“Service Above Self” Luke 10:25-37

Let’s look at the Good Samaritan story:

A lawyer tried to trick Jesus by asking what he should do to get eternal life. The lawyer was trying to justify himself. He asked questions that tried to lower the ethic bar that Jesus had presented to him. Jesus responds with a question: What is written in the Law and how do you read it? When the lawyer answered to “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.” Then Jesus praised him and told him to go take care of his neighbor.

The Lawyer wasn’t satisfied …..he asked Jesus the real question: “Who is my neighbor?”

Then Jesus related the story about the Good Samaritan – the story of a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. The distance is about 17 miles. It would have taken about 8 hours on foot. Not only was it traveled on foot but there was a thirty-four hundred foot elevation. While on the way he is robbed of everything he had, including his clothing, and is beaten to within an inch of his life.

That road was treacherously winding through desert country and was a favorite hideout for robbers and thieves to waylay defenseless travelers. It is very probable that the traveler had walked this way before and would have been very wary about the possibility of the robbers. This could have been a scene that Jesus saw many times in his travels. Jesus always told stories that his audience could understand – things from their daily lives.

The next character Jesus introduces to us is a priest. He spends no time describing the priest. He only tells about how the priest passed on the other side of the road, so he wouldn’t have to get involved. It is obvious since he didn’t help the traveler, that the priest showed no love or compassion for the man. If there was anyone who would have known God’s law of love, it would have been the priest. As a priest he should have been a person of compassion, always wanting to help others. Unfortunately, “love” was not a word for him that required action on the behalf of someone else.

The next person to pass by is a Levite, and he does exactly what the priest did: he passes by without showing any compassion. Again, he would have known the law, but he also failed to show the injured man compassion.

Selecting a Levite as the secondary character, Jesus moves from the most prestigious character —-(the priest, a pillar of the community) —–to a common “man-on-the-street” type of character. The Levite therefore provides a transition from one end of the continuum to the other. Despite this, this character is still one with which the expertise of the lawyer can identify, because most experts of the law were Levites.

In the days of Jesus this road came to be known as the “Bloody Pass.” It’s possible that the Priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or was it possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking, acting like he had been robbed and hurt in order to attack them for quick and easy prey because they were on a deserted road. So the first question that the priest asked himself and the first question that the Levite asked himself was:

“If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me? The next person to come by is the Samaritan, the one least likely to have shown compassion for the man. Samaritans were considered a low class of people by the Jews since they had intermarried with non-Jews and did not keep all the law. Therefore, Jews would have nothing to do with them. We do not know if the injured man was a Jew or Gentile, but it made no difference to the Samaritan; he did not consider the man’s race or religion. The Samaritan saw his neighbor as anyone who was in need.

The “Good Samaritan” saw only a person in dire need of assistance, and he assisted him… above and beyond the minimum required….. He soothed the man’s wounds with wine (to disinfect) and olive oil (to sooth the pain). He put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn for a time of healing and pays the innkeeper with his own money – two silver coins which are equal to two days worth of work and would keep a man for 2 months in an inn.

He then goes beyond common decency and tells the innkeeper to take good care of the man, and he would pay for any extra expenses on his return trip. The Samaritan saw his neighbor as anyone who was in need. One wonders if the Samaritan had been to that inn before, perhaps paying for the stay of some other needy person.

We know this: The innkeeper trusted the Samaritan, probably because the Samaritan had proven himself to be trustworthy in the past.

Because the good man was a Samaritan, Jesus is drawing a strong contrast between those who knew the law and those who actually followed the law in their lifestyle and conduct. He is talking in cultural assumptions and stereotypes. The Samaritans were notoriously bad guys and traitors.

AFTER his story, Jesus asks the lawyer if the lawyer can apply the lesson to his own life with the question:

“So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him?  Who fell among the thieves?”

Once again, the lawyer’s answer is telling of his personal hardness of heart. He cannot bring himself to say the word “Samaritan”; he refers to the “good man” as “he who showed mercy.”

His hate for the Samaritans (his neighbors) was so strong that he couldn’t even refer to them in a proper way. Jesus then tells the lawyer to “go and do likewise,” meaning that he should start living what the law tells him to do.

By ending the encounter in this manner, Jesus is telling us to follow the Samaritan’s example in our own conduct; to show compassion and love for those we encounter in our everyday activities. We are to love others regardless of their race or religion— the criterion is need. If they need and we have the resources, then we are supposed to give generously and freely, without expectation of return. This is an impossible obligation for the lawyer, and for us.

You are asking: What does this have to do with today’s way of life and living in today’s society?

We cannot always keep the law because of our human condition; our heart and desires are inherently selfish because of never ending pressure from those around us. We can hope that the lawyer saw this and came to the realization that there was nothing he could do to justify himself, that he needed a Personal Savior to atone for his lack of ability to save himself from his sins. It is the same for you and me.

There is a story told about an experiment at a seminary. They recruited seminary students for a study on religious education. They began experimental procedures in one building and then told to go to another building to continue. They were given a map of the exact route they should take.

They varied the amount of urgency they told the subjects before sending them to the other building, and the task they would do when they got there. One task was to prepare a talk about seminary jobs, and the other about the story of the Good Samaritan. In one condition they told the students they were late for the next task, in the other they said they had a few minutes, but they should head on over anyway.

On the way they encountered a man slumped in an alleyway —a young man coughing and groaning and possibly in pain. The amount of hurriedness had a major effect on the helping behavior. In the low hurry situation 63% helped, in the medium hurry 43% helped, but in the high hurry group only 10% helped. That averages only about 40% willing to help in any fashion – asking if help is needed, getting help, taking the victim for help, refusing to leave the victim until help arrives.

The conclusion of this experiment was that a person in a hurry is less likely to help, even if he is going to speak on the Good Samaritan. Do ethics become a luxury as the speed of our daily lives increases? Can we choose to help only if we have time? What is your answer?

Do you hold the door for a person behind you or are you in too much of a hurry to do that? Do you bend down and pick up trash from the road or floor or decide it might be too germy or do you leave it for someone else to pick up or do you even see it if you are in a hurry?

We can also relate this story to the Golden Rule as found in Micah 6:8:

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

OR as we know it

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

We can relate the story of the Good Samaritan to today’s life. Let’s talk a little about Service Above Self: That is the motto of Rotary International. Terry and I are proud to call ourselves a part of this world-wide group of men and women called Rotary International. As Rotarians we do things for others that are our service above what we would ordinarily do for ourselves.

We plant trees under which we will never sit OR dig wells which fresh water we will never drink OR build shelters which will never protect our family from the weather. There are many examples of Rotarians who give of their time to vaccinate children against polio; some even giving up their lives due to the conflict in the area served by the Rotarians and their volunteers. Indeed, the Good Samaritan could have been a Rotarian.

Do you say “I have given to the Salvation Army -– my part for the world –” or do you go beyond, to help those in need in our community and around the world. Let’s think about the 19th century slaves who show compassion for their plantation owners and even became a part of their families OR the Jewish prisoner who demonstrate concern for a Nazi guard during World War II.

It doesn’t matter who our neighbor is. It could be a sports rival, a person across town, a third world woman caring for her children…they all need compassion and love.

So, the Great Teacher tells a story to make the point stick. This is a wonderful story for creative expression. It speaks to our prejudice and hard hearts toward suffering. In the context, Jesus is showing that the Kingdom of God consists in action – not just talk.

Thus, the lessons of the Good Samaritan are three-fold:

First: We are to set aside our prejudice and show love and compassion for others.

Second: Our neighbor is anyone we encounter; we are all creatures of the Creator and we are to love all of humankind as Jesus has taught.

Third: Keeping the law in its entirety with the intent to save ourselves is an impossible task; we need a Savior, and this is Jesus.

Let us pray: Lord, give us the eyes of Jesus to see our neighbors and the strangers we meet. Teach us what it means to love the stranger as we love ourselves. Forgive us for our selfishness, for our silence, for not caring enough for the strangers who come to our communities. Teach us to love and care for the stranger the way you do. Amen.