Pastor Dan Eddy
Luke 10:25-37
“I just don’t
have time”
7-11-10
I.
Introduction….homeless man murdered
Early
Sunday morning in April of this year, homeless man Hugo Alfredo jumped to the
aid of a woman being attacked on
A
heroic homeless man lay in a pool of blood for more than an hour as nearly 25
people indifferently strolled past him, a shocking surveillance video revealed.
Some
of the passers-by stare at Hugo. Some even leaned down to look closely at his
face.
In
the wake of the bloodshed, a man came out of a nearby building to take a cell-phone
photo of the victim before leaving. And in several instances, pairs of people gawked
at Hugo without doing anything.
Later,
another man stopped leaned over and vigorously shook Hugo’s body. After lifting
the victim’s head and body to reveal a pool of blood, he also walked off.
Not
until some 15 minutes after Hugo was shaken by the pedestrian -- more than an
hour and 20 minutes after the victim collapsed -- did firefighters finally
arrive and discover this 31 year old man had died.
Twenty-five
people just didn’t have the time to help. Oh they had time to stare, gawk, take
photos, shake the victim’s body, but not to help. They didn’t want to get
involved. The risks were too great. Hugo was not considered a neighbor.
In our Gospel
lesson I just read from Luke 10, Jesus responded to a question by a Jewish
Scriptural expert. Christ expands the idea of a neighbor, defining it as taking
the time to care for the people you’re least likely to.
In what ways are
we like the 25 people who passed by the dying homeless man? Or, how are we like
the Priest and Levite in this morning’s Gospel reading on the Good Samaritan?
II. Who
is the real neighbor? Real enemy is indifference
The priest and
the Levite were Jewish people who wouldn’t take the time to even help one of
their own.
They were
probably on their way home for some religious festival in
And the wisdom of
Jesus’ parable is the person least likely to stop was the one who took the time
to help: The Good Samaritan, which to the ears of the Jewish audience hearing
this would sound something like this to us:
“The Good Nazi,” “The Good Communist,” “The Good Al Qaeda Terrorist.”
To say that Jews
and Samaritans were enemies would be an understatement. They hated each other.
Just a few days before the events of this text, Samaritans kicked Jesus and his
Disciples out of their village. Disciples James and John wanted Jesus to call
down fire from heaven to destroy them. Not quite neighborly of them.
In fact Jews in
those days prayed a prayer hoping the Samaritans were not part of the
resurrection. Many Jews felt it was better to suffer than accept help from a
Samaritan. It’s safe to say they didn’t consider them neighbors, even though
Judea and Galilee (two Jewish areas) bordered on
But you see it
wasn’t like the Priest and the Levite hated the man beat up along the side the
road. They were just indifferent to him, which can actually be worse than hate.
So here this
natural enemy, a Samaritan, took the time to get off his donkey at great risk
to his life and reputation, and put the Jewish man on it. This Good Samaritan probably
walked 10-15 miles to the nearest inn and paid for them to care for Jewish man
for two months. This was after administering first aid. This help came at a
great financial cost. Why did he do it? Because he had something that cuts through
all hatred and indifference: he had the
Lord’s compassionate mercy.
Those showing
indifference are the real enemies… those showing compassionate mercy to the
least likely are the real heroes, the real neighbors.
III. The Central Question:
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Don’t forget what
question prompted Jesus to speak this parable. The Jewish Scriptural expert asked
Jesus: “What must I do inherit eternal
life?” Note that the lawyer didn’t ask Jesus HOW one receives eternal life, he assumed one must DO things to live forever with God. Good
question; bad motives.
Did you notice
Jesus didn’t answer the question? He let the expert show off as he proudly and
correctly answered: “Love the Lord your
God with all your (whole) heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your
neighbor as yourself.” It’s a package deal. You can’t do one without the
other. You can’t love God without loving your neighbor and you can’t love your
neighbor without loving God.
Jesus showed a
way to heaven when He basically said in verse 28, “Keeping doing those things and you will live.” In other words
Jesus was restating another command from His Father in Matthew 5:48: “Be perfect,
therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
But the expert
was hoping he met that standard of loving God and his neighbor. But instead of narrowing
the definition, Jesus expanded it to the point of showing everyone how they
violated this commandment. They don’t
keep it all the time. Because if you can’t help one of your own, how are you
going to love your natural enemy?
In this parable
Jesus shows us that we are much like 25 people who watched the homeless man die
of his injuries. We have neither taken the time nor the effort to love the
least likely among us. I’m not talking about just the homeless, or other poor.
I’m not just taking about the abused or the drug addicted. I’m taking about all
the times we are indifferent to our spouses, parents, children, the next door
neighbor. I’m talking about when we don’t take time to care for our boss, the
people who hurts us, the convicted murderer, the child molester, the racist,
the terrorist. We don’t want to get involved. The risks are too great. It would
be easier to call 9-1-1 on a homeless man stabbed lying in blood.
But don’t we want
all of them to inherit eternal life? How have we failed to love God by loving
our neighbor? How have we failed to show God’s compassionate mercy to them? How
have we failed to help our neighbor heal from the wounds of their sins? It’s a
perfect standard no one has or can keep. When we don’t take the time to care for
the least likely we are showing our indifference.
Without Christ,
we are all natural enemies of God. Our inherited and actual sins beat us up
worse than any mugging along the side of the road. We know that because the
guilt from our iniquities is enough to hurt us deeply in our lives. It’s
because without Christ we are indifferent to God, which can actually be worse
than hating Him.
What was missing
from this lawyer’s statements was faith. Romans 14:26 (ESV) “For whatever does not proceed from faith
is sin.” And Hebrews 11:6 ESV “And without faith it is impossible to
please him [God].”
And you don’t
have faith if you don’t have Christ inside you. Jesus is your Good Samaritan
who does not hate you; He is not indifferent to you, but loves you with compassionate
mercy.
(Pick up wooden cross with sins on it from
last week.) He took the
bruises and the beatings your sins have given you and put it on Himself when He
was painfully nailed to the Cross. He bore your iniquities. He was stricken and
smitten for your transgressions.
He didn’t pour
oil on your body but instead took away your wounds by pouring water over you at
your baptism. Today at His Supper, He pours not just wine into you, but the
real blood He shed for you.
Christ Jesus took
the time to be a perfect one of us so that He could give you His perfection by
taking away your sins. Because Jesus loves His Father with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loves you as Himself all the time. That is how you are
perfect; that is how you inherit eternal life. His resurrection from the dead
proves that.
What’s the famous
advertising slogan: “Like a good
neighbor, State Farm is there.” Well, with it God: “Like the perfect neighbor, Jesus is always there for you,”…to
love, to show His compassionate mercy, to care, to bind up your sinful wounds
with His ongoing, everlasting soothing forgiveness. He is here to remove the
guilt and save you today in this inn we call the Church.
IV.
How to love God by loving your neighbor?
The greatest
weapons God gives you to use against indifference for our neighbor are time and
compassionate mercy. Think about it. You
have the best relationship with people you spend time with. When you develop a
godly relationship with someone…you have compassionate mercy for them…whether a
family member, co-worker, church person, a new friend, or someone you don’t
know…you show mercy when you take the time to listen to their needs and act.
Look at the
example of missionaries Dan and Patty Schmelzer from
But it takes more
than one day. It takes months, maybe years, as Dan and Patty work to help the
family function in a Christ-like way so the discipline and economic issues can
be resolved. As the families are reunited, real healing, forgiveness and growth
of faith occurs. It’s a great example of speaking and showing God’s Word.
That’s why we are
taking time to raise mission funds for Dan and Patty, and we need your time and
your compassionate mercy. Peter Crest is leading the Mission Committee to hold
a fundraiser dinner to be held in late September when Dan and Patty will be
here to tell their story. And as we work to make that happen, I am hoping that
in the fellowship of this congregation we take the time to get to know each
other better, increase our bonds of friendship, so our work together has a lot
more meaning, and we can show each other a lot more compassionate mercy.
You know Jesus
could have had the Good Samaritan leave and never come back, but He didn’t. The
Good Samaritan would return. Jesus will come back someday, and when He does,
how many people will we have taken the time to show His compassionate mercy?
Let us pray:
Holy Father who
created time and compassionate mercy
Holy Son who
redeemed us in time with His compassionate mercy
Holy Spirit who
moves us to take time to show compassionate mercy
Forgive our
indifference; forgive us for taking too much time for our needs and not enough
to risk caring for our neighbors in our communities and in this world.
Let us be like
the Good Samaritan in helping those we haven’t…so we can live more of the
everlasting compassionate mercy You have given us by faith, so more can inherit
eternal life.
In the Name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.