LUKE 10:25-37

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

27 And he answered, “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.”

28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 Jesus 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.

31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.

32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

34 He 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.

35 And 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.’

36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”

37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

It’s so nice to meet you.  I’ve heard so much about you.  Whenever someone says that to me I always respond by saying, “Don’t believe everything you hear about me.  Only half of it is true and the other half is worse.”   Now you laugh but I’m not being entirely facetious.    Consider if you will an incident that took place several years ago.  It involved one of our former student ministers. It all started when I took the student minister to do a Communion Service at the Sunbridge Nursing Home.  After we finished the Communion Service we went to do some visits and as we were walking down the hall we saw an elderly gentleman standing there in a three piece suit.  Naturally we assumed that he was there visiting one of the residents.  When he said “Hello,” we stop to talk with him and it was then that we discovered that he actually was a resident.  Now I can tell you that you haven’t lived until you’ve been witnessed to by a 90 year old Jehovah’s Witness.  He went on and on.  We couldn’t get a word in edgewise.  Finally, when he stopped to catch his breath I pointed to our student minister and said, “You know she’s going to seminary to become a minister.”  When he turned and said, “You are?”  I walked away.

Now in fairness I didn’t do that simply because I’m a stinker.  I did it to help the student understand that Jesus was right when he said that sometimes you have to be as “wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove.”

So it’s true. Don’t believe everything you hear about me.  Only half of it is true and the other half is worse.  Jesus would tell you the same thing. You see when it comes to minister type people Jesus didn’t think very highly of them. Just look at the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

I know.  When you heard this well known story a few minutes ago you probably thought to yourself, “Oh no.  Not the Good Samaritan AGAIN!”  I would venture to say that the average Christian has probably heard between 10 and 20 sermons on the Parable of the Good Samaritan.   It is a parable that has been sliced and diced, hashed and re-hashed ad m nauseum.   So, it’s understandable if you feel like you’ve already heard it all when it comes to the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

A Sunday School teacher probably felt the same way until a little girl threw her a curve ball one day.  It happened when the Sunday School teacher read the story of the Good Samaritan and then asked them a question.  “Children,” she said, “What would you do if you saw a person lying in a ditch all beaten up and bloody?”   The little girl quickly raised her hand and said, “I’d throw up.”

Now I bet you never heard anything like that before when it comes to the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Here’s another way of looking at the story that you may not have heard before.   When it comes to the Parable of the Good Samaritan who is the hero?  As you answer that question I invite you to look at the person sitting next to you and the person behind you as well as the person in front of you.  As you answer that question I invite you to look at yourself because the hero in the Parable of the Good Samaritan was an everyday person like yourself.

It certainly wasn’t one of the godly guys like me.  Think about it.  Who was the first person who saw the man lying there in the ditch?  You know.  It was the priest and what did the priest do when he saw the man lying there in the ditch?  He kept on walking.  Why?  Well, he had his reasons.  He was on his way to the Temple and that sacred duty was more important than helping the man who was lying there in the ditch.  And who was the second person who saw the man lying in the ditch?  Again, you know. It was a Levite, a holy man who spent his days working in the Temple; polishing the brass and making sure the lamps were full of oil.  And what did the Levite do when he saw the man lying there in the ditch?  He kept on walking.  He, too, had his reasons.  The man in the ditch was probably bleeding and if the Levite touched him it would have made him ritually impure.  That would have made it impossible for him to serve in the Temple. 

So, the hero in the Parable of the Good Samaritan isn’t a godly guy like me.  The hero is an everyday person just like you and here’s the $64,000 question.  Are you ready for it? Why did the Good Samaritan cross the road?  He crossed the road to bring God’s love and compassion to someone who needed it.

Luke tells us that the Samaritan bound up the man’s wounds and set him on his donkey. Then he took him to the inn and taking two coins out of his pocket he said to the innkeeper, “Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will replay you when I come back.”  In doing that the Samaritan shared his faith with the man who was lying there in that ditch.

Like the Good Samaritan God is calling you right now to take your faith out into the world and do something with it.

Outside these doors there’s a world that is hurting.  There are people who are suffering and people who are sick and people who are searching.  They’re searching because they feel like something is missing in their lives.  Well, the answer to all of those problems is right here.  It’s right here in the faith that you celebrate and based on the Parable of the Good Samaritan it’s safe to say that Jesus isn’t just interested in the prayers that you say on Sunday morning. He’s more interested in the deeds of loving kindness that you do on Monday, and Tuesday and all the rest of the days of the week.

Take a look at the picture of the painting on the back of your bulletin. Many of you have probably seen that famous painting before.  It’s called “The Praying Hands” and it was painted back in 1508 by the German painter Albrecht Durer.  What you may not know, however, is the story behind the painting.  You see the hands in the painting belonged to Durer’s brother. Now Albrecht and his brother both wanted to be artists.  Unfortunately, they came from a very poor family.  So, one day Albrecht’s brother came to him with an idea.  Albrecht’s brother offered to go to work and make enough money to support both of them.  That way Albrecht could concentrate on becoming a successful artist.  Once Albrecht was a successful artist he could then support his brother and help him make his dream come true.  So, Albrecht’s brother went to work in a quarry.  As you can imagine the work was hard and the weather was often cold and damp.  As the years went by all of that took its toll.  By the time Albrecht was a successful artist his brother’s hands were so crippled with arthritis that he had to give up his dream of ever becoming an artist.  Albrecht was deeply touched by his brother’s sacrifice and he wondered how he could ever repay him.  One day, Albrecht came home and saw his brother praying. Albrecht said to himself, “I can never give those hands back the gift that they once had, but I can paint them as they are today to show the world the gift those hands gave to me.”

It a beautiful story and it’s a story that I share with every single person who joins this wonderful Body of Christ.  I tell them story and then I ask them a simple question that’s I’ll ask you right now.  Who had the greater gift?  Was it the person who painted the hands or the person whose hands were painted? 

Every Sunday morning I stand in this pulpit and preach a sermon.  Every Sunday morning the spotlight is on me but what’s really important is the faith that you take with you out into the world.  What’s really important are the humble deeds of loving kindness that all of you, the ministers in the pews, do out there during the week.  It called the priesthood of all believers and it is at the heart of our Protestant faith.

So you too are ministers and you have a wonderful blessing to share with people outside the walls of this sanctuary.  So let your light shine.  Go out and share the love of God in Christ; the love that can make all things new.  All of this is why the closing words to the parable are still important for us today.  And what are the closing words to the Parable of the Good Samaritan?  Jesus said, “go and do likewise.”  That’s what he said.  “You go, and do likewise.”  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

October 27, 2013 – Reformation Sunday