In Jesus, God stepped into our fallen world wearing the robe of our humanity. When the set time had fully come, common men would see and hear the Messiah prophesied from of old. They became His disciples, and later, even His apostles.
And in seeing and hearing Jesus, they didn’t just see a man, they saw God! And so when the disciples knew Jesus, they also knew God. But they didn’t know God as scholars or philosophers. For the disciples, it wasn’t just head knowledge; it was real and personal. They knew God as only His children know him.
And what’s so exclusive about being someone’s child? Well, a child gets to receive an inheritance, not the outsider. So it is with the child of God. He receives an inheritance because God Himself has brought one to spiritual birth as His child. A child doesn’t work for his inheritance. If he could do that, it wouldn’t be an inheritance. It would be a wage. Even the idea of earning an inheritance denies and insults what an inheritance is.
So now there’s this lawyer who asks Jesus a question. But his question shows he isn’t a child of God. For the lawyer asks what he has to do to inherit eternal life. This self-righteous lawyer mistakenly thinks that he, somehow, can do something to earn an inheritance.
Silly lawyer, a child doesn’t work for his inheritance. He receives it as a gift, for that’s what an inheritance is. It’s not as if someone can make himself into a child of God by doing something, and so earn an inheritance. An inheritance comes because a child happens to be born into the right family. So to be a child of God, you have to be born into God’s family. Somehow, the lawyer missed that class in law school!
Now we know that God creates such a spiritual birth for someone through water and Spirit, through the Holy Spirit working through the waters of holy baptism (John 3:3-8). It’s as Jesus told Nicodemus, “Unless one is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
The spiritual birth of baptism is a merciful, gracious act of God. And when one receives such a gift of mercy, he then lives out such mercy. For the life that a Christian lives out in God’s mercy, shows itself by showing mercy to others, just as God showed mercy on him.
So when the lawyer asks Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus points him back to the Law. If you ask a Law question, you get a Law answer. So Jesus responds: “What is written in the Law?”
And how does the lawyer respond to Jesus’ question? He knows the Law. And so he correctly condenses the two tables of God’s law. He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
But the lawyer can’t handle Jesus’ law-based response. For Jesus answers the lawyer with full-strength, no-holds-barred Law. Jesus answers, “Do this [do what you have said], and you will live!”
But the lawyer can’t handle that; it condemns him. And so he wants to contain God’s law until it’s doable for him. The lawyer tries to find a loophole, and so he asks, “And who is my neighbor?”
But here’s what the lawyer doesn’t get. He somehow assumes that he has already obeyed the first table of the Law–of loving God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. But how could that be when he doesn’t even know who God is? He asked who is neighbor was, but he didn’t bother to ask who God was. The lawyer jumped the gun and got ahead of himself.
God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, is standing before the lawyer! But the lawyer doesn’t even know that! Yet, the lawyer presumes that he knows God and loves Him enough. So Jesus tells the lawyer a parable, a double-edged parable. If you see God in His mercy, then the parable is all about God coming to you in His mercy. But if you see God in His Law, then the parable burdens you with the full severity of the Law, of flawlessly having to love others to get into heaven.
So Jesus begins the parable. He tells the lawyer about a priest and a Levite, who both were meticulous in following the rules. They prayed the right prayers. They read the Scripture. They went to church. They gave their offerings. They did everything you would expect religious people to do, just like the lawyer.
But when it came to being a beacon of light in a darkened world, they failed. They failed because they didn’t have the true light of faith within them that shaped what they thought and did. So they walked right past their neighbor in dire need, their neighbor who was a bleeding mess left on the side of the road. They did not love.
When faced with their neighbor’s needs, their actions revealed who they were. This was their hypocrisy: You can’t claim to love God when you don’t love your neighbor. And why did the priest and the Levite walk right past? Why did they ignore their neighbor in need? The answer is easy to see. They hadn’t yet met God in His mercy. That’s why they couldn’t serve God by serving others in mercy.
The parable of the Good Samaritan shows us that our neighbor is the one who needs our works and mercy, not God. It also shows us that Jesus is the One who shows us mercy. Jesus is the Good Samaritan.
In the parable, you aren’t the Good Samaritan–Jesus is! You’re the battered man left for dead. That’s who you are in the parable. As you journey through life, the devil constantly assaults you, trying to leave you as a spiritually dead carcass. He leads you into temptation, and, all too often, you match your will to his as you sin in so many ways against God and neighbor. The Devil wants to lead you into so much sin that he leaves you fully dead by the side of the road, dead again in your trespasses and sins!
And so there you are, spiritually helpless on the side of the road. The Law walks by. He stops, not to help, but to tell you to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. But here’s the problem: he doesn’t give you the power to do what he demands! He just walks on past.
And then the Law has the nerve to walk past once more. This time, he doesn’t stop to help either. This time, he tells you to love your neighbor as you love yourself. And again, he doesn’t give you the power to have such love. He just passes by on the other side, too “good” to get his hands dirty to stoop down to rescue you.
But then the Samaritan walks by. The Samaritan is a half-breed, someone whom the Jews despised and rejected. But there He is. He sees you in your need. He doesn’t see you in your worthiness–because you aren’t worthy! But you are needful. And that’s what he sees.
The Samaritan shows you mercy. He lifts you up out of your sins. He washes them away. He cleanses them with the oil of forgiveness that soothes the pain and heals the wounds. He pours wine to cleanse the wound–and that stings! But such pain is the blessed pain of repentance, which the peace of God beyond all understanding overcomes. And He sets your conscience at peace.
He brings you to the Church, whose pastors care for your soul. The Samaritan even pays the costs. For the Word and Sacraments get their power to save from Jesus, from His perfect life and His death on the cross for you. And Jesus always gives the Church all that she needs to be your faithful mother.
Jesus is the Good Samaritan. He tells the parable to show you what it means to show mercy. He tells the parable to show you His mercy. The two go together. You can’t separate them.
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” That’s foolish question, isn’t it? That’s because receiving an inheritance has nothing to do with doing something? Someone doesn’t earn an inheritance. If he did, it wouldn’t be an inheritance. Someone receives an inheritance by being born into the right family. An inheritance is a matter of receiving.
The lawyer asked a law question and got a law answer. Had the lawyer known to whom he was speaking, he should’ve asked, “How can I receive eternal life?” Then Jesus would’ve said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
As you approach God the Father through faith in His Son, Jesus, the Holy Spirit always directs you to look for Jesus where He comes to you in His mercy, which always brings you back to God the Father. Even when sin has made you filthy, even when sin’s judgment has left you for dead, Jesus still comes to wash and make you clean.
The sins Jesus bore on the cross are the sins He forgives. Such is His mercy. And it’s yours by faith, faith apart from the works of the Law. The Good Samaritan brings you eternal life. And you get to receive His life every week in the Divine Service.
And because of the Good Samaritan, this is the mercy you show to those who need it from you–you forgive. For the Christian’s greatest joy is giving away what he has received. Indeed, that’s the beginning and end of love–and even everything in-between. And it’s all because of your Good Samaritan, Jesus. Amen.
