngest sons of the one who rebuilt it.[2]
In the days of evil king Ahab, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho and sacrificed
both his firstborn and youngest sons to Baal in the process.[3]
In other words, the man going from Jerusalem to Jericho describes humanity’s
fall into sin and the ever-present desire to sin that clings to our flesh.
The thieves who meet humanity on the
road are Temptation and Satan. Every day of our journey on this side of glory,
we are beset by Temptation and Satan. In his fallen state, man falls victim to
these thieves who leave him half dead. He is “half dead” because he is
spiritually dead even if he is physically alive.[4]
The man is left helpless to save himself. He lays dying on the road to
perdition and there is nothing he can do to prevent his damnation.[5]
At this fortunate moment, a priest and
a Levite come down the road as well. Together, these represent the Mosaic Law
and the Levitical priesthood, specifically the Temple regulations and
sacrifices. The priest and the Levite are also coming down from Jerusalem. They
have finished their service at the Temple and are returning to their homes.
This signifies that the Law and the sacrifices have done their job. They have
shown man his sin, revealing to him the ways in which he has disobeyed God’s
will.[6]
The sacrifices have accomplished their duty in pointing man to the mercy of God
and His forgiveness. There is nothing left for them to do because faith in the
Law and faith in the sacrifices of goats and sheep cannot save the man.[7]
Their duty is accomplished and so both pass by on the other side of the road.
Finally, a Samaritan, who is on a journey, comes to the man. The Samaritan is far from his home. He is something other than the man himself and yet descends into the ditch to be with the man. The Samaritan is the very figure of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He journeys from the Father, into our flesh to be with us. He descends from His heavenly throne into the ditch of creation to be with His beloved mankind.[8]
Seeing the sorry state of man, God has
compassion on him. He is moved in His inward being and determines to rescue
man.[9]
God is moved by His great love for man to descend into our flesh, into our
sorry state. Christ bandages man’s wounds with oil and wine. The oil is the
consolation of a clean conscience before God, the comfort of the Holy Spirit,
the knowledge of the Gospel—Christ’s own sacrifice for your sins that you would
be reconciled to the Father. The wine, which stings as it cleans and disinfects
the wounds, is the cross given to all who believe to bear in this life.[10]
This cross is affliction, give to man by God that he would ever be mindful of
the sorry state which is the result of sin. This sting reminds man that he is
not made for sin nor to endure in this physical life forever but has the
eternal life of glory to live for.[11]
Christ raises man up out of the muck
and mire of our sin and places him on His own beast of burden. He gives us His
relief, His place upon the animal, and takes for Himself the burden of our sin.[12]
He walks in our place. His feet tread the burning sand and sharp rocks created
by the fall of our first parents in our stead. That which we deserve, Chris
endures for our sakes.
Upon this beast of burden, Christ
carries man to the inn. This inn is the established location for the care of
man. It is the hospice designed to care for man as he concludes his life on
this side of glory and enters into eternity. It is the hospital where man is
nursed back to health to face life on this side of glory. It is the gym where
man is trained, strengthened, and equipped to life the life of the righteous
man before the world. The inn is the Church. It is that place where the beloved
of God gather to hear the Word of God and receive His holy gifts in the
Sacraments.
These Sacraments are the two denarii
which the Samaritan given to the innkeeper. They are the means given to provide
for the care of Christians: Holy Baptism to wash away sin and rebirth the
Christian as one born of God, and the Holy Supper, given to feed, strengthen,
form, and forgive the Christian as he continues the journey on this side of
glory.
To whom are these denarii given? They are given to the innkeeper, the man given authority to administer the Holy Sacraments of God. The innkeeper is the pastor, whose solemn duty it is to preach the Word of God and administer the Holy Sacraments for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of Christians in body and soul.[13] He stands in the stead of the Samaritan who has delivered the injured man to the inn and cares for him as the Samaritan has directed.[14] He receives his orders from the Samaritan and is called to execute them according to that divine command.
Finally, the Samaritan promises to return. He will return to repay the innkeeper and to retrieve the injured man as the Samaritan returns on His journey to His Father. Christ has promised to return to gather His elect into the heavenly mansions He has prepared.[15] He has also promised to return and give to His servants, His undershepherds, the honor due their service. Pastors will be judged more harshly than all others because of the severity of their charge but they will also be rewarded more handsomely for their faithful service because of the value of the souls given to their care.[16]
Now, this parable is given to the certain
lawyer as the answer to the question, “And who is my neighbor?” The lawyer is
trying to find the loophole in the commandment to love God with all your heart
and your neighbor as yourself. He doesn’t want to know who it is he must love.
He wants to know who he doesn’t have to love to inherit eternal life. He wants
to narrow the field and make it possible to keep the Law of God.
The beauty of the parable is that
Christ transitions the definition from passive to active. The lawyer defines
the neighbor as the one who needs help—the passive person in need. Jesus
defines the neighbor as the one who shows mercy—the active person who helps. Even
the lawyer acknowledges this as being true. When asked who was a neighbor to
the man who fell among thieves, the lawyer responds that it was the Samaritan,
the one who showed mercy who was his neighbor. And Jesus responds, “Go and do
likewise.”
The parable is unquestionably about our
salvation being achieved by Christ alone. It is about the inability of man to
save himself in any way, shape or form. Every step of the man’s healing is the
work of the Samaritan, not the man himself. And yet, Jesus’ command remains,
“Go and do likewise.” For those who have been grafted into Christ, who are the
baptized children of the Father and who find themselves united to THE Good
Samaritan, it is a necessary consequence that we find ourselves imitating Him.
We are to look to Christ our Salvation and see the very model of the perfect
man. We are to look to Him and see what righteousness is. “Who may abide in the
Tabernacle of the Lord? Who may dwell in His holy hill? He who walks uprightly
and works righteousness and speaks truth in his heart.”[17]
“To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul…Show
me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
for You are the God of my salvation…Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He
teaches sinners in the way.”[18]
Everyone in the world is a candidate for you to show mercy to but not everyone in the world has been placed before you. You have been placed in a specific location with particular people around you. These are your neighbors, and these are the people for whom you are called to be a neighbor. No one chooses for whom he is a neighbor. God has placed you in a particular place among particular people. It is their needs, their bodies and souls to which you have been called to show mercy—not for the sake of earning the inheritance of eternal life but as one who has been shown the ways of the Lord and taught to walk along His paths.
In + Jesus’ name. Amen.
[1]
Isaiah 4:3.
[2]
Joshua 6:26.
[3]
1 Kings 16:34.
[4]
Genesis 2:17.
[5]
Psalm 14:1-3.
[6]
Romans 3:19-20.
[7]
Hebrews 9:11-15.
[8]
St. John 1:14.
[9]
St. John 3:16.
[10]
St. Mark 10:39.
[11]
2 Corinthians 12:7.
[12]
2 Corinthians 5:21.
[13]
1 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Romans 15:4.
[14]
St. John 20:21-23.
[15]
Acts 1:11; St. John 14:1-4.
[16]
James 3:1; 1 Timothy 3:1.
[17]
Psalm 15:1-2.
[18]
Psalm 25:1, 4, 8.
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