The True Good Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear Fellow Saints,

At my former congregation, I had on several occasions prospective members tell me that one of the primary reasons they wanted to join our congregation was to help instill moral values in their children… to give them a “moral compass” if you will. That was ok… an acceptable starting point… because I knew that they and their children would find much more than that there… here… in the Holy Christian Church.

Far more than morals, values, and a right way of living, they would find Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They would learn of Christ and what He has done for them and continues to do. They would hopefully come to know and understand that here, in the Christian Church, and in all of life… it is not about us, but about Him. It is all about Jesus.

The parents that I mentioned would certainly be happy about today’s Gospel text because it provides clear direction of what we ought to do, what we ought to be about as believers in the one true, triune God. There is no denying the importance of this, but for many, the quest is all about finding out what they need to do. 

A certain lawyer asked our Lord, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He was testing Jesus, which our Lord of course knew, but nevertheless plays along. You want to go down the road of works righteousness Mr. Lawyer? Ok, let’s go down it. Let’s turn to the Law of God written in Holy Scripture. “How do you read it,” our Lord asks.

And the lawyer read it correctly. The lawyer perfectly summed up the two tables of the Law… that which we have been taught in the Small Catechism. “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.”

Our Lord acknowledges that the lawyer nailed it, saying to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

Then comes the next question, “And who is my neighbor?” St. Luke tells us that the lawyer asks this… are you ready for it… “to justify himself.” Oh wow! We could spend the next three hours unpackaging the whole aspect of one seeking to “justify himself or herself.” But then again, we can answer it in under a minute – It cannot be done! It is impossible for us to do. That should give some of you relief if you thought I was serious about the “three-hour” thing.

It cannot be done… to justify oneself… make oneself right and righteous in the sight of God. Thankfully, in the Lutheran faith, we know this to be true.  We lament with the Prophet Isaiah that “we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” (Isaiah 64:6)

So why then does our Lord share with the lawyer and with us the Parable of the Good Samaritan? Why, indeed. One thing is clear. It is not for the moral or morals to be gleaned from the same. It is not about what we on our own should do, like the Samaritan in the story. A Samaritan… he who was considered to be unclean and to be avoided by the Jews… a person rejected and held in contempt. Sound familiar?

Holding up efforts and actions of a Samaritan. Boy, that must have set off this lawyer and any of the other Jewish leaders present at this encounter! In the parable our Lord delivers, the Jewish priest does nothing! He just passes by. The Jewish Levite likewise does nothing! He just passes by. This Samaritan, however, does everything for the man who was bloodied and beaten, half dead, left for dead.

So why is the parable presented to the lawyer and all the Jews who had gathered around our Lord? Why the parable now… presented now… set before you and me now… this morning? For good reason… a divine reason.

The lawyer goes on to again answer our Lord correctly as to who truly was a neighbor to the man who had been severely accosted and victimized. “He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You go, and do likewise.’”

Let’s review, shall we? First the Teacher said, “Do this, and you will live” in regard to keeping the Commandments, both tables of the Law. And then He said in regard to showing mercy to others, “You go and do likewise.”

Both statements are true. He or she who keeps the Law of God… He or she who carries out the will of God, will live. They will inherit eternal life.

The lawyer most likely did not see the problem in all of this in regard to what we poor sinners are actually capable of doing and it is certain that he did not see… recognize… that the answer to it all was right there before him, speaking to him. The answer was the Teacher, this Jesus, and the eternal life that is only in Him… through Him.

The parable of The Good Samaritan is not about what a man does, but rather, the God-Man, Jesus Christ… what He does… what He did… and what we as His disciples have the joy of doing in Him and through Him. That is a crucial point oftentimes missed in this account.

Dearly beloved of the Lord, He who is the Good Shepherd is also the Good Samaritan who, in contrast to us, perfectly cares and sees to the needs of the bloodied, the beaten and assailed, those left to die along the wayside, with no hope, with no possible way of saving their own life… which, by the way, is us… all of us. 

Who are we in this parable, you ask? The victim! And what is worse, we brought this all on ourselves as did all of mankind in the fall into sin. We… you and I…  are the ones accosted by sin, Satan and this world… tossed around, beaten up and sometimes bloodied. That is the bad news, the sad news, if you will. 

The good news, best of news is that we are the ones Christ has compassion upon. The Greek word used here for “compassion” is the very same used a number of times in the Gospels in reference to Whom? Our Lord who is deeply moved by our condition… our dire situation… 

… and does not hesitate to act as He lovingly binds up our wounds and sees to our needs by His own hand as well as the hands of others which He entrusts to our care. 

The inn in this story, by the way, for those who would so see, is the Church. And the “innkeeper” is all of us, pastors and laity alike, we who will receive a hundredfold when He, the Good Samaritan returns for whatever we have done, whatever we have expended in the care and service of others in and through this holy house.

My friends, as with everything we find in Holy Scripture and in all that we encounter throughout our sojourn here on earth… may we, by the power of the Holy Spirit working mightily in us, see it all… take it all in… view it all through the lens of Christ, which is to see clearly, rightly. 

This includes seeing Christ as the Good Samaritan and what He has done and continues to do for us. And it also includes us seeing the blessed opportunity to emulate our Lord in the love, compassion and mercy we show toward others. We do this not for gain, certainly not to win “points with God.” But rather, all out of the love of God… our love for Him and for one another. Amen.

And now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds ever focused on Christ your Savior, unto life everlasting. Amen.

“The True Good Samaritan” – The Rev. Mark H. Hein, pastor emeritus

7/13/25 Zion Lutheran Church, Naperville, Illinois