Sermon for October 19, 2025: Up to the Test based upon Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37 The Parable of the Good Samaritan (New International Version)
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
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“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

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     I read a commentary by a friend and colleague this week, the Rev. Dr. Elena Larssen, who is a conference minister in the Ohio part of the Heartland Conference. She called today’s reading a “greatest hit” of Christian Scripture. Like when a beloved and fun song comes on the radio, it’s probably a good time to stick to this station for a bit. You can sing along if you want.

     As Amanda Brobst-Renaud notes in her commentary, this story has a little bit of everything: a dangerous fight, bandits, someone who is hurt and in danger, plot twists, unlikely heroes, and a call to action at the end. We get to hear the story because someone who knows religious law well is trying to test Jesus. The person asks, “What I must do to inherit eternal life?” Does anyone know the answer? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” As is probably not a surprise to anyone in this room, the person familiar with the law said that Jesus was right. Then, the man asked, “who is my neighbor?” That turned out to be a trickier question. Jesus did as he often does... answer with a question.

     First, some background: lots of the Bible shows us a loving God. Lots of the Bible also reflects the biases and fears of the people who initially shared the stories that became our scripture. This means that sometimes we get to read about ancient fights among people who lived right next to each other. Central to understanding Jesus’ response to the lawyer is understanding one of those ancient fights: the one between the Judeans and Samaritans.

     I think it would be fair to say that these two groups used to be one people. The land of the Hebrews came to be split into two kingdoms. Samaria (also called Israel) was the region to the north and Judea was the region to the south. They shared religious history and language and also trauma. Both communities understood themselves to be descendants of Hebrew patriarch Jacob. They both followed the law given to Moses. Both communities understood themselves to be worshiping in the traditions of their ancestors. They had faced, and had been conquered by the same oppressive empires, Assyria and later Rome.  And yet, they had significant disagreements around how to interpret their shared religious laws, and significant disagreements about where and whether to gather for corporate worship. Would the oldest hills and high places where their ancestors encountered God be central to worship or would it be the Temple in Jerusalem?

     By the time we get to this encounter between Jesus and the man who knew the law, we have centuries of enmity between Judeans and Samaritans. Just a few chapters before this story, when a Samaritan village would not host Jesus and his followers, Jesus' followers offered to try to make it rain down fire from heaven to destroy the village. Jesus was often poorly received in an area. Rarely were his disciples so ready to do violence to other people who reject Jesus as they were to a group of Samaritans who did.

     Jesus would have likely been taught that Samaritans were a problem. So, why tell a story where one was a hero? Jesus shared this story while in conversation with another thoughtful and faithful Jewish person, a man deeply familiar with their shared religious law. It seems like an interesting tension in their tradition, right? They are called to love their neighbors. But, even in scripture some of their literal neighbors, like the Samaritans, get called wicked. They are supposed to avoid them! So, how does the faithful person possibly love their neighbor when they're pretty sure that their neighbors are awful?

    In a time when health care is so unaffordable and often inaccessible and where leaders are fighting right now about if and how to help regular people more easily afford it, it should be noted that one of the good things the Samaritan does is pay for a desperate stranger’s healthcare. The so-called good and respectable people don’t. They aren’t even regular ol’ good people. They are religious leaders who know the called to love neighbor by heart... they literally teach this to other people through their roles as priest and lay associate of the priest. But, like many of us, they ignore their religious obligations because of reason that are not made clear in the text but we can easily imagine. Maybe they were afraid. Maybe they thought someone else would do it. Maybe they were just mean and didn’t care.

     Their motivation isn’t as important as their action... or lack of action. We don’t know what they are thinking. We do see what they are doing, which is ignoring someone in pain, despite the fact they have devoted themselves to a religion that tells them not to do that. As Brobst-Renaud points out, Jesus isn’t interested in offering an excuse. He does, however, provide a counter example. That is the Samaritan.

     To folks who haven’t been raised to mistrust Samaritans, this story doesn’t pack that much of a surprise. Helping an injured person seems like the right thing to do, after all! But, Jesus is talking to someone who expects little good from a Samaritan. I think Jesus deploys the surprise of a Samaritan hero to heighten his point that actions, not just the ideas that live in our heads, demonstrate faith. It is possible to act faithfully according to God’s expectations even if the broader community doesn’t assume you will. Mercy is a foundational behavior of a faithful person.

     In her commentary on this text, Larssen quotes church father Augustine of Hippo, who once said “All humanity are our neighbors.” That certainly reminds us of our responsibility to one another clear, but also makes it seem huge and unwieldy. The Samaritans actions, though, are pretty concrete and specific. Be moved by someone’s suffering. Tend to issues that are most pressing. Share the resources you have with those who need them. Make sure the person who needs help has enough help to really get better. Find trustworthy partners, like the innkeeper.

     Larssen wonders if the best place to see the church in this story is as the innkeeper, a trusted partner to the ones binding up the broken and a safe place for hurt people to heal.  After all, we have a building and we want to make good use of it. We work to discern how to welcome people into this space, how to make sure it’s in good working order, and a resource not just for us but for our town. Last weekend, we hosted a group of preaching students who needed some experience preaching in an actual pulpit. They briefly became ministry partners to us, too, chipping in some food for our food pantry. For a church that began by meeting in a tavern, it seems fitting to see ourselves as innkeepers, making a space for those who need healing and for those looking to serve others.

     There’s a Mary Chapin Carpenter song where she says, “sometimes you’re the windshield. Sometimes you’re the bug.” I imagine, sometimes each of us is the Samaritan. And, sometimes the priest. And, sometimes the person in the ditch, needing mercy to survive. May we add to that list the Innkeeper, reading to host those who need mercy, and able to be trusted with the resources shared with us and the jobs we are given. Jesus isn’t the only one being tested on what it means to live a faithful life in challenging times. We are, too. Let us remember the examples of the innkeeper and the Samaritan. If we do, we’ll always be up to the test.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Elena Larssen’s notes from the UCC stewardship materials

Amanda Brobst-Renaud: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15-3/commentary-on-luke-1025-37-4

James D. Purvis’ notes on Samaritans and Samaria in the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, revised Edition, ed. Paul J. Achtemeier (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996).

Marion Lloyd Soards’ notes on Luke in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)